# DSLR Night Shot settings?



## phoenix_rising (Apr 20, 2008)

Hello everyone. 

I have been toying with my D50 for a while now, but I took some night shots yesterday and they did not turn out quite the way I expected. I used a monopod. The first was my D50 and the second was a D70. Can anyone give me some step by step insight into how to transform a photo like this...







Into one like this...


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## JimmyO (Apr 20, 2008)

when shooting at night you need to use longer shutter speeds (which you did) but doing this will make for a blurry image if not stabilized. This means you need to pick up a good tripod


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## RebelTasha (Apr 20, 2008)

Get one of those shutter release cables too to go along with your tripod you can get them very reasonably off ebay.
I'm not sure what a monopod is are they very stable?


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## confucious (Apr 20, 2008)

Yup - both posters are right - you will want to get a tri-pod and a remote shutter release to eliminate shake since you will have to have a fairly slow shutter speed.

   The example photo you posted has better lighting than your scene as well as more atmosphere (cobblestones, railway crossing signs etc.).  Your shot may have been disappointing even if it had been in focus as there a lot of ambient light and too much movement (man and background cars).  your subjects (the three red cars) kind of get lost in all the action.

    Good luck, and let us know if you get the shot you were aiming for! :thumbup:


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## phoenix_rising (Apr 20, 2008)

Will do. Thank you folks!

By the way, what do you think of this tripod vs. a more expensive model?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...ipod&lp=11&type=product&cp=1&id=1185268654383

And this...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Remote-Shutter-...ryZ30057QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


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## akazoly (Apr 20, 2008)

phoenix_rising use a good tripod with self timer or remote control to avoid camera shake.


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## ann (Apr 20, 2008)

usually inexpensive tripod will not equal stability.

take your camera with your longest lens into a camera store and try them out.

put the tripod head in vertical  mode with the camera and lens attached and see if the lens and camera remain in the same spot.


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## RebelTasha (Apr 20, 2008)

I think the tripod looks good.
Not sure about that remote thing I don't have experience with them just check the feedback.
I have something that looks more like this 
http://i21.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/ab/84/4951_1_sbl.JPG


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## Mav (Apr 20, 2008)

Don't have anything to suggest that hasn't already been suggested other than to possibly look into a faster lens too.  Also don't be shy about cranking up the ISO.  A noisier shot at iso1600 that's sharp is still better than a blurred one at 800.  You can always clean up noise, but you can't clean up blur.  I'm going through a bunch of photos from a recent trip right now and sure enough the ones at 800 are blurred inside of a restaurant (no flash) but the ones where I was smart enough to crank it up to 1600 are sharp (another stop of shutter speed) and I'll be able to easily clean up if I want to.


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## phoenix_rising (Apr 20, 2008)

So I attempted a photo shoot a few hours ago with the tripod and changing the setting on the camera. The shots are better but not great. I think I need the remote and maybe faster glass. Anyone have any suggestions that will not break the bank?

Here are the latest test shots...

Kit DX 18-55 Various
Cheap Tripod
No Remote
No flash
Scene mode and setting changes


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## JimmyO (Apr 20, 2008)

Yes. Get a 50mm 1.8


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## phoenix_rising (Apr 20, 2008)

JimmyO said:


> Yes. Get a 50mm 1.8



Thank you sir!


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## Mav (Apr 21, 2008)

phoenix_rising said:


> Anyone have any suggestions that will not break the bank?


You don't need to spend anymore money.  There's no need to be shooting at iso1600 at night on a tripod.  You only need high ISO if you're shooting handheld and need the quickest shutter speed you can get to avoid hand shake blur.  For the tripod, lower your ISO all the way down to 200 for maximum quality or 400 if you don't want an extremely long exposure.  Next use the self-timer mode and set it to about 5 seconds so that any vibration from hitting the shutter on the camera without a remote release will subside by the time it starts taking the photo.  An ML-L3 wireless remote is like $15 though and great.  Essential and a no brainer for night time shooting IMHO, especially if timing is critical and you want to catch it getting a car or something going by where the delay mode would leave too much guess work.  Also, take the filter off of your lens.  The little green artifacts at the bottom of the 2nd photo are from that.


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## brileyphotog (Apr 21, 2008)

Mav said:


> You don't need to spend anymore money. There's no need to be shooting at iso1600 at night on a tripod. You only need high ISO if you're shooting handheld and need the quickest shutter speed you can get to avoid hand shake blur. For the tripod, lower your ISO all the way down to 200 for maximum quality or 400 if you don't want an extremely long exposure. Next use the self-timer mode and set it to about 5 seconds so that any vibration from hitting the shutter on the camera without a remote release will subside by the time it starts taking the photo. An ML-L3 wireless remote is like $15 though and great. Essential and a no brainer for night time shooting IMHO, especially if timing is critical and you want to catch it getting a car or something going by where the delay mode would leave too much guess work. Also, take the filter off of your lens. The little green artifacts at the bottom of the 2nd photo are from that.


 
I second that motion. 

You do not need another lens...Don't get me wrong, the 50mm/f1.8 is a great lens, but the tripod is what you need for night time shooting (even if you've got a fast lens). Using the manual zoom, i.e. walking, with a fixed lens is a real pain when you have your camera attached to the tripod you'll still need even at f1.8.


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## Mystwalker (Apr 21, 2008)

What lens are you using?  And what f-stop are you using?

I believe "Crawford picture" went through some kind of post-processing.  Also, I think he used a pretty big f-stop - this gives him the overall in-focus that you see.

The 50mm f/1.8 will not help you achieve Crawford's results because you need to use a high f-stop to get clarity of background.

Your first on-tripod shot looks fine, with exception of background.  But that probably due to you using small f-number.  Not sure what happened to your orange Chevy shot - looks like you are hand-holding, or you did not use remote shutter.

Try to take same shots again but at f/11-f/22 ... I'm just guessing at these #s - I normally experiment until I get something acceptable.  Use tripod + shutter remote.  Also, sometimes the vibration of shutter may affect shot - my 30D has a config setting that allows me to get rid of this affect ... do not remember the name (BLU? DLU? SLU? something lock-up).  Check your manual because not sure if your camere has it.


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## phoenix_rising (Apr 21, 2008)

brileyphotog said:


> I second that motion.
> 
> You do not need another lens...Don't get me wrong, the 50mm/f1.8 is a great lens, but the tripod is what you need for night time shooting (even if you've got a fast lens). Using the manual zoom, i.e. walking, with a fixed lens is a real pain when you have your camera attached to the tripod you'll still need even at f1.8.



Good to hear Mav, Myst, and Briley.  I will be picking up a new tripod and a remote in the next coming weeks and I will be putting your suggestions to work. Thank you!

Have a great week folks!


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## Mav (Apr 21, 2008)

"_My ML-L3 was the best $15 I ever spent reason #2342938723_" 









D40 sitting on its side with my 17-55DX lens although the $100 18-55 would have done as well here.  2 second exposure at iso200 and f/11 using a can of baby formula powder and another one of my lenses to prop the camera up on since I didn't have my tripod with me.   With the delay mode it would have been too difficult to time shots right, and I would have gotten blur without it.  I timed this exposure to start at the point where the maximum amount of traffic was going by to make the street look the most interesting.  This is straight off the camera, no PP.  ML-L3 FTW.


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## phoenix_rising (Apr 21, 2008)

Mav said:


> "_My ML-L3 was the best $15 I ever spent reason #2342938723_"
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Hey not bad!!! Thats what I am talking about. I will give that a try as well. Thanks!


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## RyanLilly (Apr 21, 2008)

You don't need a faster lens, the second picture was shot at f/5.6. ans 2 second shutter speed. You just need a tripod, low ISO and a long shutter speed. If you don't have a remote shutter release you can use the timer setting to avoid camera shake.


Try this, shoot at ISO 100, stop down quite a bit and go for a shutter speed of a few seconds. See how things look and  go from there.


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## someguy5 (Apr 22, 2008)

Mav said:


> "_My ML-L3 was the best $15 I ever spent reason #2342938723_"



Beautiful pic man :thumbup:


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## DWS (Apr 22, 2008)

Mav said:


> "_My ML-L3 was the best $15 I ever spent reason #2342938723_"
> 
> 
> 
> ...


:hail: one of the best I've heard.....nice pic!


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## Socrates (Apr 22, 2008)

Mav said:


> "_My ML-L3 was the best $15 I ever spent reason #2342938723_"
> 
> ...using a can of baby formula powder and another one of my lenses to prop the camera up...



My favorite accessory is a custom-made bean bag that my wife's grandmother made for me over thirty years ago.  It's much more portable than a real tripod (which I also have), especially when I have no reason to expect that I'll use either.

And, yes, the ML-13 is a high-tech combination cable and long-distance air release.


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## crazyjackphoto (Apr 25, 2008)

I also have a question, I took this just tonight around 9:30, is there anyway to get everything to be sharp without over exposing the lights? besides shooting in raw and/ or during dusk hour. thanks






aperture: F11
shutter: 20 sec
focual Lenght: 55mm


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## crazyjackphoto (Apr 25, 2008)

your advise is greatly appreciated, thanks


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## JerryPH (Apr 25, 2008)

Doesn't the D50 have a timer? Set it to 5 seconds and give it time to stabilize.

Also your WB was a little off and your exposure could be a little lighter.

Also, the internal camera sharpness is set to low, that makes all your pics soft. You could stand to do some work post process with your pics.

A 30 second makeover with CS3 gave me this:






BTW, the other picture of that Firebird was taken with a Nikon D80 at a deeper DOF of F/5.7 vs your F/4.2 and his exposure took a full 2 seconds versus your slightly quicker 1.6 seconds.


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## JerryPH (Apr 25, 2008)

crazyjackphoto said:


> I also have a question, I took this just tonight around 9:30, is there anyway to get everything to be sharp without over exposing the lights? besides shooting in raw and/ or during dusk hour. thanks
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
All we see is a red X.  It is also more polite to start your own thread instead of intruding on this one since your issue has nothing to do with the OPs.


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## usayit (Apr 25, 2008)

Use a Tripod whenever possible.... You can pretty much figure out how long someone has been shooting by the amount of importance they place on a good support.  Many will even end up with a closet full of tripods for various reasons... lol

Once you have a tripod, there is a bit more freedom.  You can shoot at lower ISOs, you can shoot at slower shutterspeeds, and you can also shoot with smaller apertures (thus no need for a fast lens).  All will result in a better final print... If your camera has the feature, lock up the mirror to avoid vibrations from mirror slap.  If you don't have a remove, use the camera's timer.

On my trip to Canada, I got caught off guard without my tripod at night.  I wanted to shoot so I ended up taking off my shirt and rolling it up to support the camera.  I was practically naked shooting... the Canadians must have thought I was one strange American.  ;-P


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