# C&C: Way out of my comfort zone on these nighttime skyline shots (pic heavy)



## SquarePeg (Sep 18, 2016)

The title says it all!  Have never attempted a night shoot before.  Never done an exposure merge or a panorama.  Never been to a photo meet-up with this group.  I've been wanting to try a Boston skyline shoot at night for a while - it's just difficult to find the right circumstances where a woman can feel safe out alone at night toting around expensive photo equipment.  A photo meetup 15 minutes from my home with a group of 80 expected at a very public place (Hyatt Harborside) on a nice end of summer night was too good to pass up.

Night shooting is hard!!  I have a whole new appreciation for the incredibly sharp and well exposed night shots I've seen posted on TPF in the 3+ years that I've been enjoying and learning from this site.

Please critique and offer any suggestions or tutorials that you think will be helpful. 

1.  My sharpest shot of the night.  Could not get good focus on the Custom House clock tower with the Sigma 17-70 or the Tamron 70-300 despite the tripod and focusing in live view.  It was super windy - next time I'll bring something to better weight my tripod.  With this shot I used my 50mm and had a bit more success.  Coincidentally, last shot of the night!  Almost an afterthought while I mentally decided on what type of wine I'd be ordering at the Hyatt bar.  50mm, f/11, 10 s



Boston_6456_edited-2 by SharonCat..., on Flickr

2.  One of my first shots of the night using the 17-70 At 70mm, stupidly still at f/4 from a nature shot earlier that day, 1/640 s



Boston_6374_edited-1 by SharonCat..., on Flickr

3.  Sigma again, still at f/4 (ugh), 70mm, 1/30



Boston_6400_edited-1 by SharonCat..., on Flickr

4.  Attempted an exposure merge even though the sharpness wasn't there, wanted to give it a try.  I learned a lot editing these today.



Boston Exp Merge 6430-31 by SharonCat..., on Flickr

5.  The dreaded panorama.  I wanted to do a 4 shot vertical but my tripod is just not equipped for it.  Next time!!  I used 2 photos that were each a merge of 3 exposures then stitched them together.  I know it sucks compositionally and is not that sharp but since I did all that work I thought I'd get some feedback on what to do differently next time.  The sky had that very funky slanted cloud at the top that I would probably get rid of if this was a keeper.



Boston_6349-56 Pano by SharonCat..., on Flickr

If you've read this far, God bless you!  And thanks!


----------



## OGsPhotography (Sep 18, 2016)

Awesome. They are so dramatically different, must have been an amazing time. Good job.


----------



## tirediron (Sep 18, 2016)

A nice set; I don't see anything to complain about!


----------



## ZombiesniperJr (Sep 18, 2016)

Nice set


----------



## Destin (Sep 18, 2016)

Nice set! And as far as being at f4 on the sunset shot, it doesn't matter for DOF at that point because you're focusing at infinity. You could shoot wide open at 1.8 on your 50 and get enough depth of field. 

I agree you'd like to be stopped down some to get a longer shutter speed and your lenses sweet spot for sharpness, but I wouldn't lose sleep over that photo being at f4.. it's still a wonderful shot!


----------



## SquarePeg (Sep 19, 2016)

Thanks all for your comments.  I think night shooting might be a bit addictive, I'm already planning what I'll bring and what to do differently next time I go there.  And because it's adjacent to the hotel which has outdoor seating right behind the walkway, I think it's a very safe location.  Also a great excuse to have a drink at the Harborside Grill since they validate parking!


----------



## smoke665 (Sep 19, 2016)

What a wonderful learning experience you've had. The others are good, but number 1 is a standout!


----------



## SquarePeg (Sep 19, 2016)

smoke665 said:


> What a wonderful learning experience you've had. The others are good, but number 1 is a standout!



So true about the learning experience and I made several new photo friends that I'm already making plans with for another shoot.  I really encourage anyone who is looking to expand with this hobby to check out meetup.com for photo meet up groups in your area.  It was a lot of fun and very inspiring.


----------



## pgriz (Sep 19, 2016)

The trick about shooting skylines is that you need to catch them at that moment at dusk when the sky still has some colour in it, and there's enough light to illuminate the buildings, while at the same time dark enough that the lights are all on.  It's usually a window of no more than 10 minutes or so.  I learned that trick from a professional photographer, who shared that little insight.  It makes amazing sense when you think about it, but until he pointed it out, I never really figured it out, and had hit-and-miss results with skylines.  Same idea for shooting the "full" moon - you need to catch it one or two days before "full", to be able to show the foreground with detail in it.  Very nice images, by the way.


----------



## vintagesnaps (Sep 19, 2016)

Not bad, this can be tricky. Keep practicing and maybe jot down the settings so later you can think about what worked best. Offhand on one I thought that sounds like the shutter speed was too fast, and on another, maybe too slow (maybe not with a tripod, I don't use one, I just figured out over the years how to brace myself etc.). Those seem to be the ones that the exposure was off. The one done with a longer exposure with the 50mm seems better, and if that gives you time to peruse the drinks menu, even better! 

And if outdoor seating means you can have a glass of wine while you're taking pictures, win-win!!


----------



## SquarePeg (Sep 19, 2016)

The wind was really strong. When I focused in Live View I could see that the lens was moving quite a bit.  I tried to use my camera bag to weight the tripod down but without the body and lens in there it wasn't heavy enough.  I stood beside the tripod to block as much of the wind as I could.


----------



## pgriz (Sep 19, 2016)

A really useful tool for planning your evening (or morning) skyline photography is the on-line app The Photographer's Ephemeris (A shot planned with TPE).  It has lots of good stuff including sunset and sunrise, moonset and moonrise, times of twilight, etc.  If you've ever wondered when to see the sun setting directly down Cambridge street when you're standing at Cardinal Cushing Park, it's September 16, at 6:31 pm (ie, last Friday).  It's a good way to plan ahead and think where you need to be in order to get the sun at a certain location (casting a shadow on a building, for instance), or to get the moonrise.  I've used the app to figure out where to locate myself to get a scenic enough moonrise, with appropriate foreground, and get there at the right time to get the right amount of dusk.


----------



## SquarePeg (Sep 19, 2016)

pgriz said:


> A really useful tool for planning your evening (or morning) skyline photography is the on-line app The Photographer's Ephemeris (A shot planned with TPE). It has lots of good stuff including sunset and sunrise, moonset and moonrise, times of twilight, etc. If you've ever wondered when to see the sun setting directly down Cambridge street when you're standing at Cardinal Cushing Park, it's September 16, at 6:31 pm (ie, last Friday). It's a good way to plan ahead and think where you need to be in order to get the sun at a certain location (casting a shadow on a building, for instance), or to get the moonrise. I've used the app to figure out where to locate myself to get a scenic enough moonrise, with appropriate foreground, and get there at the right time to get the right amount of dusk.



That app sounds pretty cool, I'll have to try it. Thanks!


----------



## NancyMoranG (Sep 22, 2016)

I'd be proud with any of those!
Let me know if there is another meeting soon, maybe I can get there from canal?


----------



## PersistentNomad (Sep 22, 2016)

pgriz said:


> the on-line app The Photographer's Ephemeris


This is amazing. Thanks a bazillion!

As for your shots, I actually can't stand the 2nd because the city looks like its dead. Not dead as in "not busy," actual dead with cold grey skin and that's not Boston. But, otherwise, I think for your first time out and with the conditions you described, you did really well and it sounds like you already know where your flaws were and where you want to improve. So keep at it!


----------



## SquarePeg (Sep 22, 2016)

NancyMoranG said:


> I'd be proud with any of those!
> Let me know if there is another meeting soon, maybe I can get there from canal?



Anytime you want to meet up at this location or anywhere else in the area Nancy, just let me know.  Next meet is at the Topsfield Fair on 10/1 @ 4pm on the midway which I'm going to try to get to but not 100% committing to until the day of.  The meet up group is called Boston Area Photography Group.  You can join on meetup.com  Boston Area Photography Group    There may be other groups in your area as well.


----------



## SquarePeg (Sep 22, 2016)

PersistentNomad said:


> As for your shots, I actually can't stand the 2nd because the city looks like its dead. Not dead as in "not busy," actual dead with cold grey skin and that's not Boston. But, otherwise, I think for your first time out and with the conditions you described, you did really well and it sounds like you already know where your flaws were and where you want to improve. So keep at it!



Thanks for your feedback, I really appreciate it.  I can see what you mean with that 2nd shot.  It was that half hour or so when the light was all behind the buildings and the lights of the city had not yet started to come on.  The city was mostly a silhouette that I "rescued" in post by lifting the shadows and blacks because I liked the sky in it so much.


----------



## PersistentNomad (Sep 22, 2016)

SquarePeg said:


> The city was mostly a silhouette that I "rescued" in post by lifting the shadows and blacks because I liked the sky in it so much.


So, uh.... can we see the original? That sounds way more interesting.


----------



## SquarePeg (Sep 22, 2016)

PersistentNomad said:


> So, uh.... can we see the original? That sounds way more interesting.



Sure.  Here it is.  The thing that I didn't like about it as a skyline silhouette is that, because of the angle of where I was shooting from, the Custom House clock tower and the International Place buildings are not cleanly outlined.  I was not able to move far enough to my right to get that separation that I was looking for at least for the Custom House.  




Boston_6374_edited-2 by SharonCat..., on Flickr


----------



## PersistentNomad (Sep 22, 2016)

Yeah, you're right. the silhouette would have been more dramatic if you could have separated the more distinct buildings, and maybe captured the way the city tapers off on the right, like in your pano.


----------



## SquarePeg (Sep 22, 2016)

PersistentNomad said:


> Yeah, you're right. the silhouette would have been more dramatic if you could have separated the more distinct buildings, and maybe captured the way the city tapers off on the right, like in your pano.



Every person there was trying to get the Custom House separated and some tried several spots at both ends of the harbor walk but there was no good angle available. If you click on the link I posted to Nancy there are a bunch of shots from the participants and several where you can see the location we were shooting from.  There's another park in East Boston that has a closer view that I may try some other time.


----------

