Nightime Photography

[Rick-Reid]

Hi all, I'm new to photography and I'm looking to do some night time photography.

Recently I have been trying some shots of the millenium and the tyne bridge (In newcastle) and haven't had the best results.

I.m using a Nikon D3100 with Nikon 55-300mm lens... I've generally been snapping at about 70-100mm and I've experimented with ISO400/800, F5.6/F8 and F16. However, my shots never seem right. I normally use aperture priority mode and it automatically selects the shutter speed, which bounces around from 8secs - 20secs.

Just wondering if I should be changing my metering settings maybe, the spot/cumlative matrix setting, could anyone help with any tips for nightime photography?

Thanks for any help.


Rick

[beatnik69]

Using that sort of focal length with narrow apertures such as f8 or f16 will generate a long exposure. You could try raising the ISO to bring shutter speeds down a bit. Are you shooting hand held or using a tripod? If using a tripod you shouldn't need to worry if the exposure is long, provided your camera is steady. Shooting handheld will be very difficult.

[jet_kit]

Hi Rick,
Can you post some of your efforts up here for us to look at?
I suspect, you camera's meter is picking up a light source (streetlight, moon etc.) and is exposing for that, which will result in everything else being lost in shadow. Or, it's trying to expose for shadows and overexposing the whole thing, although your description of the exposure settings would not indicate that.
Metering is very tricky at night. You don't want to expose for shadows because you want them to be largely lost, not exposed to '18% Grey'. Similarly, your point light sources (and there could be a lot of them) want to be overexposed to a degree.
Use the LCD screen on the back of your camera and check out the histogram of the shot you've just taken and adjust accordingly.
If you're shooting in JPEG play with the White Balance. Have a go at 'Cloudy' to warm up the image, for example.

EDIT 2300 13.06.12 - See my response to your uploaded image in the critique section.