Glenmore overpass

[soren]

Similar location to my Dam photos, just later on in the night and pointed in the other direction at the overpass/bridge that crosses the resevoir. first attempt at night shots

please comment and critique, im leaving to vancouver in 2 days and need all the tips i can get before i take the D70 on a real exercise

1) 70mm - 15s - F/22 - ISO 200 - manual exposure and white balance
2) 27mm - 15s - F/22 - ISO 200 - manual exposure and white balance

[darkrainfall]

Nice shots... did you use a filter on these for the lights? I'm pretty sure those star patterns don't normally just appear... I could be mistaken in this case though... My only suggestion is cut out some of the sky. Imo it seems unnecessary to have so much of it in the shot. Otherwise these look nice, and I also liked the previous dam pics, from earlier in the day.

[soren]

Nice shots... did you use a filter on these for the lights? I'm pretty sure those star patterns don't normally just appear... I could be mistaken in this case though... My only suggestion is cut out some of the sky. Imo it seems unnecessary to have so much of it in the shot. Otherwise these look nice, and I also liked the previous dam pics, from earlier in the day.

thx

and no there was no filter used , i was a little puzzled by that as well

i was also going to cut out part of the sky but i wanted to keep it as 3:2 and didnt want to sacrifice the reflection colors

[Young Shooter]

wow those are some realy nice shots mabey they would of been better if they were like the golden gate bridge but the coloring is amazing and the lighting is unreal but its raw i was wondering how i can make a water mark on my pictures

[Seb]

Hello Soren,

I like both these pictures and your previous ones of the bridge.

So far, I found my D70 to have truly "film like" reactions in every situations including night shots. The patterns arround the light seems a bit extreme at first glance but I don't think it is that surprising considering the 15 sec exposure. I have experienced similar patterns (smaller though) with exposure times arround 8 or 10 seconds.

regards

Seb

[Young Shooter]

yo matt i got a question about those pics how do you know to do all of this stuff
1) 70mm - 15s - F/22 - ISO 200 - manual exposure and white balance
2) 27mm - 15s - F/22 - ISO 200 - manual exposure and white balance
like that how do you know when to use white balance and whats iso i honestly never heard of that if u dont respond someone else please help me thanks

[Seb]

yo matt i got a question about those pics how do you know to do all of this stuff
1) 70mm - 15s - F/22 - ISO 200 - manual exposure and white balance
2) 27mm - 15s - F/22 - ISO 200 - manual exposure and white balance
like that how do you know when to use white balance and whats iso i honestly never heard of that if u dont respond someone else please help me thanks

Hello Young Shooter,

There is so much to cover for one single post, here's the basic.

The ISO value is an unit that represent the light sensitivity of the film. The smaller is the number, the less sensitive to light the film is, the bigger is the number, the more sensitive to light the film is. Films with a small ISO (50 or 100) are oftenly called slow films as they need to be exposed to light longuer to react to it while films with an high ISO value (800,1600,3200 and even 5000) are called fast films for the opposite reason.
Due to their nature, slow films are less grainy and they are capable of the best image quality. You can make bigger enlargements of your pictures without loosing too much in details. The faster the films are, the grainier they get. You basically choose speed (ISO value) according to ambient lightning and regarding the final result you are seeking for.

Taken to digital, the ISO value means the very same thing. In theory a given ISO value is supposed to represent the same sensitivity to light on film and for a digital camera. However, the sensor in your digital camera react to light at a certain level and it's sensitivity to light don't change. You obviously don't switch sensors as you switch from a roll of film to another. For that reason, digital cameras have a signal amplifier that will boost the signal coming from the sensor, more or less, depending on the ISO value that you select, to simulate variations in it's light sensitivity. Due to technical limitations, the signal amplifier generate a form of degradation called noise (think of it as the distortion coming from your sound system if you listen to your music too loud). Noise is the digital counterpart of grain. Overall, digital cameras have reactions highly similar to film considering all that.

About the white balance, I am definately not the most qualified person to answer that one but ill try to do my best to sum it up. I am sure that others contributors here will add their own comments if I miss some points....

The way we perceive colors highly depends on the ambient lightning. Luckily for us, the human brain proceed informations in such a way that we will always recognize white as being white regardless of the situation. The sensor on a digital camera don't have that capability by itself. Without any "external" interventions, whites on your pictures would look more or less white depending on ambient lightning, which would be unpleasant.
White balance is an adjustment of the colors temperatures made accordingly to ambient lightning in order to allow whites to look natural. I am not sure if it apply to all digital cameras but on a DSLR, you can do it manually or the camera can do it by itself by analysing the light before every single shoot you take. In theory, I suppose that the best way to get the finest results is to do white balance by yourself (assuming that you know what you are doing and that you know exactly what you want). Luckily, automatic white balance is very good on DSLR's.

That's pretty much it.

Seb

[soren]

thanks seb for covering that question...

ive been away from the computer for a week, just got back from vancouver. ill post a few pics later

[Seb]

Hey Soren,

It's nice to hear about you. I'll look forward for your new pictures. I am highly interested to see what you have done with your D70.

You may have already noticed it by yourself but something just grab my attention while looking at your 2 night shoots. On the second picture, in the light reflection on the water under the third lamp from the left, there is a black dot which I am 90% sure is a dust grain on your sensor. I had this problem 1 week ago. Use a (big and powerful) air blower to get rid of it.

regards

Seb

[Young Shooter]

Hello Young Shooter,

There is so much to cover for one single post, here's the basic.

The ISO value is an unit that represent the light sensitivity of the film. The smaller is the number, the less sensitive to light the film is, the bigger is the number, the more sensitive to light the film is. Films with a small ISO (50 or 100) are oftenly called slow films as they need to be exposed to light longuer to react to it while films with an high ISO value (800,1600,3200 and even 5000) are called fast films for the opposite reason.
Due to their nature, slow films are less grainy and they are capable of the best image quality. You can make bigger enlargements of your pictures without loosing too much in details. The faster the films are, the grainier they get. You basically choose speed (ISO value) according to ambient lightning and regarding the final result you are seeking for.

Taken to digital, the ISO value means the very same thing. In theory a given ISO value is supposed to represent the same sensitivity to light on film and for a digital camera. However, the sensor in your digital camera react to light at a certain level and it's sensitivity to light don't change. You obviously don't switch sensors as you switch from a roll of film to another. For that reason, digital cameras have a signal amplifier that will boost the signal coming from the sensor, more or less, depending on the ISO value that you select, to simulate variations in it's light sensitivity. Due to technical limitations, the signal amplifier generate a form of degradation called noise (think of it as the distortion coming from your sound system if you listen to your music too loud). Noise is the digital counterpart of grain. Overall, digital cameras have reactions highly similar to film considering all that.

About the white balance, I am definately not the most qualified person to answer that one but ill try to do my best to sum it up. I am sure that others contributors here will add their own comments if I miss some points....

The way we perceive colors highly depends on the ambient lightning. Luckily for us, the human brain proceed informations in such a way that we will always recognize white as being white regardless of the situation. The sensor on a digital camera don't have that capability by itself. Without any "external" interventions, whites on your pictures would look more or less white depending on ambient lightning, which would be unpleasant.
White balance is an adjustment of the colors temperatures made accordingly to ambient lightning in order to allow whites to look natural. I am not sure if it apply to all digital cameras but on a DSLR, you can do it manually or the camera can do it by itself by analysing the light before every single shoot you take. In theory, I suppose that the best way to get the finest results is to do white balance by yourself (assuming that you know what you are doing and that you know exactly what you want). Luckily, automatic white balance is very good on DSLR's.

That's pretty much it.

Seb

Yo seb whats up thanks alot for typing all of that for me and helping me it realy did help, you sure know alot and explain that well, mabey you will need my help in return anywayz yeah i see that black dot, its in both of the pictures and there in the same place very interresting i didnt realy notice it that well, yo seb do you have any recommendation on taking pictures of a cat, right now in my camera i have 400 B&W film in it, could anyone mostly you, can help me with this??????

[soren]

Hey Soren,

It's nice to hear about you. I'll look forward for your new pictures. I am highly interested to see what you have done with your D70.

You may have already noticed it by yourself but something just grab my attention while looking at your 2 night shoots. On the second picture, in the light reflection on the water under the third lamp from the left, there is a black dot which I am 90% sure is a dust grain on your sensor. I had this problem 1 week ago. Use a (big and powerful) air blower to get rid of it.

regards

Seb

Hey Seb,

ya i noticed that too (thanks for the cleaning tips), and will be making sure its gone before i go out on my next adventure

My friend always bugs me for being such a perfectionist when it comes to a clean camera. I will start another thread for this question or research other threads, but what do u use keep ur lenses clean and crystal clear? for now im just using what i used on my nikon 4500 before which was lens pen and lens wipes.

[Seb]

Hey guy's,

To Young Shooter: I am glad to help and I am sure that you will teach me things sooner or later, that's what this place is all about. Don't be mistaken, I am not a pro at all, just a causual enthusiast. For your cat issue, I don't think that I can provide any help here. I am not used to shoot animals. I have took something like 2 or 3 shoots of my dog over the time and frankly, it was lame lol. The only thing that I would tell you (for what it worth) is not to go for something "too posed". Try to capture your cat while it's doing is things (playing with something, jumping, whatever). That's what I think I will do myself in the future but then again, this is just a general idea and I cannot provide mor help.

To Soren: I don't use anything really special to clean lenses. I have bought an high quality microfiber clothe for lenses and some cleaning lotion 2 years ago when I got hocked to te hobby. I apply few drop of cleaning liquid on the clothe and clean in a circular pattern. Lense makers usually suggest not to drop the cleaning product directly on the lense as far as I know. Invest in the best quality microfiber clothe you can find. I have bought a small cleaning kit (lense, lotion and a tiny air blower) 3 weeks ago with the D70 for the sole purpose of having a blower and the whole package was affordable. When I used the clothe, fibers stuck on the front element and the blower turned out not to blow anything at all... I trew it all to the garbage and went back to my microfiber clothe. Then I bought a serious air blower individually. Bottom line, you get what you pay for...

regards

Seb

[Young Shooter]

well i clean my lenses honestly by my shirt, its not like i have a 1000 dollar lens either i have a uv ray lense on my camera's lense which is 5 bucks its nice to have incase you drop ur camera u wont break the lense just the cap, i almost did that, anywayz thats what i do just get that cap and leave it on, when it gets scratched up buy a new one
good luck
yeah seb thanks eheheeh umm yeah im not going to take a pic of my cat sleeping, i saw a perfect pic this morning but i didnt have my camera, my cat was sitting on like 3 little cardboard boxes chillen it would have looked cool? see my cats black and has yellow eyes i think it would look sick in b&w
thanks