A third night shot session

[Seb]

Hello guys,

Here is a third night shot session with my D70 last week, on thursday night. My original goal was to reissue the second night shot session in order to apply some of the tips you guys gave me. So, I went to the very same place at the very same hour but the lighning was so different that I couldnt have achieved something comparable. The sky was perfectly clear (while it was slightly overcast on the second shot session, which allowed for water reflection and the unusual colours). Thus, I decided to go for something quite different.

Here are 3 compositions I am more or less sure about. As usual, feel free to comment and don't fear to say it sucks if you think so!! lol While I have no pretension of having made something breakthrough, I tried to go above the easy shots and to make something different (for me at least).


1) 1/30 sec f/5 iso 250 28mm
2) 1/1.3 sec f/5 iso 250 36mm (there seems to be some flare in the sky, not sure how it happened)
3) 3 sec f/5 iso 250 31mm -0,7 stop (I bracketed for this one, the properly exposed picture according to the camera metering was fairly brighter than reality...)


regards

Seb

[dastardly]

I'm quite fond of the second one of the bridge, but I would have exposed it longer, dropped the ISO to 100 and not have included so much of the sky. but that's just me.

P.S. how is that fancy camera of yours? I quite like the looks of it.

[Seb]

Hello Dastardly,

Thank you for your comments. Please pardon my english but what is your question? Are you asking about the specific brand/model of camera and lense I use or are you inquiring about my personal appreciation of my gears?

Just for the records, my camera can't go any lower than ISO 200 but I can retry a similar shot with that setting.

Seb

[Norman]

Hi Seb,

Good to see the D70 being used, the shots look good. The one of the tree might look good with that composition with a flash fired to illuminate it during the exposure. Good work.

[PuckJunkey]

The second shot is great. I would just clone / heal out some of the uneven spots in the sky. If you combine this shot with the other skyline night shots, you'd have a nice tryptich.

[Seb]

Hey PuckJunkey,

According to you, what might have caused those spots? Normal flare that might happen in some situations or tiny dent/scratches on one of the lense element???

I never experienced anything similar before that shot or with other equipement...

thanks

Seb

[darkrainfall]

Hey Seb,
My favorite is the second one, though I like the first one as well. The glare in the sky can be easily cloned out, but imo I think the clouds and such add interest to the picture. How are you liking the D70? I was looking at it, but I already have the D100, so I'll be sticking with that... probably... *smile*

[Seb]

Hello Darkrainfall,

Thanks for your comments.

So far, I like the D70 very very much but this is my first DSLR so I guess that there is nothing exceptional to my enthusiasm. I like the overall feel and ergonomics of the D70 but I must recognize that the D100 have a beefier, more professional feel. My favorite DSLR as far as ergonomics goes on remain the Pentax D *ist but this is a fairly different camera.

I truly enjoy the viewfinder of the D70. People have complained about the fact that it's only a pentamiror rather than a pentaprism but I still think that it does a fine job. All that being said, what amaze me the most so far is the camera performances in the dark. The sensor is so sensitive, even at ISO 200. I found that it was easy to get noiseless, highly detailed night shoot. Much more than it is with film according to my personnal experience.

Regards

Seb

[Young Shooter]

nice pics dude bottom one is out of focus but nice coloring come look at my pics

[Seb]

Hey YoungShooter,

Reconsidering it, I am quite convinced that the camera moved during the third shoot which caused the blur. It's a vertical framing and my camera tend to slip on the tripod head due to it's own weight in that situation (quite annoying).

Anyways, thanks for pointing out the flaw. I will be more cautious the next time.

regards

Seb

[PuckJunkey]

Hey PuckJunkey,

According to you, what might have caused those spots? Normal flare that might happen in some situations or tiny dent/scratches on one of the lense element???

I never experienced anything similar before that shot or with other equipement...

thanks

Seb

Difficult to say for sure what caused those two glowing spots but -- barring distance aircraft lights or stars -- I suspect it might have something to do with the coating (or lack thereof) on one or more of your lens elements. It looks like a reflection of some kind, perhaps off the sodium vapor lamps along the water.

[Clicker]

I love the last shot ( Crescent Moon with Tall trees) I think you should clone out the lights along the bottom to give it more of a graduated look, I really like the color, and its fine as is, but would make it look more artsy w/ out all the city lights along the bottom! Good Work! (and my tripod does the same thing, but i noticed that it has a line through it, where i can use a screwdriver to screw it on tighter ( I usually just get it finger tight, as tight as I can)

[Seb]

I love the last shot ( Crescent Moon with Tall trees) I think you should clone out the lights along the bottom to give it more of a graduated look, I really like the color, and its fine as is, but would make it look more artsy w/ out all the city lights along the bottom! Good Work! (and my tripod does the same thing, but i noticed that it has a line through it, where i can use a screwdriver to screw it on tighter ( I usually just get it finger tight, as tight as I can)

Hello Clicker,

Wow! I am quite surprised to see that tread bouncing back on the forum after all that time! Thank you for your imput. I think that you are right about the lights on the third picture. Actually, looking back at these 3 months and an half after having shot them, there is quite a lot of things that annoy me about these.

I guess that hanging out here contribute to develop my eyes.

regards

Seb

[Clicker]

Hello Clicker,

Wow! I am quite surprised to see that tread bouncing back on the forum after all that time! Thank you for your imput. I think that you are right about the lights on the third picture. Actually, looking back at these 3 months and an half after having shot them, there is quite a lot of things that annoy me about these.

I guess that hanging out here contribute to develop my eyes.

regards

Seb

I was looking up some Threads about Night exposures, open shutter etc...and It pulled this thread up...I've been experimenting lately with Some night shots, the meteor shower last week ( was that last week? oh well, i didn't get any meteors..... lol. But I did get some Carnival shots and Night Shadow shots that were worth keeping...

This site has inspired and taught me some things, and I'm sure I willl continue learning!

[mikehulsebus]

Lemme just quickly note that your first one is crooked--heres a rotated version

[bendik]

Hi Seb, my favorite is the first shot. You can also try shooting this with flash at slow sync of 1/30 if you want to see more detail of the tree.