I really need suggestions here . . .
(aside from lambasting the obvious grain, shadow distortion of passenger-side headlamp frame, and that dirty arrow )



Film: ISO 200 (color film changed to grayscale)
Lighting: Single strobe burst at half power
Aperture: F 16
Shutter: 2 seconds


(oh, the owner of the PS/B hasn't finished touching up the bonnet acne yet.)

 

I like the idea. I just purchased a flash for my D70 so I could do a few pics with the flash off the camera. I have a few days off coming up maybe I will get a chance to try something.

I'm one of those that like grain in Black and White pics. Did you think about taking the flash more to the the left (as you look at the pic)? not to much as you would loose the car in the back ground.

 

DaCrema: did you get the SB-600 or the SB-800?

 

I sprung for the 800. The 600 could do everything and more that I have done in the past but I had the cash and figured that I could grow into it. Also the 800 has a longer thorw did the pan, tilt, and swivel. I was at an autocross and got a chance to use a friend's SB800 on my camera and was very impressed with the fill flash on a very bright day.

I have not had a chance to play with the one I purchased other that shoot my foot in the bedroom. You know I had to figure out the remote commander feature. Also managed to lay my hands on the remote clicker. In the short time I had to play with it I found the white bounce card hidden in the flash head. Looks to be very useful when bouncing light off the roof.

I did not save any toe cheese pics for the callander.
John

 

Ahhh a Tech Student! I would recognize that deck anywhere... Graduated in 2001 :smile:

 

I spent the unseasonably nice day yesterday giving my MINI a full detailing, wash & wax. It was pitch black by the time I was buffing off the wax. Sad my car could not be appreciated for its cleanliness thanks to the dark, I set my camera on the ledge and took a 20sec exposure. A good shot really, as it's where my MINI sleeps; where it spends most of its time. In the driveway.

 

Do you have a larger version you could post?

 

Keep clicking through to get the high res.

 

Thanks.

Given the available lighting and what you had to work with to position the camera that turned out pretty well.

It would be nice to get a little light going down the side of the car to bring out the detail a little more, but given the backlighting and the apparent lack of space, it's a pretty tough environment to work with. ALl in all I'd say it's a good start. :smile:

 

Hah you think that's hard..try opening the doors and getting out without hitting the concrete walls! I just had the camera outside to photograph some work I was doing on it earlier and thought I'd snag a shot. There's some other nighttime ones on that page but they are handheld and blurry.

 

Hey guys im new to this forum having spent the last 6months or so on www.mini2.com

I have recently bought a Sony DSC F717 Digital Still Camera and have been inspired by Hafid to go out and take some wicked pics

I am having problems though with night shots.

I must admit i have no tripod and i think this is the reason my pics are coming out rather shakey. They are also coming out either very dark or very grainy.

I am a bit of a novice so any advice would be great.

I normally place the cam on the floor or wall and leave the timer on to take the pic.

Here are some of my recent pics :smile:

 

I like the first pic, but I couldn't get any EXIF info off of it. I'm also curious about the white border around it.

Pic 2- Backlighting affected your shot. I like this composition, but I'm a sucker for the low angles.

Pic 3- Same thing, the low angles get me lit up. It appears that it might've been raining. (taking a chance getting your camera all goofed up.) It's my hunch that water reflecting off the asphalt added exposure problems, yet giving your image mood.

You've already recognized that a tripod is a must for low light photography. For those low angles, I have a cheap Hakuba table top tripod that I bought for less than $20. Because of its weight, I sometimes use a Manfrotto 3500 Pump Cup as a base with a one of the Bogen tripod ball heads I have.

 

Shot these last night (saturday)
Open for critique . . .



Still trying to get a feel for my new photo tool. Not sure what settings to use for this combo of neon & incandescent. (hopefully i'll have Nikon Capture soon to be able to shoot RAW/NEF files)

Not sure what type of lighting this was but I gave it a go . . .


Helpful hints?

 

the first pic of mine was photoshopped with a white border the actual pic is untouched though

yea it was raining but thankfully only drizzle - more experimenting needed

 

- - - - - - - - - - -
Shot this tonight with another new toy . . .
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This handheld shot was snapped less than 2 miles from where I live . . .
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

I used my Nikon Coolpix 4300 with the wide angle lens to take the picture above. After a couple weeks in a local repair shop, my D70 got shipped back to Nikon last week for them to have a look at.

The picture above didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, but you gotta love all that space in front and behind the car.

I'm actually pretty happy tonight. I had a major breakthough in resolving some stability issues I'd been having with my camera rig. :smile:

 

Great shot. I cannot figure out how you have your rig set up to get that distance... its great though! Sorry to hear about the D70 issues. Do you know whats wrong with it?

 

this is a pic i took last nite

as you can see it didnt come out as crisp as i wanted

how can i reduce the noise as i think thats wat spoiled it - am i correct?

any advice as to how to get this pic looking crisp and amazing!!!

 

Hi all,
Here is one of my first night shot attempts with my new Panasonic Lumix FZ20. I didn't really know what I was doing with the camera yet (hadn't yet RTFM ) but this one turned out ok IMO. Comments, critiques welcome. Should have moved the damn "slippery" sign on the stairs, I know...

 

And while at it, you could've evened out the blinds.

Okay, that being out of your control, there's always rotating the image to level out the horizons.

I like the "M" up there, kind of signifying "MINI." Overall, the ambience shows elegance, adding to the MINI's character.

 

Revolver,

1) It looks like your camera is focusing on the building, not the MINI. I would adjust which of the focus points it's using and manually pick the bottom focus point, not the middle focus point.

2) The car looks reasonably centered, but the way the picture is cropped (tighter to the windows on the left than the right), it just doesn't look balanced.

3) I would learn how to adjust the white balance and experiment with that as you're shooting. At night learning to adjust the white balance is critical.

4) It looks like you had you park lights on. I would turn those off if a similar situation presents itself. There are little bright spots that don't look natural compared to the exposure of the rest of the car.

Dave

 

Dave, I agree with all your points except one... The car isn't centered. It's got more open space to the rear of the car which is annoying, if anything the car should be slightly to the left side of the frame since it is facing right, giving a little sense of movement to the picture. Since the car is parked however, centered would be fine. I just find the car sitting slightly right of center to be annoying. The WB is certainly in need of a little tweak, and definately turn off the parking lights from that angle. Also, the steps are slanted.

Revolver, I'd say this is a good attempt for your first time out with a new camera. Just keep shooting! Eventually it'll be second nature to diligently check to make sure your horizons are flat and things are framed properly. Also, if you don't have a good tripod, GET ONE. I can't tell you how great my Manfrotto has been. For less than 150 bucks it'll increase your night shooting ability a whole lot!

 

You're right.

It isn't centered in the frame or with the pillars behind it.

 

It looks like you're shooting pretty wide??--The columns look a little splayed. I would move the camera back, and zoom in to correct the distortion. It's most apparent on the left column.

While it's historically known that Greek columns intentionally bowed their columns in order to correct for perspective, I'm not so sure that's the case here, since the right column is pretty much vertical--based on a line I drew on the image.

In the attached picture, I removed the color and increased contrast to show how the image is distorted.

 

Thanks for the comments you guys. I'll see if I can do some cropping and rotating to fix the framing a bit. As to the technology-based comments likes white balance, focus point, avoiding the splayed pillars etc., I now have a somewhat better idea of what my camera can do in those respects. I will also have to remember to use the grid overlay on my display to get things level.