Night Photography Questions

[dooda]

Hi!

I must say I didn't realize that I was considered the king of night shots. Thank you.

I now use a little push button thingie on my d200. It's nice, but really expensive ($100). I couldn't believe how much it costed. Set me off.

Be more worried about the remotes IR beam going through your lens than stray light through the viewfinder; I've yet to have this happen (atleast 200 exposures, maybe more). But you indeed have to have a remote to operate the bulb speed.

To calculate exposure, I go mostly by experience. I guestimate, set the camera to 1600 and NR off. I then guess. Usually it's between 7 and 30 seconds. Check the histogram afterwards, and figure out if it's right on, or you need more or less. if you don't have enough info (all the way left or whatever) then try again and add a couple of seconds.

Now turn the NR on. Move ISO to 200, and multiply the shutter speed by 8. You'll need a timer, but the exposure works to a T as long as the lighting doesn't change. Keep in mind that often the longer exposure might leave you open to car lights shining on your subject, or even shining at your lens. In camera Noise reduction is an absolute must.

If you're planning on capturing star streaks, you'll need to be quite wide open, and even crank the ISO. I find that digital doesn't do star streaks really well, and I think they're kind of gimmicky regardless, but a lot of people go for them. And if you do, and it works with the composition, don't hesitate to wind up the ISO a little, and open up as far as you can stand.

At F11, you're going to need really really long exposures assuming you have little available light. I see no point at stopping down past F8 to be honest. The nice thing about shooting ultrawide is that the focus isn't as critical. If you're focusing at infinity, you don't want to be wide open, you'll notice the softness, even slight blur. Hope this helps.

[ABG]

Thanks Dave. Yep that helps.