Night photography settings

[matthew mcdonald]

I am quickly heading out to Richmond to see my first C-5 and was wondering what are the best settings to use on an EOS 350D Canon to get half decent shots at night.

Any quick reply's would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Tim Bowrey]

Just have a play round Matthew. Set your tripod up and mess around with the exposure times and see what comes out the best. Best thing about digital cameras over film;)

Have a good one mate! Hope you enjoy it.

Tim

[Erik H. Bakke]

Unless Canon has changed their optics much in the last couple of years, long exposure times at night give you some wonderful star-shaped flares around lightsources.

Depending on the composition of your photo, getting those flares just right can add a lot to your photo.

But as mentioned above, if your subject is stationery, you have time to experiment with different settings.

[Stephen Brown]

Taking photos at night of a military base...

Good luck on that one. I hope you make friends quickly

[Greg McDonald]

Taking photos at night of a military base...

Good luck on that one. I hope you make friends quickly

Dear me Stephen...where's your sense of adventure??:)

[Stephen Brown]

I think the sense of adventure would disappear when the Alsatians were let off the chain....

[Adrian B]

sik *****..

[Greg McDonald]

I think the sense of adventure would disappear when the Alsatians were let off the chain....

Thats ok...they're inside the fence:D

I must have been to both Richmond and Williamtown a few hundred times now openly taking photographs and only ever been asked once what I was doing. Even then the guard was only interested in the camera I was useing as he was about to buy a DSLR himself!!

[Jason Mac]

I think the sense of adventure would disappear when the Alsatians were let off the chain....


I dont think the Alsatians could jump the 12 foot cyclone fence.

[Grahame Hutchison]

Matthew,

Try something like F8 for about 1 to 4 seconds depending on the amount of lighting around. The Nikon D300 has a "Long Exposure Noise Reduction" setting that might be worth playing with if there is a Canon equivalent, although it is normally for much longer exposure settings.

I would also use the timer to take the shot so your hands do not move the camera at all.

[Tim Bowrey]

Just on the same topic but a little different.

I will be flying on a few different 'big' aircraft at the end of the year like an A346 for Virgin Atlantic and a Qantas 744 up to Asia and of course when you arrive it will be dark.

What settings would best be used at night for a flight deck? I will be using a tripod i hope if i have enough time as you know some of the crew are happy to let you come up but not for long. What would be the best settings to use for a night shot like this? I kind of want to set my shutter/ISO/appature settings before i go in there so i can be quick but get good results.

Even settings for daytime shots as most of mine come out nice but you cannot see out the window. I have been browsing A.net and JP and some photos both outside and in are perfect.

What they look like now:
http://myaviation.net/?pid=01270995

What im after:
Day
Both inside and outside are clearly visable as mine arent:(
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6274088

Night
I am more looking at the panel lighting and which settings would be best to use here.
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6115783

I know the hardest thing will be getting in the flight deck in the 1st place but i want to be prepared if i can sneek in there.

Thanks everyone.

Tim

[Erik H. Bakke]

For daylight photos, if you have the time you can take two photos.
One exposed for the interior, and one for the exterior. Then, composite them together in your favourite image editing software.

[David Knudsen]

By the looks of your 'day' example, the flash was used in the cockpit to expose the whole image correctly both inside and out, but thats not a good idea if the aircraft is on the move :)

At night, you're probably best to leave your camera on TV (Shutter Priority) mode, and set the camera to take a 5 second exposure - it will work out the highest possible aparture to get the best depth of field. As was previously mentioned, if you don't have a remote release cable, make sure you've got the self timer turned on to eliminate any camera shake.

[Adrian B]

Tim,

Good luck getting a tripod in through security. I have had different answers each time I tried to take one as carry on.

[David M]

Tim, Good luck getting up the pointy end to take shots.. however if you just happen to get a crew that do let you up there, then for the day time shots use the "P" function and compose an image mainly looking outside the window.. remember the settings and then use the "M" mode and imput those settings manually. Re-compose the shot of the flight deck and flash fill the shot. The second link you provided you can clearly see that the photographer has used a flash. Depending on your lens, you may need to use a decent flash rather than the useless in-camera pop-up one.


Matt Mc,
How'd you go out at Richmond?? Did you get any good photos or did the alsations get the better of you as many people believed! :-)

David.M.

[Sarmad Al-Khozaie]

Hey Matt,

hope this is what you want to get, few of my collections of night photography.

set at 79 sec exposure:
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6132636&nseq=14

Set for 4 sec exposure:
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6111179

Set for 30 sec exposure:
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=5991491&nseq=25

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=5800050&nseq=31
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6129796&nseq=19
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=5785497&nseq=33

Enjoy!!!

most were set on TV "30 to take photos, but since i got the remote for canon shutter holder im going to start to expriment with longer exposure time.

Cheers.