Night Photography

Challenge #5 in the Prime Subjects of Photography series. Hosted by Mark Scott Abeln.

Challenge has finished

Submit a photograph of an outdoors scene at night. -- There are two basic approaches you can use to photograph this difficult subject. Traditionally, you use a camera mounted on a tripod with long exposure times. Alternatively, you can use a fast lens and high ISO to hand-hold an image. These trade off convenience and equipment cost versus image quality.

Show full rules

Announced:

Thursday, 2nd June, 2011 (GMT)

Submissions:

Thursday, 9th June, 2011 – Wednesday, 15th June, 2011 (GMT)

Voting:

Thursday, 16th June, 2011 – Wednesday, 22nd June, 2011 (GMT)

Processing rules:

Exposure blending or HDR acceptable.

Capture date rules:

No restrictions.

Additional rules:

Follow dpreview's guidelines for image submission.
Focus can be exceptionally difficult at night. You may want to try manual focus; if photographing a landscape, you can attempt to focus on a distant light source; or you can use a flashlight to illuminate your subject during focus.
Exposure is problematic, but at least you can see the results on the screen. You may want to bracket exposures and then blend on the computer.
If you attempt to hand-hold your camera, use a very fast lens and high ISO; you may need to do noise reduction in post-processing.
Digital noise is much less objectionable when an image is converted to black and white.
If you use a tripod, use a lower ISO for better image quality, and stop down your lens for greater depth of field. If you hand-hold your camera, be sure to focus precisely.
You may want to set your camera to incandescent white balance if the scene is artificially lit. If you are using the moon for illumination, set white balance to daylight.

Maximum number of entries per user:

Maximum number of entries in challenge:

Not restricted

submission
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609 entries

voting
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7719 votes

Slideshow 5 / 5 Full size Next Challenge Previous

Howell Island Conservation Area, in Chesterfield, Missouri, USA - night view from causeway to island

by Mark Scott Abeln

Camera:	Nikon D40
Lens:
Submitted:	Wednesday, 4th May, 2011 15:40 (GMT)
Taken:	Wednesday, 21st April, 2010
Focal length:	35 mm
Shutter speed:
Aperture:
ISO:
Notes:	Hand-held shot taken under partly cloudy skies with the moon at half full. Greatly brightened in post-processing, with heavy noise reduction.
Views:	144
Galleries:	View this photo in Mark Scott Abeln's gallery

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