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A550 Nightscapes & Nightscenes

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zackiedawg said:
I wanted to pull in more light to expose in the shadows - I used HDR at +1 for several of the shots to maximize that effect with fairly large apertures which helped control the highlights (the first hotel shot, for example).
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This is what I was looking for. I find when I do night shots, even on a tripod, I get those nasty light flares. I am sure it is all knowledge based, but regardless of the SS I use, they seem to exist. Maybe aperture is the key.

Thanks,

Rich
 
cams can't take pictures like this :). Good work on justifying once again that a camera is just a tool and is always capable when one wants it to be capable but of course some will swear that the next camera body/model will do the job better :).
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Cheers,
gil - San Jose, CA
Cheap Lens, JPG and 100% Handholding Provocateur
Like happiness, photography is often better created than pursued.
 
Coming down to your neck of the woods in a couple weeks and your photos have inspired me to try some night shots. I am planning on packing light and only bringing my 18-250 on my a500, and your photos prove to me that I can't blame the equipment for taking a bad pic.

On a side note, You should have a photographers guide to Disney. I have seen some posts from you before and they are all stunning.

If you have any tips or advice about shooting at Disney, it would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Dave
 
That's definitely going to happen when dealing with very bright lights...HDR mode actually does help a bit with those, since it tones down the highlights, including the blown out area around the light points...the wide aperture lets me use shorter shutter speeds and still get the shadows exposed nicely - I love 20 second or 30 second shutters too, but that's a bit harder when you've got lots of bright light and lots of dark area in the same shot.

Funny thing is - I've always been a night shooter, going back to my F717 in 2003 - it's always been a favorite, and I've always done it in full manual mode. But the A550 live view, combined with the ability to use HDR mode, actually makes it quite simple to get it right, without as much trial and error...I often end up using Aperture Priority to get the DOF I want, and then adjusting EV a hair up or down to tweak the shutter choice - and I often use AEL on a highlight, recompose and shoot in HDR mode at the minimal setting for night shots. I still shoot the manual ones too - but like anything, I'm learning various ways to control my current camera to optimize the results - sometimes some unorthodox methods or techniques, using unique features, end up giving the best results!

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Justin
galleries: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg
 
Thank you much. I've always been 'into' night photography - I strongly encourage it. It's a great world with a whole new look for photography at night...and it tends to be a little cooler on hot summer days and less people in the way too!

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Justin
galleries: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg
 
Ed at Ridersite said:
Really nice Justin! Great colors, sharpness & composition. I think these are even better than your birding shots.
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Thank you Ed (I think...now I'm feeling insecure about my bird photos!...joke)
Ed at Ridersite said:
What kind of tripod & head do you carry?
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I have been getting on quite well with my Slik Sprint Pro EZ tripod - a lightweight 4-segment snap-lock compact tripod with lots of flexibility and still respectably stable - and I actually have been pretty happy to keep the standard pan-tilt head on there. I even use this one for birding and such, with the big Tammy lens - it certainly isn't going to suffice for tripod mounted tracking with big F2.8 primes - for that, you need Walt's big tripods...but for travel use, and all my night shots, this has been a great little tripod that compacts nicely, still reaches up high enough for my 6'1" frame, and can fit in carryons and park lockers!
Ed at Ridersite said:
Oh, and, do you think you could get these great shots with a NEX, or would the UI be so cumbersome that the buildings would fall down before you could find the right settings ;-)
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Hmmm...you never know - Disney does rebuild things pretty quickly... ;)

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Justin
galleries: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg
 
Appreciate the vote of confidence and compliment. I wouldn't doubt there are better photographers than me, and probably some better cameras than mine, but it does well enough to please me, and that's what counts most! It's nice to hear some compliments from others too - both for me and maybe for those owning or considering owning the camera...which I find to be quite a nifty tool!

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Justin
galleries: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg
 
Very beautiful shots Justin, I love the detail, colors and composition of the shots, a job very well done. I have been watching some videos from Brian Peterson and seen some interesting techniques on how to shoot landscapes that I want to try.
Keep up the great work and postings Justin.
Gene
 
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Rick
 
satosphere said:
Fantastic sequence of images. The reflections are just so sharp. You must be glad that there was very little wind!
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Thank you very much.

For those Epcot center night shots that involved the tripod, it was the first really windless night of the whole 5 days! The other photos were taken with faster shutters and higher ISOs where it wouldn't matter...but I wouldn't have gotten as good results on any of the other days.

The downside was that it was 85+ degrees at night, with 90% humidity - so though windless was great for photography, it was miserable for the photographer!

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Justin
galleries: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg
 
dbose said:
Coming down to your neck of the woods in a couple weeks and your photos have inspired me to try some night shots. I am planning on packing light and only bringing my 18-250 on my a500, and your photos prove to me that I can't blame the equipment for taking a bad pic.
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Thank you - you should have a great time with that combo - other than possibly struggling inside very dark rides, the 18-250 on the A500 should pretty much allow you to shoot whatever you need. If you need nightshots without a tripod, don't be afraid to go to ISO800 to 3200, and consider using the HDR mode set to the minimum setting of +1 - you get minimal HDR shadow effect, but more importantly preserve excellent detail and noise-free without processing.
dbose said:
On a side note, You should have a photographers guide to Disney. I have seen some posts from you before and they are all stunning.

If you have any tips or advice about shooting at Disney, it would be appreciated.
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Thank you again. I'd certainly be glad to offer any tips - can't think of any off-hand, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask. In general, I'd say to keep an eye out for the details - Disney parks really excel in theming, down to the finest of details - and it makes the park interesting to hunt those types of shots that don't look like you're in a theme park. I haven't completed the project yet, as it doesn't include my last 3 trips worth of Disney photos - but if you go back to the older photos in my Disney galleries - say before September 2009 - most of my shots on Pbase are geotagged - it might give you some ideas of places to go to get particular shots.

Also, you might want to pop over to a fellow photographer/Disney fan's site/message board, for more ideas and a ton of Disney photographers willing to share tips: themagicinpixels.com.

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Justin
galleries: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg
 
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