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A Night in Kobe, Japan with NEX-7

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AndreiV

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These pictures were inspired by DezM's excellent nighttime NYC series from a few days ago.

All taken with NEX 7 and kit lens. I didn't have a tripod with me, so I was forced to use higher ISO than I would've liked.

Comments and suggestions welcome. I'm still a newbie.







































 
Nice! The last one is my favorite, I think.

Did the first one come out of the camera that way? I'd guess that the posterization was due to lots of post-processing. . .at least I'd hope so.
 
I'm currently at work, so I can't confirm, but it's possible I did some playing around with the tone curve in Lightroom (increasing contrast) which could be causing the posterization in the first picture. Also, it was shot at ISO 1600, which may be contributing to that.

My current screen is also very poor -- which areas of the photo do you notice the posterization most?
 
There's a halo roughly centered around the lower green building. It extends up to about the top of the taller buildings. Inside the halo is a reddish-black color, outside is a dark black, and then the edge has a third color.
 
Yes Dez's shots were superb, but so are these.

Something special about night shooting with the lights. Fantastic shots and very clean and sharp. What a great place to take these, from here its simply gorgeous. Really is and I must show my wife.

All the best, great work.

Danny.
...........................
m4/3 macro
http://www.macrophotos.com/g2macro

m4/3 feathered flying gadgets
http://www.macrophotos.com/avian/avian.html

Worry about the image that comes out of the box, rather than the box itself.
 
Thank you, nzmacro! I've been living in Kobe for about a month now -- was in Manhattan before that. I really regret not going out to do more night photography while I was there. As you say, there is something very vivid and magical about the light and the colours you can capture after the sun sets.

Also, I really like the macro photos in your linked gallery. I'm very tempted to search for a legacy macro lens so that I can start experimenting. Must resist GAS!
 
Taylor Sherman said:
There's a halo roughly centered around the lower green building. It extends up to about the top of the taller buildings. Inside the halo is a reddish-black color, outside is a dark black, and then the edge has a third color.
Click to expand...
If I'm understanding you correctly I'm not seeing it on my calibrated IPS monitor. I only see smooth black all the way up from the green lattice on the bottom right, with none of the posterization areas of color you're describing.

OP - very nice shots. Thanks for posting.
 
Taylor Sherman said:
There's a halo roughly centered around the lower green building. It extends up to about the top of the taller buildings. Inside the halo is a reddish-black color, outside is a dark black, and then the edge has a third color.
Click to expand...
I don't see what you're describing in my monitor.
 
Absolutely splendid pictures. Thanks for sharing them.
 
Lovely images.

But,

I think they would have been even better if you had used the Hand Held Twilight mode / Multi Frame mode in the camera.

There is not much moving objects, so this feature would have been perfect. The camera have taken 6 frames and then blended them together in camera for more dynamic range and no noise.

It is one of the amazing features of the Sony NEX and A65/77 range and one of the reasons I like Sony..
 
OK it's much less pronounced on my screen at home. I just see a little bit to the left of the towers. My work monitor must be cranked way up! Which doesn't surprise me now that I think about it.
nadamas said:
Taylor Sherman said:
There's a halo roughly centered around the lower green building. It extends up to about the top of the taller buildings. Inside the halo is a reddish-black color, outside is a dark black, and then the edge has a third color.
Click to expand...
If I'm understanding you correctly I'm not seeing it on my calibrated IPS monitor. I only see smooth black all the way up from the green lattice on the bottom right, with none of the posterization areas of color you're describing.

OP - very nice shots. Thanks for posting.
Click to expand...
 
It's great to venture out with the cam at night, eh AndreiV?

These are all interesting but I find them a bit dark, especially in the shadows. I tend to push the exposure compensation to +0.7 or +1.0 EV when shooting at night. I also use a tripod and at ISO 100 for best IQ.

I see you shot these at ISO 800. Handheld? or one of the AMB or HHT modes?
--
Dez

http://dezsantana.com

 
They were all shot handheld, so the higher ISO was unfortunately necessary. (I have a tripod, but I've yet to master the patience of bringing it around and setting up the shots.) Will definitely have to try doing some ISO 100 long exposures, though.

I haven't really played around with HHT mode yet, but I see several people recommend it. I think it only gives you a JPEG final file, and no raw, correct? Do you find that the noise averaging advantages are big enough to justify the extra shake (since you're taking 6 successive shots) and lack of RAW adjustment? I guess I'll have to try it.

Also interesting thought about raising exposure compensation. I'll have to play around with that and see if more details in the shadows add or subtract from the overall impact of the pictures. I think with these types of shots, what draws me to them is the vivid neon colours.
 
nadamas said:
Taylor Sherman said:
There's a halo roughly centered around the lower green building. It extends up to about the top of the taller buildings. Inside the halo is a reddish-black color, outside is a dark black, and then the edge has a third color.
Click to expand...
If I'm understanding you correctly I'm not seeing it on my calibrated IPS monitor. I only see smooth black all the way up from the green lattice on the bottom right, with none of the posterization areas of color you're describing.

OP - very nice shots. Thanks for posting.
Click to expand...
I also don't see a halo. My monitor is accurately calibrated weekly. I see an even black all the way up. Nice phots, thanks for sharing.
regards
Ed
 
Oh! It's Firefox. It's extremely faint in IE but pronounced in FF. Bleh. What else has FF been doing to all the pics I've been looking at online!
creeker said:
nadamas said:
Taylor Sherman said:
There's a halo roughly centered around the lower green building. It extends up to about the top of the taller buildings. Inside the halo is a reddish-black color, outside is a dark black, and then the edge has a third color.
Click to expand...
If I'm understanding you correctly I'm not seeing it on my calibrated IPS monitor. I only see smooth black all the way up from the green lattice on the bottom right, with none of the posterization areas of color you're describing.

OP - very nice shots. Thanks for posting.
Click to expand...
I also don't see a halo. My monitor is accurately calibrated weekly. I see an even black all the way up. Nice phots, thanks for sharing.
regards
Ed
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the nice clicks!. Kobe! - one of my favorite cities!. You'll get some awesome shots from the port island area at dusk!

Here's mine when I just got the NEX-5N ( I know could've done way better with the aperture, tripod, shutter speed.... still learning).
Cheers
SG



 
You'll get the best IQ out of your camera with a tripod and remote @ ISO 100.

Handheld, HHT works pretty good. Just be sure to have some light in your frame so that the system can focus and reduce the amount of noise that will incur. HTT does output in Jpeg, yes. And it does a pretty decent job when I leave the tripod home.

I find that NEX-5N protects highlights and underexposes at night, hence the +0.7 or +1.0 EV. It works for me or I could just raise the exposure in post out of my Raws.

You could take my advice or experiment on your own ;)
--
Dez

http://dezsantana.com

 
Taylor Sherman said:
Oh! It's Firefox. It's extremely faint in IE but pronounced in FF. Bleh. What else has FF been doing to all the pics I've been looking at online!
Click to expand...
I'm using Firefox also, and I'm not seeing a halo. I will be viewing other night scenes from other poster's closely, and see if this is happening with others.
 
Thanks Dez. I now have the NEX remote. Hope to improve my technique and shoot better pictures.
Cheers
 
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