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shooting at night with Olympus 25mm f1.8

Started May 8, 2014 | Photos
(unknown member) Regular Member • Posts: 221
shooting at night with Olympus 25mm f1.8
1

Just testing out my new 25 f1.8 lens but didn't get many clean shots, especially because of very bright lights ruining the exposure.  What's the best way to deal with very bright street lights / signage when shooting at night?

Comment & critique:
Please provide me constructive critique and criticism.
hazwing Regular Member • Posts: 160
Re: shooting at night with Olympus 25mm f1.8

I don't think things are too overexposed, but if you want the lights less bright, try adjusting your exposure compensation.  Also if you are finding it hard to figure out what exposure you want, you could try bracketing your shots.  Also try shooting RAW if you are not already doing so.  You can also adjust your exposure/highlights/shadows in post processing, though there is only so far you can go in the areas where the highlight are blown.

Might also want to think about your subject and composition.

boxerman Senior Member • Posts: 1,946
Re: shooting at night with Olympus 25mm f1.8

sylon wrote:

Just testing out my new 25 f1.8 lens but didn't get many clean shots, especially because of very bright lights ruining the exposure. What's the best way to deal with very bright street lights / signage when shooting at night?

I am not sure what you mean by "ruining the exposure." It could mean "overall exposure adversely affected by selective bright lights," or that you don't like the treatment of the bright lights (blown out, flare, ... ...).

I don't see any problem with overall exposure (like hazwing). As for treatment of the bright lights, blowing them out is extremely hard to avoid, there's SUCH a huge dynamic range. In addition to the points hazwing made, I'd recommend trying longer exposures. With the 25 mm, 1/50 is benchmark slow, and you should be able to get easily 2 or 3 stops on that if you're using IBIS. Then you could lower ISO and get more headroom.

In addition, blown out lights in shots like this are SO conventional, most folks wouldn't even notice...or certainly be disturbed. Maybe a new lens has you hyper-sensitive? 

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