Night Photos

[ralford]

you have a digital so experimenting is easy. Simply reduce the exposure.
the camera is trying to make it look like daylight, so you have to correct
that by reducing the exposure with faster speed or smaller aperture. you
may be forced to read the manual to find out how to override the auto
settings.

good luck.

rma

"Sharon" <sharonf@uneedspeed.net> wrote in message
news:3F0E29EC.6080201@uneedspeed.net...

> I have a Sony DSC S85 digital camera. I am not an experienced night
> photographer and have been having a hard time trying to take night or
> twilight photos. Can someone give me some pointers or point me towards a
> tutorial? We just had some new landscaping put in and some decorative
> lighting. In the evening it really looks pretty with the lighted palm
> trees reflecting off the pool surface and I have been trying to capture
> it on film. However the results have been very disappointing so far.
>
> Sharon
>

[Kenwood]

#1. Get a tripod

The rest is rudimentary. If you can go to manual mode an set for a long
exposure.
Experiment 2-20 seconds may be what you need depeneding on the sensitivity
of your camera. This will increas the noise in the picture than can be
easily
removed later with many different noise filters available for Photoshop.


"ralford" <ralford@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:8jqPa.6941$o86.2967@news1.central.cox.net...

> you have a digital so experimenting is easy. Simply reduce the exposure.
> the camera is trying to make it look like daylight, so you have to correct
> that by reducing the exposure with faster speed or smaller aperture. you
> may be forced to read the manual to find out how to override the auto
> settings.
>
> good luck.
>
> rma
>
> "Sharon" <sharonf@uneedspeed.net> wrote in message
> news:3F0E29EC.6080201@uneedspeed.net...

> > I have a Sony DSC S85 digital camera. I am not an experienced night
> > photographer and have been having a hard time trying to take night or
> > twilight photos. Can someone give me some pointers or point me towards a
> > tutorial? We just had some new landscaping put in and some decorative
> > lighting. In the evening it really looks pretty with the lighted palm
> > trees reflecting off the pool surface and I have been trying to capture
> > it on film. However the results have been very disappointing so far.
> >
> > Sharon
> >

>
>

[Stewy]

Sharon <sharonf@uneedspeed.net> wrote in message
news:3F0E29EC.6080201@uneedspeed.net...

> I have a Sony DSC S85 digital camera. I am not an experienced night
> photographer and have been having a hard time trying to take night or
> twilight photos. Can someone give me some pointers or point me towards a
> tutorial? We just had some new landscaping put in and some decorative
> lighting. In the evening it really looks pretty with the lighted palm
> trees reflecting off the pool surface and I have been trying to capture
> it on film. However the results have been very disappointing so far.
>

The night-time mode takes a bit of getting used to. After a series of
failures on my S-70 I'm getting used to the limitations of a P&S camera
after years of lugging round a Canon AE1 and all the accompanying lenses.
Unfortunately 'mood' lighting is much more subdued than lighting to 'show'.
Try increasing the ambient light evenly - it may look pretty lurid, but not
to the camera. Having too much light and reducing it slowly and checking the
effects is much simpler than trying to boost the light bit by bit. The dodge
and burn tool will help 'almost there's'.

Having a small house with no garden in Japan, I appreciate tasteful
floodlighting in nearby Nara (and slightly further, Kyoto) and have been
quite pleased with the extra sensitivity of digital over 35mm.

[Sharon]

On 7/10/03 9:15 PM, [email]JPS@no.komm[/email] wrote:

> In message <3F0E29EC.6080201@uneedspeed.net>,
> Sharon <sharonf@uneedspeed.net> wrote:
>

>>I have a Sony DSC S85 digital camera. I am not an experienced night
>>photographer and have been having a hard time trying to take night or
>>twilight photos. Can someone give me some pointers or point me towards a
>>tutorial? We just had some new landscaping put in and some decorative
>>lighting. In the evening it really looks pretty with the lighted palm
>>trees reflecting off the pool surface and I have been trying to capture
>>it on film. However the results have been very disappointing so far.

>
> You didn't say what's wrong with the pictures.
>
> Are they too bright?
>
> Are they too blurry?
>
> Are they too dark?
>
> Are they too grainy?
>
> Are they out of focus?
>
> In any event, I am somewhat familiar with the camera, as my sister has
> it and it is very similar to my Sony F707, and I know that it *can* be
> done with that camera. The camera has full-auto, shutter-priority,
> aperture-priority, and full manual modes.
>
> Make sure the ISO is set to 100, for better color, and reduced noise.
> Put the camera on a tripod, or brace it on the edge of a table or
> something stable. *Don't* use full-automatic mode; it only allows
> exposures as short as 1/30th of a second. Use aperture-priority mode,
> with the aperture set to about 4.0, and check what shutter speed the
> camera is using. Then, look at the result. If it is too dark, try
> again with the exposure compensation set to +1 or +2. If it is too
> bright, go the other way. If +2 or -2 doesn't get what you want, then
> try manual mode, using a much longer or shorter shutter time than what
> the camera was doing in aperture-priority mode.
>
> One note; if you want the final result to be a dark picture overall, you
> may still get better results by letting the picture expose at a normal
> average brightness, and darkening the picture in software. There will
> be less noise that way, as the darker a capture is, the stronger the
> noise is, relative to it.

Thanks so much for your help. The pictures are too dark. Part of the
lighted palms show up but that's about all. I did try setting the ISO to
100 but I'm afraid that I'm too much of a newbie at this to know what
else to do. I'm willing to take the time to learn though. I don't have a
tripod yet, but I guess that will be my next purchase. Thanks again for
your help.

Sharon

[Sharon]

Thanks for your reply. I do plan to get a tripod soon. However Im really
new at this and I do not know what a long exposure means. I have read
the manual but found I needed more help than that.

Sharon

On 7/10/03 8:48 PM, Kenwood wrote:

> #1. Get a tripod
>
> The rest is rudimentary. If you can go to manual mode an set for a long
> exposure.
> Experiment 2-20 seconds may be what you need depeneding on the sensitivity
> of your camera. This will increas the noise in the picture than can be
> easily
> removed later with many different noise filters available for Photoshop.
>
>
> "ralford" <ralford@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
> news:8jqPa.6941$o86.2967@news1.central.cox.net...

>> you have a digital so experimenting is easy. Simply reduce the exposure.
>> the camera is trying to make it look like daylight, so you have to correct
>> that by reducing the exposure with faster speed or smaller aperture. you
>> may be forced to read the manual to find out how to override the auto
>> settings.
>>
>> good luck.
>>
>> rma
>>
>> "Sharon" <sharonf@uneedspeed.net> wrote in message
>> news:3F0E29EC.6080201@uneedspeed.net...

>> > I have a Sony DSC S85 digital camera. I am not an experienced night
>> > photographer and have been having a hard time trying to take night or
>> > twilight photos. Can someone give me some pointers or point me towards a
>> > tutorial? We just had some new landscaping put in and some decorative
>> > lighting. In the evening it really looks pretty with the lighted palm
>> > trees reflecting off the pool surface and I have been trying to capture
>> > it on film. However the results have been very disappointing so far.
>> >
>> > Sharon
>> >

>>
>>

>
>

[JPS@no.komm]

In message <Xns93B670228F143rolandkarlssonchello@130.133.1.4> ,
Roland Karlsson <roland_dot_karlsson@bonetmail.com> wrote:

>JPS@no.komm wrote in news:lqbugv8pajl7iuci50jr7d0saj719leb1m@4ax.com:
>

>> Set the camera to "Av" mode, and turn the little black wheel by the
>> shutter until the number 4.0 appears on the LCD. Then, pin the camera
>> down, on the edge of a table or something, and try again. Don't let the
>> camera move until the it is finished with the picture (up to 8 seconds).

>
>I think you mean "Tv" mode? "Av" is the aperture preference, and
>if the S85 is like the S70, this will lead to no longer exposure
>then 1/30 s. But if you use "Tv" (time preference) you can set
>the camera to a longer time.

I believe the longest shutter speed in Av mode is 8 seconds. 1/30 is
for program mode. I am going by a general rememberence of the S85
having the same auto-exposure ranges as my F707.
--

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>
John P Sheehy <JPS@no.komm>

><<> <>>< <>>< ><<> <>>< ><<> ><<> <>><

[Roland Karlsson]

[email]JPS@no.komm[/email] wrote in news:dk20hvsslh274m6pog9ob0oju1erbcbc8c@4ax.com:

> I believe the longest shutter speed in Av mode is 8 seconds. 1/30 is
> for program mode. I am going by a general rememberence of the S85
> having the same auto-exposure ranges as my F707.
>

OK - then it differs from S70.



Roland

[Andrew]

Sharon <sharonf@uneedspeed.net> wrote:
: Thanks for your reply. I do plan to get a tripod soon. However Im really
: new at this and I do not know what a long exposure means. I have read
: the manual but found I needed more help than that.

If you live near a community college that offers basic photography
classes, I suggest you take one. They are terrific at helping you
understand the fundamentals of taking good pictures.

"Long exposure" means the shutter on the camera that allows light into
the sensor is open for a long period. When it's dark, the shutter
must be open longer to get a correct exposure, because there's not
much light. If you do not have the camera steady on something like a
tripod, the results will look shakey.

I often take pictures with the shutter open for 2-15 seconds. I know
people who take 15 *minute* exposures (to get that misty feel of a
waterflow). Long exposures can give you awesome pictures.

As someone else said, try taking pictures at twilight. Dawn and dusk
are the best times of the day to take these kinds of shot; which is
best depends where you are shooting relative to the sun.

And yes, you must get a tripod or something equivalent (monopod) to
steady the camera.

Andrew
--
----> Portland, Oregon, USA <----
************************************************** *****************
----> [url]http://www.bizave.com[/url] <---- Photo Albums and Portland Info
----> To Email me remove "MYSHOES" from email address
************************************************** *****************