The following is a direct copy and has been Pasted in for future reference from the Art of Photography coursework PDF Doc. (pasted in Maroon)
12 – 20 photographs
The best place for this night-time project is a city centre, with plenty of brightly lit buildings and streets. The aim of this exercise is to explore the variety of lighting effects and colour in artificial light. A tripod and cable release might be useful for longer exposures, but not essential if you decide to take the photographs at a high ISO setting. One of the things that digital photography has made possible is hand-held shooting in low light by being able instantly to increase the sensitivity.
Try to include in your shooting the following:
- A floodlit building (look for a viewpoint from where the lights themselves are hidden).
- A brightly-lit store-front.
- A large interior with many people, such as a shopping centre (but check to make sure that photography is specifically prohibited, as it might be on private property). Do not use a tripod for this setting.
- A raised view looking along a busy road, such as from a pedestrian overpass. The idea in this shot is to catch the headlights and tail-lights of traffic as streaks. The longer the exposure time, the more dramatic will be the effect.
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Equipment
Nikon D4
Canon G10
24/70 – f2.8 lens
Camera Tripod
Monopod
Method & Approach
For correct exposure when capturing night time pictures the camera will need to be set up to suit these conditions and some of the relevant parameters to consider without auxiliary and supplementary lighting are:
- If the camera is to be handheld, open the aperture …. possibly shoot wide open (use a suitable lens that offers larger apertures).
- If allowable, raise the cameras sensor sensitivity (high ISO).
- Use a slow shutter speed.
- Mount the camera on a tripod or use something rigidly fixed that wont move as a camera rest.
Please see pictures and captions below.
Note – all pictures have been compressed hence there might be a quality reduction when enlarging.
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A Floodlit Building
Picture 1
Picture 1 – floodlit building
Camera Details
Camera Nikon D4 (camera positioned on a tripod)
Speed 1 sec
Aperture f16
ISO 800
White Balance Setting Temperature 2850°K
Lens 24/70 mm
Focal Length 56 mm
Comments – Saint Marys Church, Witney. This picture was taken with the camera setup on a slow speed and aperture of f16, with the camera mounted on a tripod.
Picture 2
Picture 2 – floodlit building
Camera Details
Camera Nikon D4 (camera positioned on a tripod)
Speed 0.75 sec
Aperture f16
ISO 800
White Balance Setting Temperature 2850°K
Lens 14/24 mm
Focal Length 14 mm
Comments – Saint Marys Church, Witney. This picture was taken at a relatively slow speed and aperture of f16, with the camera mounted on a tripod.
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A Brightly Lit Store Front
Picture 3
Picture 3 – Brightly Lit Store Front
Camera Details
Camera Nikon D4 (camera positioned on a tripod)
Speed 1/10th sec
Aperture f8
ISO 800
White Balance Setting Temperature 3950°K
Lens 24/70 mm
Focal Length 24 mm
Comments – This picture was taken of a local supermarket at night with the camera set on a relatively slow speed and aperture of f8, the camera was mounted on a tripod.
Picture 4
Picture 4 – Brightly Lit Store Front
Camera Details
Camera Nikon D4 (camera handheld)
Speed 1/60th sec
Aperture f5.6
ISO 800
White Balance Setting Temperature 3800°K
Lens 24/70 mm
Focal Length 70 mm
Comments – This picture was taken with the camera set to a reasonably slow speed and an aperture of f5.6. Taking the shot handheld without any noticeable ‘camera shake’ was just about manageable on a speed of 1/60th of a second at a focal distance of 70mm.
Picture 5
Picture 5 – Brightly Lit Store Front
Camera Details
Camera Nikon D4 (camera positioned on a monopod)
Speed 1/15th sec
Aperture f4
ISO 1250
White Balance Setting Temperature 3800°K
Lens 24/70 mm
Focal Length 45 mm
Comments – This picture was taken with the camera set on a slow speed with an aperture of f4, for stability the camera was supported on a monopod.
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A Large Interior With Many People
Picture 6
Picture 6 – large interior with many people
Camera Details
Camera Canon G10 (camera handheld)
Speed 1/50th sec
Aperture f2.8
ISO 200
White Balance Setting Temperature 4400°K
Lens 6.1 / 30.5 mm
Focal Length 6.1 mm
Comments – These three pictures taken inside a shopping mall were taken with the camera set on a reasonably slow speed with an aperture of f2.8. The camera was handheld during this shot and we can see the effect of slow speed from the blurry effect of the peoples movement especially their feet. I know this camera fairly well and it has a tendency of introducing large amounts of digital noise above ISO 200, hence my choice of using a fairly slow speed to allow for a reasonably correct exposure.
Picture 7
Picture 7 – large interior with many people
Camera Details
Camera Canon G10 (camera handheld)
Speed 1/40th sec
Aperture f2.8
ISO 200
White Balance Setting Temperature 4400°K
Lens 6.1 / 30.5 mm
Focal Length 6.1 mm
Comments – This picture was taken with the camera set at an even slower speed than the picture above and to overcome camera shake I used the balcony handrail for stability.
Picture 8
Picture 8 – large interior with many people
Camera Details
Camera Canon G10 (camera handheld)
Speed 1/40th sec
Aperture f2.8
ISO 200
White Balance Setting Temperature 5500°K
Lens 6.1 / 30.5 mm
Focal Length 6.1 mm
Comments – Like in picture seven, this image was taken with using a slow speed and again to overcome camera shake I used the balcony handrail for stability.
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A Raised View – Streaking Headlights
Picture 9
Picture 9 – Raised View – Streaking Headlights
Camera Details
Camera Nikon D4 (camera positioned on a tripod)
Speed 15 seconds
Aperture f22
ISO 4000
White Balance Setting Temperature 7250°K
Lens 24/70 mm
Focal Length 70 mm
Comments – The next three pictures were taken from the advantage point of a vehicle overpass. The camera was mounted on a tripod and setup with a shutter speed of fifteen seconds, an aperture of f22 and an ISO setting of 4000. These settings were utilised to capture vehicle headlamp and tail lamp movement.
Picture 10
Picture 10 – Raised View – Streaking Headlights
Camera Details
Camera Nikon D4 (camera positioned on a tripod)
Speed 30 seconds
Aperture f22
ISO 1600
White Balance Setting Temperature 7250°K
Lens 24/70 mm
Focal Length 27 mm
Comments – Whilst shooting this picture I decided to set the camera slightly differently from that of above and in doing so, I altered the ISO sensitivity from 4000 to 1600 and changed the speed from fifteen to thirty seconds. I wanted to increase the shutter exposure time to capture more movement without introducing more digital noise.
Picture 11
Picture 11 – Raised View – Streaking Headlights
Camera Details
Camera Nikon D4 (camera positioned on a tripod)
Speed 30 seconds
Aperture f22
ISO 1600
White Balance Setting Temperature 7250°K
Lens 24/70 mm
Focal Length 28 mm
Comments – In this picture I wanted to capture both vehicle movement and the distant town. The camera was again mounted on a tripod and setup with a shutter speed of thirty seconds and an aperture of f22.
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Additional Night Time Pictures
Picture 12
Picture 12 – Fairground
Camera Details
Camera Nikon D4 (camera Handheld)
Speed 1/100th sec
Aperture f4
ISO 800
White Balance Setting Temperature 7250°K
Lens 24/70 mm
Focal Length 24 mm
Comments – The next four pictures capture the night time buzz and lights of people at the fairground. The camera was set up with a large aperture and also a fairly high ISO to enable me to shoot handheld.
Picture 13
Picture 13 – Fairground
Camera Details
Camera Nikon D4 (camera positioned on a monopod)
Speed 1/30th sec
Aperture f4
ISO 800
White Balance Setting Temperature 7250°K
Lens 24/70 mm
Focal Length 24 mm
Comments – This picture was taken with an aperture of f4 and a fairly high ISO but due to the slow shutter speed I utilised a monopod as it was too slow for a handheld shot. The reason for the slow shutter speed was that I wanted to capture more of the distant fairground activity.
Picture 14
Picture 14 – Fairground
Camera Details
Camera Nikon D4 (camera Handheld)
Speed 1/80th sec
Aperture f2.8
ISO 800
White Balance Setting Temperature 7250°K
Lens 24/70 mm
Focal Length 24 mm
Comments – This picture was taken with the aperture set to f2.8 with an ISO of 800, using these camera settings it has enabled a higher shutter speed for a handheld approach without introducing camera shake.
What have I learnt from this exercise
Although I often take night time pictures, I still enjoyed this exercise and one thing it has taught me is the night time can be just as challenging as daytime photography but also there might be certain elements of a subject which become more dominant at night than during the day. For instance the fairground can look very ordinary during the daytime but at night it comes alive, who would ever think of taking pictures of everyday cars driving past whilst standing on a bridge … Again at night the long streaking effect of both tail and headlights introduces a really interesting effect.
I have also learnt to recognise by name and also appreciate different night time light sources, such as that of sodium lamps with there distinctive yellow hue and also the hard bluey/white characteristics that come from mercury vapour lights.
With relevance to the above pictures I have used no correction techniques, filters or gels but often when I take pictures inside the house I either use:
- An orange gel cover on the Speedlight / flash unit for tungsten lights.
- A green gel cover on the Speedlight / flash unit for fluorescent lights.
With either of these counter filters in place it is important to remember that the camera no longer needs the corrective white balance “flash setting” but instead should be set to incandescent as the light source has effectively now been balanced.
Thoughts and Reflection
During the night time it’s often to easy to look outside and say its too dark or just go out without taking the camera, as mentioned in the coursework photography would be very predictable and boring if we only ever took pictures on sunny days. Missed opportunities are avoidable if the camera comes along and I take my little point and shoot with me everywhere for this very reason and often in hindsight it’s often my words that “I should have brought the DSLR instead” but at least I was able to capture something of the event or instance that came about.
stingray493 