Thursday, July 14, 2011

Taking Photos at Night

2011-07-14

Taking photos when its dark is not something many people try without the flash,but there is a magic world of low level light out there. You just need a tripod and the means to take a long exposure.

Well I didn’t have either my tripod or my magic little remote control trigger. I did have my camera and It does have that useful B (B for bulb) settings. which holds the shutter open all the time the shutter is held down (much easier with the remote control. There was a flat balcony rail at my vantage point, and I could use it to hold my camera firmly to it. So with a little bit of experimentation. At ISO 800 I just started by hold the shutter open for 10 seconds, too dark, 20 seconds. still dark and finally 30 seconds, just right! Then I tried to capture a night time panorama (see collage above). That didn’t really work so well, but the two end photos worked out well enough.

IMGP8257 IMGP8255

PS: Most point & shoot digital cameras will have a night scene mode, it may not let you control the length of the exposure but it will give you an extended exposure without setting off the flash.

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