handicap18
<font color=blue>Husband, father of 3, and Disney
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2005
- Messages
- 4,860
Ok, I dropped the ball last month, but we'll move on from that and get an early start for November's assignment: Low Light and Night time photo's (without using a flash). This seems to be a very popular subject. So we'll get some practice for a month.
Nighttime at Disney is awesome for photo buffs. There are just way to many things to list now. So we'll concentrate on what we can practice on/with. You don't need an expensive dSLR to get good night time or low light photos. However, you do need to know how your camera works and a good tripod or monopod will certainly help.
Since we've recently turned the clocks back here in the States we now get an extra hour of dark to practice our night time shots.
If your new to low light/night time photography then my suggestion is to start with a subject that is not moving. Because there is not much light available you will need to use a slower shutter to capture as much available light possible. This will make any moving subject become blury. In some cases you may want to do this, but in other cases you don't. So keep in mind what you are photographing.
Some ideas:
If you live near a city taking a long exposure of the buildings all light up is good to start. Or any statues or nicely lit buildings in your local town.
Maybe you have a front or back porch that has some nice Halloween decorations, use the outside light and take a picture of that sceen.
One I like is to use the late afternoon light from a window to take a picture of a person or animal without the flash going off.
This is a good opportunity to bump the ISO as high as it can go and see how the results are. Do you get a lot of noise? Can you live the amount of noise the camera has?
P&S users, you have full manual, shutter priority and aperture priority available to you. have you tried using those options? If you were affraid to in the past, this is the time to shed your fears and move that dial. Post your results and ask for help.
dSLR users, have you used the exposure compensation option on your camera?
Do you have a tripod? Maybe you've been wanting to get one, how about now. Use it and learn. Full size tripods, travel size tripods and table top tripods that can fit in your pocket are out there and waiting to be used.
Get out there and take some photos. Experiment and learn how your camera operates. But most of all have FUN!
Nighttime at Disney is awesome for photo buffs. There are just way to many things to list now. So we'll concentrate on what we can practice on/with. You don't need an expensive dSLR to get good night time or low light photos. However, you do need to know how your camera works and a good tripod or monopod will certainly help.
Since we've recently turned the clocks back here in the States we now get an extra hour of dark to practice our night time shots.
If your new to low light/night time photography then my suggestion is to start with a subject that is not moving. Because there is not much light available you will need to use a slower shutter to capture as much available light possible. This will make any moving subject become blury. In some cases you may want to do this, but in other cases you don't. So keep in mind what you are photographing.
Some ideas:
If you live near a city taking a long exposure of the buildings all light up is good to start. Or any statues or nicely lit buildings in your local town.
Maybe you have a front or back porch that has some nice Halloween decorations, use the outside light and take a picture of that sceen.
One I like is to use the late afternoon light from a window to take a picture of a person or animal without the flash going off.
This is a good opportunity to bump the ISO as high as it can go and see how the results are. Do you get a lot of noise? Can you live the amount of noise the camera has?
P&S users, you have full manual, shutter priority and aperture priority available to you. have you tried using those options? If you were affraid to in the past, this is the time to shed your fears and move that dial. Post your results and ask for help.
dSLR users, have you used the exposure compensation option on your camera?
Do you have a tripod? Maybe you've been wanting to get one, how about now. Use it and learn. Full size tripods, travel size tripods and table top tripods that can fit in your pocket are out there and waiting to be used.
Get out there and take some photos. Experiment and learn how your camera operates. But most of all have FUN!
DH & I were just playing with some shots last night using manual settings. But, I'm gonna work on that more before I post them. 
Or maybe change subject. Black cat in completely dark room except with just the light from a pellet stove burning on low....might be asking too much for a manual newbie. 
and it is absolutely beautiful there at dusk and at night. Hopefully I get some good pictures. I'll have to remember to post a picture of the castle that I took on our last night back in May. We're right at the end of main street and I turned around and snapped a quick shot of the castle and captured the mass exodus coming towards me. It's a touch blurry but that's alright.
) 
