Washington monuments at night?

[MicMin]

Hi everyone.
My husband and I plan to visit Washington, DC in a couple of weeks. We have a Nikon D40. I am going to order the 55-200 VR lens and a wireless remote control. We will take a tripod with us. Anyone have any tips for getting the best shots of the monuments at night?
Thank you for your help.

 

[Master Mason]

I would put it in manual, set the appature to 8 or so, and then find the shutter speed that the camera says is correct exposure, ISO at 100 or 200, and then take the picture, see what it looks like and go from there. As much as possible get the lights around you out of your picture frame as well.

 

[Gdad]

If you are using a tripod be sure to turn the VR off- it will work against you in that situation. You will definately want a remote shutter release- I actually prefer the wired release over the wireless. I have both but the autofocus works with the wired (half-depressed) and it's more reliable. Plus you can use it in bulb mode as it has a lock.

 

[MicMin]

Thank you both for the replies.

I don't know much about using manual settings yet, but I definately want to learn. I will try the appature setting that was suggested.

Thanks for the tip about the VR lens. I didn't know that it would need to be turned off when using a tripod. I haven't bought the remote yet so maybe we can get a wired release instead of a wireless.

 

[tinksdad]

I'm not sure the D40 has a wired remote option. Quick research shows only the Wireless Remote Control ML-L3 available for it. Which kind of stinks......

You might want to play with the low lighting shots before you get to DC just to have some experience with the settings and the new remote. Another helpful item to bring on night shoots; a small flash light!!

 

[MicMin]

Thanks tinksdad. The ML-L3 is the only remote for the D40 that I have been able to find too. I will try to practice taking some low light shots with different settings. Good idea about the flashlight.

 

[graeme1299]

Both shots, F3.5, 1.3 sec exp, ISO 200

 

[handicap18]

Also, you might not necessarily need the 50-200mm lens. Its pretty easy in D.C. to get close to the Monuments so the 18-55 should do fine down there. Its no different than taking night shots of the Castle, the Hat, SpaceShip Earth or any other structure at Disney.

Definately ISO 200 (or 100 if the D40 goes that low), f/8 is a good aperture, should give very sharp images with that, and your shutter will probably be anywhere from 1 to 6 seconds. Its definately a good idea to practice around your home and/or home town

Try different compositions down there too. Like taking a pic of the Washington Monument from Lincoln's Memorial. You'll get the reflection in the reflective pool. Its been a while since I've been there, but you might need the 50-200 for this type, maybe around 80mm or so. Play around with focal lengths. Try and get real close to the Washington Monument and get your camera down as low as you get go and point it straight up. Might want to use f/16 or higher to get better depth of field, but it will definately be a different look.

Have fun and post pictures when you get back.

 

[MicMin]

Great pictures graeme1299. Thank you for posting the settings that you used. I would be thrilled to have my pictures turn out that good.

Thank you for the advice handicap18. I like your ideas for the different compositions.
I have had the D40 for three weeks and I have been reading the manual - but having the suggested settings posted is very helpful.

 

[PaulD]

I went to DC in December for some training. I took a bunch of day time photos but myself and some friends also spent a night out taking photos of monuments. Here's one that I took of the Washington monument from the WWII memorial:

It's a beautiful place at night but I would suggest that you go in a group. Go to the obvious places but make sure not to miss the FDR memorial. It's really amazing at night. Also, make sure that you have several batteries since long exposures eat up their charge pretty quickly. I had a tripod but I did not use a cable release. As long as you have a sturdy tripod then the cable release isn't really needed in this type of photography. I think I stayed at ISO 100 for most stuff and f/5.6 to f/8. I'd have to review my images to make sure but these would be typical settings for me with night shots.

If you're interested in looking at the photos from my trip here's a link to the gallery:

http://PaulD.smugmug.com/gallery/2227644/24/121036971

If you hover over an image and select "Photo Info" you can see what setting I used for that shot. Hope this gives you some ideas. This was probably the best photography trip I've taken. It's hard to take a bad photo in DC. Enjoy your trip!

 

[MicMin]

Thank you for the help PaulD . I looked at the album and your photos are great! Are you a professional photographer? If not, you definatley could be.
I made a note of the settings that you and the others have suggested. The ISO on the D40 just goes down to 200 but hopefully that will work well. I will make sure to add the FDR memorial to our list.

 

[PaulD]

Thank you for the help PaulD . I looked at the album and your photos are great! Are you a professional photographer? If not, you definatley could be.
I made a note of the settings that you and the others have suggested. The ISO on the D40 just goes down to 200 but hopefully that will work well. I will make sure to add the FDR memorial to our list.

Thanks for the compliments! I really love photography and this was such a great trip for it. I'm sure you'll have a great time. On the night photo stuff that we did, I was the only one with Canon gear. Everyone else was using either D100s or D200s. They all took great photos at ISO 200 so I'm sure your camera is up to the task.

You might want to try using Aperture priority mode (you select the aperture and the camera selects the shutter for you). Make sure you look at your results to make sure that you're not burning out the highlights. Night photography can be pretty difficult especially when there are brightly lit objects on a dark background. In this case the camera may tend to try to expose for the dark parts of the photo and the brightly lit subject gets overexposed and loses all detail. Or sometimes the exact opposite happens. It all depends on what metering mode you're using and the composition when the camera meters. It can be pretty confusing.

Your best bet to avoid exposure errors like this is to take several bracketed exposures to cover your bases. Most cameras have an auto bracket feature so look that up in your manual. What it does is takes one shot exposed where the camera thinks it should be, one overexposed, and another underexposed. I would probably have the bracketing set to 1 stop of exposure difference with night photography. Out of the three resulting photos one will probably be the right exposure. None of this is really necessary with daytime photos but night stuff is less forgiving. If you have any trouble figuring this out with your specific camera let me know and I'll try to help.

As far as being a professional, well... I'm not the kind of photographer you probably want hanging around your neighborhood too much. I'm a crime scene investigator for a Police Dept. I work the night shift so I take a LOT of nighttime photos. While my training doesn't really include making the photos pretty that doesn't mean I don't try!

 

[MicMin]

Thank you PaulD. Your replies have been very helpful.
Unfortunately, my camera doesn't have the auto bracketing feature. The other day someone was commenting on another photography board that Nikon should have included it with the D40 since most other cameras have it. When I saw that post, I didn't even know what bracketing meant until I looked it up. It sounds like it would be a very useful feauture to have.
I have alot to learn but I think that it will be fun. At least with digital you can quickly see the results.
Thanks again. You explain things very well.