Originally Posted by MooreDriven I was traveling last Thursday in Philadelphia and took these night shots. Both were taken after 8:00 PM ET.

Thank you!
I wish it had less city lights, so it could be more looking like a dayshot...

Originally Posted by MooreDriven ...I was not aware of the assignment until after I returned home ... Dale

That, unfortunately, pretty much DQs your entries. You have to be purposefully shooting with the goal in mind!

Just joined dgrin to be able to participate and to learn. This is a very early morning shot, Cannes, Côte d'Azur, France:


EXIF

Originally Posted by Pexi Just joined dgrin to be able to participate and to learn. This is a very early morning shot, Cannes, Côte d'Azur, France:

Pexi,
welcome to the Dgrin Academy!

If you don't mind my asking: what was the time of shooting, relative to sunrise time?

Originally Posted by Nikolai Pexi, welcome to the Dgrin Academy! If you don't mind my asking: what was the time of shooting, relative to sunrise time?

Thanks for the welcome wishes, Nikolai!

I think the shot was taken almost exactly 30 minutes before the "official" sunrise time. There was already quite some light on the eastern sky. Darn, I hope I'm not bending the rules already with my first shot! Well, not too much anyway

Originally Posted by Pexi Thanks for the welcome wishes, Nikolai! I think the shot was taken almost exactly 30 minutes before the "official" sunrise time. There was already quite some light on the eastern sky. Darn, I hope I'm not bending the rules already with my first shot! Well, not too much anyway

Well, we can let it slide for the first ever entry , but I would appreciate if you make another one with more like an hour before sunrise/after sunset ...

Ok, just to cover myself: this one was taken 12 minutes before the one I sent earlier, just a slight hint of dawn in the sky.

Originally Posted by Pexi Ok, just to cover myself: this one was taken 12 minutes before the one I sent earlier, just a slight hint of dawn in the sky.

It's a nice shot, don't get me wrong.
However, the idea of the exercise is to avoid the artificial illumination as much as possible and let the camera pull out the colors otherwise invisible to the human eye...

Originally Posted by Nikolai However, the idea of the exercise is to avoid the artificial illumination as much as possible and let the camera pull out the colors otherwise invisible to the human eye...

It's not an easy task. I actually drove to the nearby mountains last night about midnight and tried to take wild shots in obscurity... and got nothing much but noise. And almost a heart attack too... wild boars make terrifying noises in the darkness

Gonna try again, but I obviously need at least some remainings of the daylight still in the sky. Advices welcome!

Originally Posted by Nikolai Thank you! I wish it had less city lights, so it could be more looking like a dayshot...

I agree. City lights abound in the area's I was walking.

That, unfortunately, pretty much DQs your entries. You have to be purposefully shooting with the goal in mind!

Hey, at least I was honest! I didn't realize that was a requirement. I thought they had to be new shots. I will try again tonight, albeit a much less historical location, and re-post.

Originally Posted by Pexi It's not an easy task. I actually drove to the nearby mountains last night about midnight and tried to take wild shots in obscurity... and got nothing much but noise. And almost a heart attack too... wild boars make terrifying noises in the darkness Gonna try again, but I obviously need at least some remainings of the daylight still in the sky. Advices welcome!

What was your ISO and shutter?
You shouldn't need any daylight at all for your shot.
FWIW, I "measurbate" to calculate what I want. I'll pump my ISO up to 1600 and open my aperture to f4, and see what my meter says I should have my shutter at (this is in M mode). Then I drop my ISO and up my shutter, and then calculate again to get to a decent aperture (usually around f8 or 10).

HTH

Originally Posted by zweiblumen What was your ISO and shutter? You shouldn't need any daylight at all for your shot. FWIW, I "measurbate" to calculate what I want. I'll pump my ISO up to 1600 and open my aperture to f4, and see what my meter says I should have my shutter at (this is in M mode). Then I drop my ISO and up my shutter, and then calculate again to get to a decent aperture (usually around f8 or 10). HTH

Yesterday I was shooting with ISO 1600, manual mode, using shutter speeds 25" and 30" and moving the aperture until I got EV -1, 0, +1. Noise, noise, noise. I'm using EOS 20D and relying on its metering. Maybe I need much wider bracketing?

Will try your measurbate method (not sure if I understood it correctly, though , english is my second language), thanks for advice!

Originally Posted by Pexi Yesterday I was shooting with ISO 1600, manual mode, using shutter speeds 25" and 30" and moving the aperture until I got EV -1, 0, +1. Noise, noise, noise. I'm using EOS 20D and relying on its metering. Maybe I need much wider bracketing? Will try your measurbate method (not sure if I understood it correctly, though , english is my second language), thanks for advice!

If your EV is 0 at ISO 1600 with shutter speed of 30", you can change it to ISO 800 with a shutter speed of 60", or 400 for 120". I'd try ISO 200 for 4 min... I'm pretty much a beginner, but that is what has worked for me.

Can't wait to see your shots!

Here's my second try.



EXIF


EXIF

The most difficult part about this assignment was trying to bring the image into focus. Auto focus does not work in these situations because there is nothing for the camera to focus on. Next time I'll bring a bigger flash light to illuminate my bag to focus on.

I must admit that the camera has an amazing ability to pick up light and colors in the darkest situations.

Originally Posted by MooreDriven Here's my second try. The most difficult part about this assignment was trying to bring the image into focus. Auto focus does not work in these situations because there is nothing for the camera to focus on. Next time I'll bring a bigger flash light to illuminate my bag to focus on. I must admit that the camera has an amazing ability to pick up light and colors in the darkest situations.

Very nice, thank you very much!
Yeah, flashlight helps. Another thing is a general knowledge of the fact that at f/8 you get hyperfocal fairly quickly (unless you're using a very long lens), so you can simply do manual focusing by the lens' scale.

Originally Posted by Nikolai Another thing is a general knowledge of the fact that at f/8 you get hyperfocal fairly quickly

Being a noob, I was not aware of that this tidbit. I took a few shots at f/8, but the lens I was using did not capture enough light at f/8 @ 30 sec.

Hey, but that's why you have these assignments, to learn!!

Exif embeded. Not a good picture I think.

Originally Posted by Antonio Correia Exif embeded.

And the idea is that every single dgrinner has to download the image, open it in EXIF aware tool and only then get basic info? Why is adding few lines so hard?

EXIF
I like this one. Too short exposure may be ??...

Originally Posted by Antonio Correia EXIF I like this one. Too shot time may be ??...

Date Taken 2007-10-14 18:58:39 Exposure Time 10s Aperture f/22.0 ISO100

Antonio,
this assignment is *not* about a long exposure .
It's about shooting in what an untrained human eye percieves as a "pitch black" environment.
A 10 sec shot taken at 7 pm, ISO 100 at f/22 hardly qualifies (compare to my sample taken at 10 pm, iso 800, f/4.5 and 30 sec)

Originally Posted by Nikolai Antonio, this assignment is *not* about a long exposure . It's about shooting in what an untrained human eye percieves as a "pitch black" environment. A 10 sec shot taken at 7 pm, ISO 100 at f/22 hardly qualifies (compare to my sample taken at 10 pm, iso 800, f/4.5 and 30 sec)

And what about the other one I posted ?
Just an EXIF comment ??