What a great write-up and great photos! And thank you for sharing the lessons you learned, helping me (and others) to learn as well. Looks like you had a wonderful trip!
~Laurie~
Canon: 5d Mk III, 5d Mk II, 50d, 50/1.2, 85/1.2, 35/1.4, 70-200/2.8 II, 17-40/4, 24-70/2.8, 100 2.8 macro Laurie Bracewell Photography
Stunning series of photo's for sure. It looks like the workshops are a great deal of fun and a large learning experience.
Any chance you could share some setting on the night time shots. (including how long after sunset etc, moon/no moon)
What a great write-up and great photos! And thank you for sharing the lessons you learned, helping me (and others) to learn as well. Looks like you had a wonderful trip!
Stunning series of photo's for sure. It looks like the workshops are a great deal of fun and a large learning experience.
Any chance you could share some setting on the night time shots. (including how long after sunset etc, moon/no moon)
Cheers
Thanks Mushy.
Doing nightshots definitely has its own challenges.
1. I found it a lot harder to focus at night than during the day. Autofocus dosn't work very well at night, and sometimes not at all, so you'll have to focus manually. Image Stablization is not necessary because...
2. You must use a tripod. Our exposures were anywhere from 30 seconds to 30 minutes, so a tripod is essential.
3. Aperture was set at 5.6. ISO was set at 100. This is to reduce noise.
4. Shutter speed was 30 seconds and longer. Set your shutter speed to "bulb".
5. When you're camera is on bulb the shutter stays open as long as you hold down the shutter button. This will cause camera shake, so use a remote like this one:
6. To further reduce camera shake, enable mirror lockup. On the 5D this is buried deep in the custom functions menu.
7. The longer your exposure the more noisy your image will be. For example, the first "Temple of the Moon" shot was exposed for 5 minutes. The second was exposed for 30 minutes. The second image is much noisier than the first. Enable on-camera noise reduction. On the 5D this feature is also buried deep in the custom functions. The noise reduction process happens after the image is exposed, and will take approximately the same amount of time as the exposure. So if you did a 30 minute exposure, the camera will spend another 30 minutes doing noise reduction, during which time your camera won't function.
8. The technique we used for the petroglyph night shot and the two temple shots is called "painting with light". In the first temple shot we set up our cameras directly in front of the rock, about 200 yard away. Our intrepid leader Marc was positioned to the left of the rock with a high power flashlight. When we hit the shutter, Marc began painting the rock with his flashlight. He did this for about 30 seconds and then turned off the flashlight. We kept exposing for another 4 and half minutes to expose for the background. Because the rock was lit from the side you get light and dark areas, which gives the rock texture. If Marc was standing where the cameras were positioned, the rock would have been frontlit and the rock would have no texture. Because the camera crew and the lighting crew were so far apart we had to communicate by two-way radio.
It was a bit of a trial-and-error process. It took us a while to get the right combination of how long to paint and how long the total exposure should be. The painting should be smooth and even. You can concentrate the light on certain areas, such as in the petroglyph photo. However, you have to keep the light moving to avoid hard edges and "hot spots".
Doing nightshots definitely has its own challenges.
1. I found it a lot harder to focus at night than during the day. Autofocus dosn't work very well at night, and sometimes not at all, so you'll have to focus manually. Image Stablization is not necessary because...
2. You must use a tripod. Our exposures were anywhere from 30 seconds to 30 minutes, so a tripod is essential.
3. Aperture was set at 5.6. ISO was set at 100. This is to reduce noise.
4. Shutter speed was 30 seconds and longer. Set your shutter speed to "bulb".
5. When you're camera is on bulb the shutter stays open as long as you hold down the shutter button. This will cause camera shake, so use a remote like this one:
6. To further reduce camera shake, enable mirror lockup. On the 5D this is buried deep in the custom functions menu.
7. The longer your exposure the more noisy your image will be. For example, the first "Temple of the Moon" shot was exposed for 5 minutes. The second was exposed for 30 minutes. The second image is much noisier than the first. Enable on-camera noise reduction. On the 5D this feature is also buried deep in the custom functions. The noise reduction process happens after the image is exposed, and will take approximately the same amount of time as the exposure. So if you did a 30 minute exposure, the camera will spend another 30 minutes doing noise reduction, during which time your camera won't function.
8. The technique we used for the petroglyph night shot and the two temple shots is called "painting with light". In the first temple shot we set up our cameras directly in front of the rock, about 200 yard away. Our intrepid leader Marc was positioned to the left of the rock with a high power flashlight. When we hit the shutter, Marc began painting the rock with his flashlight. He did this for about 30 seconds and then turned off the flashlight. We kept exposing for another 4 and half minutes to expose for the background. Because the rock was lit from the side you get light and dark areas, which gives the rock texture. If Marc was standing where the cameras were positioned, the rock would have been frontlit and the rock would have no texture. Because the camera crew and the lighting crew were so far apart we had to communicate by two-way radio.
It was a bit of a trial-and-error process. It took us a while to get the right combination of how long to paint and how long the total exposure should be. The painting should be smooth and even. You can concentrate the light on certain areas, such as in the petroglyph photo. However, you have to keep the light moving to avoid hard edges and "hot spots".
Hope this helps.
Thanks heaps Dan, your night shots are stunners and the info will go a long way to me improving my night photography. Now I just need some time to get out and experiment. Sounds like shorter exposures are better for noise and combining multiple exposures is a lot better way to go than just a single hour exposure. I also need to update my cable release to the timer version.
Comments
Canon: 5d Mk III, 5d Mk II, 50d, 50/1.2, 85/1.2, 35/1.4, 70-200/2.8 II, 17-40/4, 24-70/2.8, 100 2.8 macro
Laurie Bracewell Photography
Any chance you could share some setting on the night time shots. (including how long after sunset etc, moon/no moon)
Cheers
Thanks gfxartist! Yes, it was a lot of fun.
www.dkoyanagi.com
www.flickr.com/photos/dkoyanagi/
Doing nightshots definitely has its own challenges.
1. I found it a lot harder to focus at night than during the day. Autofocus dosn't work very well at night, and sometimes not at all, so you'll have to focus manually. Image Stablization is not necessary because...
2. You must use a tripod. Our exposures were anywhere from 30 seconds to 30 minutes, so a tripod is essential.
3. Aperture was set at 5.6. ISO was set at 100. This is to reduce noise.
4. Shutter speed was 30 seconds and longer. Set your shutter speed to "bulb".
5. When you're camera is on bulb the shutter stays open as long as you hold down the shutter button. This will cause camera shake, so use a remote like this one:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/164276-REG/Canon_2476A001_Remote_Switch_RS_80N3.html
Better yet, use a timer that allows you to dial in long exposure settings:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/164271-REG/Canon_2477A002_Timer_Remote_Controller_TC_80N3.html
6. To further reduce camera shake, enable mirror lockup. On the 5D this is buried deep in the custom functions menu.
7. The longer your exposure the more noisy your image will be. For example, the first "Temple of the Moon" shot was exposed for 5 minutes. The second was exposed for 30 minutes. The second image is much noisier than the first. Enable on-camera noise reduction. On the 5D this feature is also buried deep in the custom functions. The noise reduction process happens after the image is exposed, and will take approximately the same amount of time as the exposure. So if you did a 30 minute exposure, the camera will spend another 30 minutes doing noise reduction, during which time your camera won't function.
8. The technique we used for the petroglyph night shot and the two temple shots is called "painting with light". In the first temple shot we set up our cameras directly in front of the rock, about 200 yard away. Our intrepid leader Marc was positioned to the left of the rock with a high power flashlight. When we hit the shutter, Marc began painting the rock with his flashlight. He did this for about 30 seconds and then turned off the flashlight. We kept exposing for another 4 and half minutes to expose for the background. Because the rock was lit from the side you get light and dark areas, which gives the rock texture. If Marc was standing where the cameras were positioned, the rock would have been frontlit and the rock would have no texture. Because the camera crew and the lighting crew were so far apart we had to communicate by two-way radio.
It was a bit of a trial-and-error process. It took us a while to get the right combination of how long to paint and how long the total exposure should be. The painting should be smooth and even. You can concentrate the light on certain areas, such as in the petroglyph photo. However, you have to keep the light moving to avoid hard edges and "hot spots".
Hope this helps.
www.dkoyanagi.com
www.flickr.com/photos/dkoyanagi/
Thanks heaps Dan, your night shots are stunners and the info will go a long way to me improving my night photography. Now I just need some time to get out and experiment. Sounds like shorter exposures are better for noise and combining multiple exposures is a lot better way to go than just a single hour exposure. I also need to update my cable release to the timer version.