Weekly Assignment #54: Midnight sun

Nikolai

Call me stupid, but when I saw what my camera got me after 30 second exposure in what seemed to be a pretty much dark Montana night, I seriously reevaluated everything I knew about the night shooting. The result essentially was a day shot - but with some very dramatic colors, interesting shadows, deep blue skies and the stars in them...:deal

This week assignemnt is going to be just that: get the night shot that would look almost like a daytime one. All you need is a camera on a tripod and a long exposure. If you don't have a tripod simply use the avaliable resources: car hood/roof/trunc, staircase, some street fixture. FWIW, this shot was taken at ISO800 and only 30 sec (I couldn't use remote cable due to some hardware incompatinility issues).

One shot per entry. Please provide the EXIF data/link and as much of the byline info as you deem needed. Moderate postprocessing is OK. Fresh shots only, as always.

Let's get some midnight sun!

Antonio Correia

Good photographer + better equipment = better pictures !

evoryware

Beautiful shot Nik. Can't wait to see what my XTI can do in NY. Have to head upstate for this one.

Nikolai

evoryware wrote:

Beautiful shot Nik. Can't wait to see what my XTI can do in NY. Have to head upstate for this one.

You don't have to go upstate, urbanscapes could be as beautiful, methinks :-)

richtersl

That was a positively AWESOME photo, Nikolai!

Nikolai

richtersl wrote:

That was a positively AWESOME photo, Nikolai!

Thanks!
Now let's see if you can get yours :-)

anwmn1

I haven't been able to get out of work until it is dark lately so this might be doable. I have been awol from assignments for a few weeks- see if I can get something.

Antonio Correia

I don't have the 40D. At least yet.
This is the best I can do far.
Exposure for 30 seconds. What do you think Nikolai ?

Would you prefer more country side than urban scape ?
The sky is very dark these days. No Moon, no clouds. Nothing.
And it is rather late in the evenning...



EXIF

Nikolai

Antonio,

Antonio Correia wrote:

I don't have the 40D. At least yet.
This is the best I can do far.
Exposure for 30 seconds. What do you think Nikolai ?

Thank you!
Now, let's review the goal: "get the night shot that would look almost like a daytime one".
My question for you is: does your entry look like a dayshot?

As to the 40D, you know what the say: "it's not the camera, it's what you do with it"

HTH

Antonio Correia

Nikolai wrote:

Thank you!
Now, let's review the goal: "get the night shot that would look almost like a daytime one".
My question for you is: does your entry look like a dayshot?

As to the 40D, you know what the say: "it's not the camera, it's what you do with it"

HTH

Indeed, it does not look like daytime but I can't do better this time.

Sorry. I was aware of that daytime, but I can't do it.

Nikolai

Antonio Correia wrote:

Indeed, it does not look like daytime but I can't do better this time.
Sorry. I was aware of that daytime, but I can't do it.

Hint: avoid ANY lightsources or well lit areas. Use long exposures, and, if no bulb is possible, crank up ISO (mine was at 800:-).

HTH

zweiblumen

Works better on clear nights with full moon ...
However, this is what I was able to get tonight. It was almost 100% overcast and started raining around 8:30pm here. Sunset was at 6:36 tonight according to www.weather.com for me. Also, these aren't the greatest photos as there's nothing particularly photogenic in my neighborhood... Standard suburbia.

First shot taken at 7:11pm

EXIF

Next shot taken at 7:28pm

EXIF

ETA: Additionally, in response to what Nikolai said about avoiding lightsources. It's helpful but you can get around it. I'm less than 5 miles from Baltimore City, so we have a LOT of light pollution, and on overcast nights like tonight you can see by the light from the city even out here. Thus my blown out sky even on a night shot :bash

Nikolai

zweiblumen wrote:

However, this is what I was able to get tonight. It was almost 100% overcast and started raining around 8:30pm here. Sunset was at 6:36 tonight according to www.weather.com for me. Also, these aren't the greatest photos as there's nothing particularly photogenic in my neighborhood... Standard suburbia.

First shot taken at 7:11pm

EXIF

Next shot taken at 7:28pm

EXIF

ETA: Additionally, in response to what Nikolai said about avoiding lightsources. It's helpful but you can get around it. I'm less than 5 miles from Baltimore City, so we have a LOT of light pollution, and on overcast nights like tonight you can see by the light from the city even out here. Thus my blown out sky even on a night shot :bash

Travis, thanks!
I like the hint of the color in the sky in the 1st one.
Yes, definitely, full moon & clear sky help, but in suburbia you can actually use the light pollution and the overcast as you primary light source.
Can I ask for a favor of taking some shots later at night? I mean, 1 hour after the sunset you can still get th eglimses of the past day sun, while somewhere around 9pm or later you are already on your own...

schmoo

Nikolai wrote:

Can I ask for a favor of taking some shots later at night? I mean, 1 hour after the sunset you can still get th eglimses of the past day sun, while somewhere around 9pm or later you are already on your own...

I've never seen him grab his camera and run out into the night so quickly until he met you and Dgrin, Nikolai.

It's almost 11 PM!

zweiblumen

Nikolai wrote:

Can I ask for a favor of taking some shots later at night? I mean, 1 hour after the sunset you can still get th eglimses of the past day sun, while somewhere around 9pm or later you are already on your own...

I was planning on going back out, just needed to wait for the rain to stop

But the sky was so overcast it really didn't make a difference. This is almost exactly the same shot (as close as I could get with a guess), and instead of bumping the exposure in ACR I just kept the shutter open for 30 more seconds.
The biggest difference is I got excess light from a car that stopped in front of the church lighting up the underside of the one tree. I'm going to also do this on a clear night I think that'll make the biggest difference.... Maybe I can find someplace where there are stars (stupid light pollution!)

Taken at 10:44

EXIF

Oh yeah, and there was 0 break in the clouds so no purple, just the orangey-blue

Nikolai

schmooo wrote:

I've never seen him grab his camera and run out into the night so quickly until he met you and Dgrin, Nikolai.

It's almost 11 PM!

Cool, that's the spirit!

Nikolai

Travis,

zweiblumen wrote:

I was planning on going back out, just needed to wait for the rain to stop

But the sky was so overcast it really didn't make a difference. This is almost exactly the same shot (as close as I could get with a guess), and instead of bumping the exposure in ACR I just kept the shutter open for 30 more seconds.
The biggest difference is I got excess light from a car that stopped in front of the church lighting up the underside of the one tree. I'm going to also do this on a clear night I think that'll make the biggest difference.... Maybe I can find someplace where there are stars (stupid light pollution!)

Taken at 10:44

EXIF

Oh yeah, and there was 0 break in the clouds so no purple, just the orangey-blue

Thanks, man, that's great entry!
I love the deepness of the foliage!
Can you imagine what it would be on a clear moony night?

Nikolai

More examples (again from Montana)
St.Mary river between 10 and 11 pm

zweiblumen

Nikolai wrote:

More examples (again from Montana)
St.Mary river between 10 and 11 pm

Many Glacier at 9:30 (exif says 11:30, but I didn't reset the time for going to Montana)

MooreDriven

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


EXIF

This one has had some heavy PP because I used an ISO of 200. I was not aware of the assignment until after I returned home, otherwise I would have taken it with a higher ISO.


EXIF

Dale

Nikolai

Dale,

MooreDriven wrote:

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...

MooreDriven wrote:

...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!

Pexi

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


EXIF

Nikolai

Pexi wrote:

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?

Pexi

Nikolai wrote:

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

Nikolai

Pexi wrote:

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 ...

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.

Nikolai

Pexi wrote:

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...

Pexi

Nikolai wrote:

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!

MooreDriven

Nikolai wrote:

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.

zweiblumen

Pexi wrote:

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

Pexi

zweiblumen wrote:

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!