Night Photography & Long Exposures

Night photography is probably my favourite type of photography, away from the computer, its dark, usually quiet and hardly anyone is about!

Here are the items I recommend that you need:

• Tripod
  Can't really be done without a sturdy tripod. Make sure you clips are closed when the legs are extended, easy to miss when setting up in the dark! A sand bag on a wall/top of car can get you by but does limit you to angles etc.
• Cable release
  A lot of the time I will forget this so am limited to use the longest setting of 30seconds. There are two kinds you can get, a simple one with a lock for bulb setting, or a digital one where you can watch your time, or set the length of the exposure you want. If you don't have a cable release use the self timer to avoid any camera shake, even though over 30 seconds it really shouldn't matter.
• Torch
  To see where you are going! And to light paint foregrounds etc. Be careful not to attract unwanted attention, and be prepared to tell police you are not signaling drug smugglers!
• Timer
  If your cable release doesn't have one use your watch (or simply count!), I find the iPhone too cumbersome, and too bright (which can also attract unwanted attention).
• Warm clothes
  Depends on your location/time of year, but standing around for long periods of time even on a summer night can get chilly.

Here are some samples, with camera settings and any other relevant details.

This was a perfect night, clear sky with a few whiskey clouds and a full money just rising. Any later and the moon would have been too high and would have lit up too much of the sky and taken away from the stars. This a place I drove by in day time and took note of it to return when the right night came along.

Exposure 30 | Aperture f/9.0 | ISO 800

Making use of the city lights against the clouds and the sea at low tide.

Exposure 92 | Aperture f/8.0 | ISO 200

Short long exposure! using a ledge as a tripod, being careful not to knock the camera down the 100 floors!
Exposure 2.5 | Aperture f/2.8 | ISO 200

A somewhat cloudy night. Using a torch to light the rocks in the  foreground, starting half way through the exposure, waving the light along the rocks (from behind the camera).

Exposure 30 | Aperture f/10.0 | ISO 200
A boosted ISO for a change to make use of all the lighting sources - moon, star, city, nearby street lamp, and subjects head-torch.
Exposure 30 | Aperture f/4.5 | ISO 1600

This was dusk, and taken from a bridge. The exposure was limited to 4 seconds as this is from when a car came into sight to when it came on to the bridge and started shaking it too much, ruining the photo.

Exposure 4 | Aperture f/16.0 | ISO 200

Another one of those perfect nights, with clear sky and a few fluffy clouds scattered about. Forgot the cable release, but 30 seconds gave enough time to blur the clouds and waves.

Exposure 30 | Aperture f/2.8 | ISO 200

Going after three subjects in this photo, the stars, the light house, and the foreground rocks lit with the torch.

Exposure 30 | Aperture f/2.8 | ISO 200

A simple one taking advantage of a nicely lit night, with the waves breaking on the shore lit using the torch. 

Exposure 30 | Aperture f/3.5 | ISO 400


Get your cable release (timers) here.
Cheap but the source of my torches!

Nikon unveil new product for their mirrorless range

Nikon has released details of a new product. the LD-1000 (available in black or white), AAA powered, a continuous light source, aimed at close-up photography or for shooting movies from close up, for the 1-Series mirrorless cameras. 

Overview from the Nikon website

Stylish-looking LED light. A flexible continuous light source that’s simple to use, it’s ideal for close-up photography or when shooting movies from nearby. Small and lightweight, you can easily attach the light to the camera or detach it for off-camera use. 

An incredibly handy way to add impact to images, this LED light is freely adjustable, even when used on-camera. Unlike working with a flash, there’s no need to wait until you’ve taken the shot to see if your lighting ideas work. Instead, you can monitor the effect of this continuous light source via the camera’s LCD screen or viewfinder before you shoot.

Key Features

Portable continuous light source: Ideal for close-up photography and a convenient additional light source when shooting movies from close up. Helps avoid flat-looking photos and can help soften shadow areas, compensate for backlight or add depth to colours.

Flexible: Freely adjust the angle of the light even when it is attached to the camera, or shoot with the light off-camera for even more control over the height and distance of the light from your subject.

What you see is what you get: You can see the effect of the LED light on the LCD screen or in the viewfinder before you shoot. This makes it easy to adjust the light’s position until you achieve the look you want.

Diffuser: The LED window is equipped with a diffuser that allows soft, natural-looking shadows and helps reduce strong reflections when photographing shiny subjects.

Stylish portable design: Small and lightweight, this stylish-looking light fits easily into any bag. Available in white or black, it compliments Nikon 1 camera bodies perfectly.

Easy to use: One switch on the back of the light lets you set the strength of the beam to ‘high’ or ‘low’, and turn the light ‘on’ or ‘off’. The light attaches to the camera via the tripod socket and can be easily detached for off-camera lighting.

Compatible with any camera equipped with a tripod socket. Ideal for use with Nikon 1 system cameras and COOLPIX compact digital cameras.

Now call me a cynic but this looks awfully like a €10 torch I have in my camping bag, it even comes with 4 colored "gels", a little adaption of adding a diffuser and a bracket, I might be on to something! 

It definitely swivels on the horizontal, but from the photos I can't see that it swivels on the vertical. I'm sure it provides a strong consistent light source, and good to see it uses AAA's and they didn't go for a unique Nikon battery.

A long time Nikon user, I'm just not really liking this one,I've seen plenty of led panel lights that come with a bracket or attach to the hot shoe for a fraction of the listed price of around the $100 mark. I'm not sure if its something I'd go for. It'll be interesting to see users reviews when its released.

;-)

Available now for pre-order on some sites.