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Advice needed on taking evening pictures of illuminated gardens

misiek_knm
Posted 20/10/2009 - 23:46 Link
I need an advice on taking evening / night pictures of illuminated gardens / buildings. I plan to go with family to Brodsworth Hall this weekend and I'd like to take some pictures. Which lens of my set would you recommend (I thought about Pentax-A 50mm and maybe DA 16-45mm). A tripod, obviously (although I only have a very cheap one).

Please, advice on settings I should use - what apertures, times, anything which might be useful. I hope I'll take at least few good pictures
Kind regards,
Michal R. Hoffmann
K20D, DA 16-45mm, A 50mm F/1:1.4, DA 55-300mm; flash Pentax AF240Z
Don
Posted 21/10/2009 - 00:07 Link
use "Indoor" color balance, tripod, set your exposure for the lights inside the buildings, and wait for the light levels at dusk to balance with the interior light levels from the buildings....
rich dark blue skies and perfect lighting from the buildings and car light trails will result.
Fired many shots. Didn't kill anything.
RR
Posted 21/10/2009 - 00:53 Link
Use the self timer if you don't have a remote, this should help reduce any camera movement, especially if your tripod doesn't hold rock steady.

Generally you'd want to use a smaller aperture for greater depth of field but don't forget image quality can degrade at small as well as large apertures so try & play to its strengths. I'd say F8 when at the wider end & maybe F16 when zoomed in. (Of course you may want to isolate subjects with shallower depth of field so feel free to experiment)

Lower iso is always best, especially at night when noise will become an issue in the shadows.

Of course, using a small aperture & low iso will result in longer shutter speed times so make sure your long exposure noise reduction is turned on, it's a pain waiting for it to process but it is effective in producing clean images.
If using a long shutter speed be very wary of anything that may move whilst the shutter is open (blown by wind, people walk by etc.) & you may need to up the iso or open the aperture a little to combat this. Correct exposure is always a balancing act.

Once you're happy with the shots you are getting, don't be afraid to experiment a little, perhaps even use manual settings & manually "test fire" the flash off camera to add an extra dimension to the lighting.
vic cross
Posted 21/10/2009 - 09:46 Link
Tripod, self timer,aperture priority, F8 to start with so you have a fixed reference. First shot let the camera do its own thing. That's the beauty of digital. Now adjust to suit yourself. Adjust one thing at a time until you get what YOU want. No fixed rules just do your own thing.
CHEERS Vic.
Born again biker with lots of Pentax bits. Every day I wake up is a good day. I'm so old I don't even buy green bananas.
misiek_knm
Posted 21/10/2009 - 21:54 Link
Thank you for all advices. I have a cable remote, so this should help.
Don, that's an interesting idea - I wouldn't thought of! I will definitely try this.
With colour balance - I don't have a grey card - what can I use as a replacement - is a sheet of paper OK? But then I'm afraid I can loose on warm colour shades? How can I set the white balance in the best way best indoors then?

I'll start with f/8, ISO 200 and will see how it will go.
I'm afraid I won't be able to experiment too much (going with children), but I'll do my best. I hope I'll have some pictures good enough to upload
Kind regards,
Michal R. Hoffmann
K20D, DA 16-45mm, A 50mm F/1:1.4, DA 55-300mm; flash Pentax AF240Z

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