Advice needed on taking evening pictures of illuminated gardens
rich dark blue skies and perfect lighting from the buildings and car light trails will result.
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.
CHEERS Vic.
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
Michal R. Hoffmann
K20D, DA 16-45mm, A 50mm F/1:1.4, DA 55-300mm; flash Pentax AF240Z
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535 posts
16 years
Grantham,
UK
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
Michal R. Hoffmann
K20D, DA 16-45mm, A 50mm F/1:1.4, DA 55-300mm; flash Pentax AF240Z