Wonderful. Do you mind me asking what ASA, shutter speed and aperture you were using? Your shutter speed was obviously long enough to capture the lights, but not so long as to blur the stars. A matter of fine judgement...

Paul

Yeah, really enjoyed this. I'm finding programmes like this increasingly interesting these days. That drama documentary about Bailey a few months back ("we'll take manhattan") was also really good.

Paul

Ok normally I have found pentax matrix metering very reliable, however I think shooting a goth gathering may be one of the most extreme tests to which to subject it, with all that dead white skin and funereal black clothing. Which is probably why your camera meter struggled.
If you look at each image and assess the amount of drak tones vs light tones in each image, you may be able to see a pattern in what your meter is doing. I would expect the images with the largest amount of drak tones and the least light tones to be the ones where the overexposure of skin is the worst. Any number of articles on how matrix metering works to explain this one.
Some specific suggestions -
Firstly are you shooting Raw or Jpeg? There'll be a huge contrast range in your subjects and Raw would definitely help, you'll have 12 or 14 bits rather than 8 bits per channel to play with.
Secondly as you found later in the session, spot metering off the skin would help (or exposure lock).
Thirdly, check the histograms.
Fourthly, bracket!
Now out of ideas, hope some of this helped....

Paul

I have an ND10 filter from B+W (german). You can get some nice effects with it, but of course -
- once you fit it you can't see anything through the viewfinder, so you need to use the camera on a tripod (which you'll need anyway, since the exposure times are so great) frame the shot and then fit the filter.
- the filter lets in so little light that the autofocus won't get a lock, so focus with the filter off, fit the filter, switch to manual focus and don't touch the focus ring!
- the meter may or may not give a sensible reading so be prepared to switch to manual mode and check the histogram
- most "big stopper" filters have a colour cast, so shoot RAW and you'll have more room to play around when you correct in post processing.
I'm sure others will have more to contribute.
I'll post an example image from the other day in the gallery.

Cheers

Paul

Good idea. I'm in Stalybridge in the western peak but will try to join if dates work. Advantage of January is that sunrise not too early and sunset not too late!

Paul

What a lovely series, nice idea.

Paul

Hi Gwyn and at the risk of a slight hijack of Bjorn's thread, that was exactly the type of real world feedback I'm looking for, thanks for that. I guess the difference is that the camera will be static on a tripod for maybe up to hours (if I get lucky!) so plenty of time to chill. Spare batteries definitely on the agenda, may even make an external battery DC supply.

Paul

Hi Bjorn, if you get your K5 soon, I would be really interested in learning how you get on with it photographing the aurora. I have a trip planned in Feb 2013 to Abisko in northern sweden with the objective of photographing the aurora. I have a K5 and I'm looking to get a fast prime to go with it for the trip. Temps in abisko can go as low as -20c overnight and Pentax tell me the k5 is only rated to -15! Not sure what the nighttime temps are where you are, but really keen to gather any hints and tips to make the most of my trip, so looking forward to hearing how you get on.
I'm sure other forum members would be keen to see images, so keep us posted and good luck!

Paul

Last year and earlier this year I was doing a lot of work for an upcoming climbing guidebook (due out in around a month). So as publication date was approaching I suggested to the guidebook editors that I do an article for a climbing mag, they agreed, the mag editor was happy to publish, and the magazine has just hit the shelves. So 6 pages of words and pics in the Oct issue of Climber magazine, all pics shot on my trusty Pentax gear, most used the 16-45 because it's an awesome lens for climbing photography.

I'll stick one of the pics in my gallery (this one will also be the guidebook front cover shot).

Paul

Thanks for the feedback Mike. Like your aurora photo on your Flickr site BTW. Insulated cover....hmmm., sounds like a large tea cosy!
Haig mount is powered via a stepper motor needs 12v, if car is nearby then I can run an LV extension lead and go off the car battery.

Paul