3. What kind of camera and settings did you use? What time did you start, and how long was the exposure?
I used two DSLR cameras as usual, an old Canon 20D for time-lapse videos (which will be released soon) and a 5D for still shots and panoramas. I have modified my 5D for nighttime imaging. I have replaced its built-in IR-cut filter with an astronomical one, as the original filter cut a lot of stars and nighttime environment lights.
This specific shot is a panorama of four stitched shots all made by a 28mm lens and by one-minute exposure. I have also used a star tracking drive on my tripod to make a bit longer exposure without having startrails [streaks of starlight created by Earth's rotation]. Near the center along the horizon are lights from Argentina's Iguazú Falls International Airport.
I started the session before sunset with setting up everything, and it took a few hours until I got a good result. I was in the area for four nights, finding locations and waiting for clear skies. I was hoping to get much closer to the falls (something like this) but it was too wet with raining mist and the clear sky didn't last long, so maybe next time!
I mostly shoot at night during the winter, and have continued to shoot a fair amount at night even now. I use my D300 most of the time. My favorite night exposure is ISO 800, f5.6, and 1/250. I've been shooting at night for the past 3 & half years. I generally don't like doing star trails, and since most of my subjects are fast moving trains it doesn't work all that well anyway for me.
Hmmmm, really depends what you are shooting! Doesn't say in the post. Digital is a godsend to night time photographers. Make a guess for your particular situation and see what happens. Too dark, add time or ISO. Too bright, then subtract time or ISO.
I was shooting Civil War cannon firings at night. I wanted to get the bright powder trails that shoot out of the cannon and also the plume from the primer hole. Was hoping to have the cannoneers highlighted in their cannon's light. No flash was to be used. It was very dark. Everything in the scene I wanted in focus was pretty much in the same plane. So, first, I chose f/8. I wanted a very good image without high ISO noise, so I selected ISO 400. Now the guesswork was how long to expose. I found that at one second, I could not judge accurately just when the cannon would fire while listening to the commander going through his orders. The men were fairly dark in 1 sec exposures due to this. I adjusted for 2 seconds it was better. However, I was getting better at figuring out when to hit the shutter just before firing. Some of these images were excellent. I then adjusted for 4 seconds. This was out on a plantation field in the dark with very little ambient light, so, all I did was listen for the command, press the shutter and wait hoping that they would fire at around at least 2 seconds. This worked VERY well.
And then you also have to get lucky. No one was suppose to use flash so it would not hurt the cannoneers night vision. Well, during one of my long exposures, someone used a flash a little off to my left. It gave more light on the 4 cannoneers showing their different "poses" and had no effect on the brilliant flash from the cannon - a perfect combination image! These professional re-enactors said this was one of the best night time cannon images they had ever seen and what a wonderful photographer I was! HA!
Oh yeah, I also used a tripod and a shutter release - crucial.
Anyway, don't be afraid to add night shots to your experience. It is really fun, and with digital, you can hone in quite quickly on the settings needed for the particular event.
Oh, those cannon shots can be found here and hover cursor on images and select "INFO" for camera settings. Scroll through the entire gallery for the multiple cannon and rifle nightime shots:
Discussion
4 repliesthe fisch
http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/breakingorbit/2010/05/night-sky-over-iguacu-falls.html
Excerpt from this website:
3. What kind of camera and settings did you use? What time did you start, and how long was the exposure?
I used two DSLR cameras as usual, an old Canon 20D for time-lapse videos (which will be released soon) and a 5D for still shots and panoramas. I have modified my 5D for nighttime imaging. I have replaced its built-in IR-cut filter with an astronomical one, as the original filter cut a lot of stars and nighttime environment lights.
This specific shot is a panorama of four stitched shots all made by a 28mm lens and by one-minute exposure. I have also used a star tracking drive on my tripod to make a bit longer exposure without having startrails [streaks of starlight created by Earth's rotation]. Near the center along the horizon are lights from Argentina's Iguazú Falls International Airport.
I started the session before sunset with setting up everything, and it took a few hours until I got a good result. I was in the area for four nights, finding locations and waiting for clear skies. I was hoping to get much closer to the falls (something like this) but it was too wet with raining mist and the clear sky didn't last long, so maybe next time!
Kent in SD
I was shooting Civil War cannon firings at night. I wanted to get the bright powder trails that shoot out of the cannon and also the plume from the primer hole. Was hoping to have the cannoneers highlighted in their cannon's light. No flash was to be used. It was very dark. Everything in the scene I wanted in focus was pretty much in the same plane. So, first, I chose f/8. I wanted a very good image without high ISO noise, so I selected ISO 400. Now the guesswork was how long to expose. I found that at one second, I could not judge accurately just when the cannon would fire while listening to the commander going through his orders. The men were fairly dark in 1 sec exposures due to this. I adjusted for 2 seconds it was better. However, I was getting better at figuring out when to hit the shutter just before firing. Some of these images were excellent. I then adjusted for 4 seconds. This was out on a plantation field in the dark with very little ambient light, so, all I did was listen for the command, press the shutter and wait hoping that they would fire at around at least 2 seconds. This worked VERY well.
And then you also have to get lucky. No one was suppose to use flash so it would not hurt the cannoneers night vision. Well, during one of my long exposures, someone used a flash a little off to my left. It gave more light on the 4 cannoneers showing their different "poses" and had no effect on the brilliant flash from the cannon - a perfect combination image! These professional re-enactors said this was one of the best night time cannon images they had ever seen and what a wonderful photographer I was! HA!
Oh yeah, I also used a tripod and a shutter release - crucial.
Anyway, don't be afraid to add night shots to your experience. It is really fun, and with digital, you can hone in quite quickly on the settings needed for the particular event.
Oh, those cannon shots can be found here and hover cursor on images and select "INFO" for camera settings. Scroll through the entire gallery for the multiple cannon and rifle nightime shots:
http://www.southeasternphotography.com/History/Hofwyl-Broadfield-Plantation/Hofwyl-Christmas-Event-12-05/10564416_jYF56#741728688_6tPoF
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