I car-camped up on Mount Evans a few nights ago, and watched a magnificent electrical storm pound the northern Denver suburbs. I'm not sure if the Canon 5D has a bulb setting, but the lightning was so constant that I just set the camera on 30-second exposures @ f8 or so and fired away. Every shot I took had at least one strong bolt in it. The weird glow is from the city lights illuminating the underside of the cloud deck. I had some noise issues with these long exposures (most of which is cropped out from the top portion), but the meat of the image was generally noise-free.
Posted by Mark Aultman on July 13, 2006 at 9:13 PM
The 5D does have a bulb setting...it's the 'B' on your dial
Did you turn on the Long Exposure Noise Reduction? If not, you can find it in the Custom Settings, option #2, I believe. That really does a great job of holding back noise, although I think under these circumstances you'd still see some.
At any rate, I'm glad somebody was able to capture that show. I wish I'd been somewhere other than work that night
Thanks Mark. I didn't think of that! I just scrolled the wheel in manual mode and it stopped at 30-sec. I forgot about that setting on the dial! Also, I have the noise-reduction CF set on auto, but I probably should've turned it on full for these shots.
Thanks, Dan. I did increase the blacks at the bottom to get rid of noise, since I didn't need any detail down there.
Just for fun, you might try one of the noise reduction programs, such as Noise Ninja or the other one, which I use and whose name escapes me right now. They are absolutely fantastic at reducing noise. In fact, I've taken several 6MP capture FINE JPEG images and enlarged them to 20x30 with no problem. Probably could have gone even bigger. Check it out if you get the chance.
Todd,
I did similar exposure with xt with noise reduction ON, the noise is not as bad. May b it off in your case...nice image.
Posted by Scott Buckel on July 14, 2006 at 2:09 PM
Todd - I really like this image. The reflections on the bottom of the clouds is great.
I was wondering were was the white balance set on this - is it for the sodium vapor lights? What color were the clouds to you eye? For me night photography with film has a very different feel than with our digital these days.
Discussion
7 repliesDid you turn on the Long Exposure Noise Reduction? If not, you can find it in the Custom Settings, option #2, I believe. That really does a great job of holding back noise, although I think under these circumstances you'd still see some.
At any rate, I'm glad somebody was able to capture that show. I wish I'd been somewhere other than work that night
Thanks, Dan. I did increase the blacks at the bottom to get rid of noise, since I didn't need any detail down there.
Just for fun, you might try one of the noise reduction programs, such as Noise Ninja or the other one, which I use and whose name escapes me right now. They are absolutely fantastic at reducing noise. In fact, I've taken several 6MP capture FINE JPEG images and enlarged them to 20x30 with no problem. Probably could have gone even bigger. Check it out if you get the chance.
Ken
I did similar exposure with xt with noise reduction ON, the noise is not as bad. May b it off in your case...nice image.
I was wondering were was the white balance set on this - is it for the sodium vapor lights? What color were the clouds to you eye? For me night photography with film has a very different feel than with our digital these days.
Scott