[tokyoso]

What's a good filter to use at night, when there are both lighted and unlight parts of a scenery?

I don't want the star cross effects, but just something to reduce the bright spot lights, etc. or enhance dark areas?

Is multiple exposure the only way to go?

[Ben_Edict]

If you want to bring brightly lit areas down in brightness, you could simply try a ND Grad filter, quite like you do during the day, to bring for example sky brightness down.

BUT at night you probably have some intense highlights (streetlights) in the frame or just outside your field of view and using filters at night is a recipe to produce flaring and ghosting in my experience. I usually even unscrew the UV filter from my lenses for night shots, which often makes a very visible difference.

Ben

[bymy141]

I agree with Ben that using filters at night is a recipe for introducing flare.
Although it very much depends on the filter used.

Have a look at: UV filters test - Introduction - Lenstip.com to see the differences.
It is a good guide for selecting protective filters. Good filters are not cheap and expensive filters are not always good.

You will see in the individual tests the flare results of the filters.
Unfortunatly , filters are not "just another piece of glass" that you can screw on your lens without any negative influence on IQ!

- Bert

[saintabroad]

Shooting at night with the bright lights in frame is akin to shooting at day with the sun in frame. The bright (relative to ambient) point source will produce flares and washouts.

So do as you would if the sun were in frame, ie. close up the aperture (and adjust the shutter speed for correct exposure).

If you want the absolute best night shots, go out in a full moon and use a blue filter for the street lighting. You'll end up with a beautifully contrasty B&W shot and will be able to experiment with shallow FODs (wide apertures).

[PentaJP]

I don't have any experience implementing this by myself, but Scott Kelby, in his Digital Photography Book 3, recommended removing any filter from your lens when shooting night scenes. If I remember correctly, this would improve tone (or dynamic range) of dark areas. This is something a guy like me who always put a UV/protective filter on lenses would not find by himself.

[saintabroad]

Digital Photography Book 3 p.180
When it comes to shooting at night, this is the one time when the limited ultraviolet (UV) rays work against us (potentially giving us washed out images), and that's why many pros suggest removing your UV filter at night.

That's just retarded. The reason you don't put a UV filter on a digital camera is because it does nothing except throw reflections into your lens.

[Ben_Edict]

That's just retarded. The reason you don't put a UV filter on a digital camera is because it does nothing except throw reflections into your lens.

This scott Kelby sentence is utter nonsense - a contradiction in itself. You are ofcourse right.

Ben

[tokyoso]

I usually have a kenko PRO1D filter on, but I will try without it after reading the responses here.


thanks again!

[Ben_Edict]

I usually have a kenko PRO1D filter on, but I will try without it after reading the responses here.


thanks again!

I use exact these filters myself and got very noticeable reflections in night shots.

Ben