Originally posted by rparmar
That is much better in terms of filling the frame with the subject. The only thing now is to work on focus. My advice for that, in low light, is to develop your ability to manually focus, though this is better done with some lenses than others. You can "focus bracket" by taking several photos with slightly varying focus range, and then pick the best one.
Thanks Rparmar - I actually grew up on manual focus lenses, back in the 80s and for a long time didn't buy autofocus lenses because I didn't trust them! Things are different now with these new lenses, which are so much better, but i agree, manual focus is the way in dark conditions.
Originally posted by Peter Zack
Very good advice from both Marc and rparmar. Night scenes like this need a lower ISO and a tripod. Don't try to get away with hand holding the shots and higher ISO's Let the NR in camera process do it's job and you'll get very good results. The focus bracketing is also much easier on a tripod and will give you good results as well. Plus you can increase the DOF with a smaller aperture if the shutter speed isn't an issue on a tripod.
Peter, this shot was handheld. You talk about tripod, man I had so much trouble with just a Gorilla Pod - they took it off me in so may places that I just left it in the hotel.
I was going to start a thread after coming home entitled 'Why are we surrounded by idiots'? As much as I tried to explain to them about the Gorilla Pod, they wouldn't listen and to avoid any further unpleasantness, I just gave in.
Rant over.
Cheers.