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A cool crisp Evening
Posted By: daacon, 11-23-2007, 10:08 PM

Now I know some of our southern neighbors may think this is freaking freezing but for here , this time of year it was about 2 degrees (Celsius - about 36 F) - a cool crips evening and well above the norm

While I like the photo I am wondering how do you get everthing in focus for night photography? Should I crop more of the river ?

Tamron 28-75 - 33mm - f4 - ISO 400 - 2.5s

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11-23-2007, 10:24 PM   #2
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Man... I really love this image. You braved the cold and came away with a winner.

Question: Did you use a tripod/monopod/some other support mechanism?

I don't see any noticeable noise in the black sky. What a great testament to the Pentax.
11-23-2007, 10:46 PM   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by JamesD Quote
Man... I really love this image. You braved the cold and came away with a winner.

Question: Did you use a tripod/monopod/some other support mechanism?

I don't see any noticeable noise in the black sky. What a great testament to the Pentax.
Thanks James ! I quite like it as well and I think it was worth the effort. Not too cold but a shirt , hoodie and coat kinda weather. Yes I did use a tripod - no way I could have hand held that shutter speed.
11-24-2007, 08:22 AM   #4
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I woke up this morning and it hit me Spot Metering left on from the moon shot the night before - Damn I gotta get better at the pre-check stuff !!

11-24-2007, 08:29 AM   #5
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I like the photo. I went out this morning in Rhode Island with temps below 0C. I like the cold better then the heat (can always dress up more).
I like the reflections in the river but would crop up to the largest reflecting pool. I think the rest of the photo is in focus. On the few night shots I have tried, I find the manual focus is better and sometimes try a few, then magnify in the camera to check focus and adjust. Small flashlight to show the lens setting helps when using a tripod and your hands are freezing.
11-24-2007, 09:29 AM   #6
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I love night shots like this, Dave. This one looks cool (no pun intended) to me. I've not done much night shooting, and my results are uneven. I'll be happy when I can make pictures as good as this one.

I'm not sure I could brave the cold - although I'm from Illinois and lived in the North most of my life, my blood has thinned considerably since I moved to Texas 12 years ago.

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11-24-2007, 12:33 PM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by weatherwise2 Quote
I like the photo. I went out this morning in Rhode Island with temps below 0C. I like the cold better then the heat (can always dress up more).
I like the reflections in the river but would crop up to the largest reflecting pool. I think the rest of the photo is in focus. On the few night shots I have tried, I find the manual focus is better and sometimes try a few, then magnify in the camera to check focus and adjust. Small flashlight to show the lens setting helps when using a tripod and your hands are freezing.
Thanks weatherwise , I am sure Rhode Island has it's fair share of winter (more snow anyway than we normally get here) I agree with the crop suggestion thanks. And I also agree with I would rather be on the cool side than warm. At 2 degrees hands kept pretty warm not a big deal. I love taking night shots , it is just getting up the ambitition to go out there and do it (leaving the warm comforts for home !)

QuoteOriginally posted by Sailor Quote
I love night shots like this, Dave. This one looks cool (no pun intended) to me. I've not done much night shooting, and my results are uneven. I'll be happy when I can make pictures as good as this one.

I'm not sure I could brave the cold - although I'm from Illinois and lived in the North most of my life, my blood has thinned considerably since I moved to Texas 12 years ago.

Jer
Thanks Jer - I hear ya on being climatized. My Dad a true Canuck living though 55+ Canadian winters has for the last 15 or so years wintered in Arizona and it seems he leaves for the south a little bit earlier every year ...can't wait for my turn ! And I am sure you brave the cold again - but why would ya ?

11-24-2007, 12:54 PM   #8
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Great shot, Dave, well worth braving the elements. Tell me, that is ice in the foreground isn't it? We dont have anything like that.
11-24-2007, 12:58 PM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by Bramela Quote
Great shot, Dave, well worth braving the elements. Tell me, that is ice in the foreground isn't it? We dont have anything like that.
Thanks Bruce yes indeed while we have been without any snow so far this year (that has stayed anyway) it is cold enough for chunks of ice to float down the mighty North Saskatchewan river !
11-24-2007, 01:47 PM   #10
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That is a really nice photo Dave,
know how you feel about that spot metering left on. I also need to pay attention to pre checking. Did a bunch of stuff at iso 400 the other day left on from the previous day.

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11-24-2007, 03:30 PM   #11
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Thanks Heinrich . Like the Stop / Drop and Roll mantra we (at least I do) need to practice a Stop / Review and Adjust before any shutter pressing
11-25-2007, 08:55 AM   #12
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Very nice shot. I to have suddenly got the urge to shoot some night shots around town. Your has really inspired me to get on it.
11-25-2007, 09:55 AM   #13
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Hperfocal distance

QuoteOriginally posted by daacon Quote

While I like the photo I am wondering how do you get everthing in focus for night photography? Should I crop more of the river ?

Tamron 28-75 - 33mm - f4 - ISO 400 - 2.5s
Hi Dave,

What matters is the focal length and the aperture, nothing else. You can look up the rough distances on a hyperfocal distance chart.

In this case (based on your focal length and aperture), everything would be in focus from roughly 25-30 feet and beyond. Longer focal lengths need higher apertures to keep the majority of the image in focus. For example, sports shooters at night don't often go above F4 or F5.6 because of the shutter speed vs. higher ISO noise issues. The bonus is that they isolate the subject better with a 300-400mm lens. That's why the ultra wide angle lenses are so good for landscape photography, since they have a higher DOF due to a shorter focal length... but sometimes you want to isolate a foreground object with a soft OOF mountain ridge in the background, so it requires a different focal length lens.

Just do a Google Search for "DOF Calculator" and that will get you started... DOFMaster.com has an OK chart, but this will get you started


"Find the lens' focal length on the horizontal axis. Read up to the f-number to find the hyperfocal distance at that f-number. For example, the arrows on the chart above illustrate how to read the hyperfocal distance for a 50mm lens set to f/16."

The above doesn't cover any focal lengths above 100mm, but I often shoot isolated shorelines with 115-135mm. Since it's so far away (150 + feet), Hyperfocal distance doesn't really matter very much! This information is critical for landscape photography, and it's something I cover in a general sense with the class I teach. It can quickly becoming confusing for a newcomer! I keep a more basic version in my bag as a reference.

Let me know if this is not clear, and I'll do my best to explain.

It's nice to see winter in Canada again, BTW... thanks for posting...

Regards,
Marc
11-25-2007, 10:31 AM   #14
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I was going to post basically the same thing when Marc's excellent explanation was added. To add just a bit more, the limiting factor in the shot is that you're opened up too much (aperture). With Night shooting the meter can only give you proper exposure information up to 30 seconds. So now you have to do some estimating and bracketing of a certain shot if you need more than 30 seconds to get the exposure.

So to try and get more of the image (or all of it) in focus you need to stop down the lens and have a longer shutter speed. So here's what I would do faced with the same shooting situation. If f4, 25 seconds is about right according to the meter then I'd go down 4 stops (f16) and lengthen the shutter speed by the same 4 stops or so. Back in the film days I did this alll the time and took notes. The beauty of todays DSLR's is you can look at the LCD and tell more or less if you gave it enough time or need to add/subtract more. Do it enough and you'll be able to shoot this sort of stuff without too much trouble.

Just to add a little to Marc's great info. You set the lens at 33mm. The definition of Hyperfocal distance is that if the lens is focused to the Hyperfocal distance, then everything from half that distance to infinity is in focus or within the depth of field. So at 33mm f16 the hyperfocal distance is 7.5 feet. The DOF range will be about 4 feet to infinity. That way everything in your shot would be in focus.

The only other issue might be that the river water could be more blurred since you may have the shutter open for a much longer time. But that might create an interesting effect as well.

BTW, Love the shot!!

Last edited by Peter Zack; 11-25-2007 at 02:42 PM.
11-25-2007, 11:10 AM   #15
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Thanks Marc and Peter !! - I will give all that great advice a go next time I get out at night. I might try tonight but it is Grey Cup today and there may be some pop's consumed which would negate any driving out to snap some shots
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