Looking for Advice

[kc9fsh]

I’m fairly new to the world of shooting with a DSLR so I’d appreciate it if some of you could give me your opinions on the following shots along with what you think I could have changed to possibly make the photos turn out better.

Thanks for any input!

[caradoc]

What do you feel is “wrong” or could be “improved” for these images?

[jpatten]

They look great to me, though in the second image it looks like the lens could use a little cleaning maybe, otherwise they look great. especially the first one

[soosh]

You’re dealing with some pretty difficult lighting situations. What sort of lens are you using? What’s your f-stop, ISO, and exposure time in those shots? Do you have a filter on the lens? Are you using a lens hood?

[kc9fsh]

What do you feel is “wrong” or could be “improved” for these images?

I like the images however other people have told me that they don’t think they are good pictures. When I would ask them why they couldn’t come up with anything. I basically wanted other opinions on them.

You’re dealing with some pretty difficult lighting situations. What sort of lens are you using? What’s your f-stop, ISO, and exposure time in those shots? Do you have a filter on the lens? Are you using a lens hood?

Here are the settings.

First shot:
ExposureTime : 34.00Sec
FNumber : F6.3
ISOSpeedRatings : 100

Second shot:
ExposureTime : 30.00Sec
FNumber : F10.0
ISOSpeedRatings : 100

Third shot:
ExposureTime : 31.00Sec
FNumber : F8.0
ISOSpeedRatings : 100

Fourth shot:
ExposureTime : 20.00Sec
FNumber : F13.0
ISOSpeedRatings : 100

Right now I’m just using the lens that came with my Rebel XT, it is a 18-55mm lens and I am not using a lens hood. I am using a UV filter, but that is mainly just to protect the lens.
I could probably bump up the ISO speed, and have started to experiment with that a bit, but I am trying to avoid getting the grain that typically comes with the higher ISO speeds.

I am just starting to look into another piece of glass but I need to do more research on that and save up the money.

[soosh]

for night stuff, take off the filter. That’s a ~ $100 lens, and you’ll likely get a lot less flare. I wouldn’t go up any higher with ISO. If anything, I would try to get those same shots a little less exposed. Are you shooting in manual mode? I’d back it off to about 1 stop under-exposed from what you have and see how that works. It looks like you’re trying to get long exposure streaks. If that’s the case, a Neutral Density filter may help you keep the long exposure times without washing out the scene. You can go a lot darker with your dark areas and the lights will stand out more.

If you’re not shooting in Aperture priority or Manual mode, try switching to that. I shoot probably 80% of the time in aperture priority, only switching out to manual when I want to go to bulb or otherwise beyond what the camera thinks I should do.

I do most of my night shooting with a Tokina 12-24mm f/4 lens that I absolutely love. When it’s too wide, I use a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 Both of these lenses are phenomenal, and if you can afford them, I highly recommend them.

Also the f-stop will have a huge difference in the kind of halo you get from lights. Play around with all different settings. I rarely go beyond f/16, because then diffraction can be an issue and introduce fuzziness in the scene.

[kc9fsh]

for night stuff, take off the filter. That’s a ~ $100 lens, and you’ll likely get a lot less flare. I wouldn’t go up any higher with ISO. If anything, I would try to get those same shots a little less exposed. Are you shooting in manual mode? I’d back it off to about 1 stop under-exposed from what you have and see how that works. It looks like you’re trying to get long exposure streaks. If that’s the case, a Neutral Density filter may help you keep the long exposure times without washing out the scene. You can go a lot darker with your dark areas and the lights will stand out more.

If you’re not shooting in Aperture priority or Manual mode, try switching to that. I shoot probably 80% of the time in aperture priority, only switching out to manual when I want to go to bulb or otherwise beyond what the camera thinks I should do.

I do most of my night shooting with a Tokina 12-24mm f/4 lens that I absolutely love. When it’s too wide, I use a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 Both of these lenses are phenomenal, and if you can afford them, I highly recommend them.

Also the f-stop will have a huge difference in the kind of halo you get from lights. Play around with all different settings. I rarely go beyond f/16, because then diffraction can be an issue and introduce fuzziness in the scene.

Thanks for all the tips! I’ll try to get out sometime this weekend and experiment a bit more.
I didn’t even think about taking the filter off at night but what you are saying about lens flare makes complete sense and after looking at the second shot I posted it shows pretty well.

If I get a chance to go out this weekend I’ll post up a few more pictures.

Thanks again,
Tim

[caradoc]

for night stuff, take off the filter.

I’d add that putting a lens hood on will also help control lens flare and ghosting.

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