Help on night shots please

[HarveyDarkey]

I live in a very small town so I have no lighting except that on the object I'm trying to photograph. It's a courthouse clock on a circa 1850's building. Here are the best two I've taken, scene setting "illuminated night scene". It was on a tripod:





And here are some sucky ones: (trying for closer)

[HappyCynic]

1. A few comments

I'm nowhere near as experience as some others on this board but here's my input.
The "sucky" ones appear to be partly due to shaking. I've tried a few night shots myself and I've noticed that there are a couple things to be aware of.
1. Environmental vibrations/disturbances. Traffic can sometimes cause a bit of shake if the tripod is relatively lightweight and fully extended. Wind can also be a factor. If you have a lightweight tripod, you can try not extending it all the way. It'll be a little more awkward closer to the ground but it should be more steady. If possible, try to make sure no cars are passing by when you take the shot.
2. Pressing the shutter button causes a shake. If you can, use the timer. 2 seconds is okay, 10 is better. Set the self timer, press the button, and let go. This will give the camera some time to settle and remove any shaking of your hand as a factor.

Others will probably give you more (and most likely better) advice.

[Adsos Letter]

2. Actually, I think your advice on the 10 second timer is spot on.

probably no need to be concerned about something moving between you and the object in that type of shot.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

3. does your camera have a manual setting?

if so, that will be better than the pre-set

set it for f8 and try several exposures.... 2sec, 4sec, 8sec see which one is better and adjust your speed and f stop from there

also, if you don't have a remote, the timer advice given above is good

oh, what camera is it anyway?

[HappyCynic]

4. EXIF data

HarveyDarkey kept the EXIF data in the photo so it appears the camera is an Olympus E-500. lens at f4, 77mm, iso 100.

[HarveyDarkey]

5. exactly

Like I said I'm just learning digital, and obviously have a LOT to learn.

What is the EXIF data, and how do you "see" it?

[HappyCynic]

6. EXIF data

The EXIF data is basically information stored with the photo on the camera and settings used to take the photo. You can see it by right-clicking on the image and looking at the image properties. Since you were asking for advice, it worked out well that you left it in. Normally, the photos are processed and the exif data is removed so that more of the 200 KB we reduce the photo to is used for image quality. I'm not sure what you're using to resize your image but if you're using IrfanView, here's a mini-tutorial:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=280x64152

Hope this helps.

[HarveyDarkey]

8. I don't see the EXIF data when I right click

Just get URL, image size etc. Nothing about the camera. IrfanView is a windoze program, unfortunately doesn't work with Linux.

[JeffR]

9. If you're using Firefox as your browser, this might work for you:

http://www.opanda.com/en/iexif/

I think it's platform-independent.

One thing that came to mind when looking at your photos is that you could stop down to f/8 or so to get a deeper depth of field. The spire looks pretty sharp toward the top, but the clock face isn't, and I think it's not just camera movement that accounts for it. You'll probably have to up your ISO to compensate for the smaller aperture.

[HarveyDarkey]

10. Unfortunately it's also only for windoze

It's weird, my film cameras were (are) totally manual, except for the light meter. I still carried a hand held light meter anyway. ISO was easy, just change cameras, both had different films but lenses were interchangeable. Now I'm learning a whole new technology, where button pushing in the dark (at least for this shot) is required. I'm still trying to figure out how to get all the manual settings where I want them in a timely manner.

Here's the subject from a different angle in the daylight:

[HappyCynic]

7. Learning

Don't worry about having a lot to learn. We're all still learning to one degree or another. I too still have a lot to learn. Everyone here has been really helpful to me when I picked up digital photography. So don't hesitate to ask for help whenever you need it.

[ManiacJoe]

11. Some excellent advice already.

Using the self timer is an excellent idea if you do not have a cable release. Along those same lines, if you camera supports a mirror-up option prior to talking the shot, give that a try also. (The self timer removes camera shake due to you pressing the shutter release, the mirror-up adds a delay to lessen the shake due to the mirror movement.

The exposure is going to be a little difficult as a single shot. The clock face is really bright compared to the roof and tower walls. Try using the histogram to adjust the exposure to as far right as possible without clipping the highlights (to capture the most data), then adjust the exposure in post-processing as needed.

The focus seems to be a bit off. Given the poor lighting conditions, you might want to use the center focus sensor instead of one off to the side -- if that is what you did -- since the center sensor is always the best one in the lower end cameras. (You can then do so cropping in post-production to improve the artistic composition.)