Help with night photos of my e30

[bmw_guy 0]

Needing some help on tips on night shots. Wanting to take some semi profesional looking photos of my e30.

Cheers any help would be much appreciated

Brook

[Yuen 16]

Hi Brook, firstly what camera do you have, does it have a manual mode? And you will definitely need a tripod.

[bmw_guy 0]

Hey i have a panasonic lumix and a fujifilm one, cant member model. Yes manual mode and yes tri pod

[Yuen 16]

Ok, put it on S (shutter priority) and play around with the shutter speed, to find the correct exposure. Set it to the lowest ISO possible to reduce noise.

Worst come to worse just flick it on to night scene mode and focus on the area you want to expose for (ie: but you may overexpose the headlights if they're on).

Unfortunately at the end of the day small cameras with their small sensors will never get the pictures a DSLR can, but I'm sure you can still work on maximising your camera's capabilities.

[bmw_guy 0]

i thought you increase the iso at night? night mode is average as aye. real bad. i need like an slr or a real expensive canon 50d haha, if all fails ill take them in the day. its for a media assigment

[Yuen 16]

You would increase the ISO at night if you didn't have a tripod and were shooting a moving subject. But I'm assuming you're using the tripod and your car will be stationary - you will get the best quality pictures with that setup.

[Driftit 1968]

You wont get good night photos without an SLR. Pointnshoots have very limited ISO and shutterspeed settings. If any at all. Your also best to use a tripod or you will get a heap of blur.

[bmw_guy 0]

ok cheers for that i will try it, and it needs to be well lit i assume? like my profile pic was the best result i could get. and im not happy with it

[darkwolf 0]

ISO: This is the sensitivity ti light. It is best as low as it will go as a higher ISO can make the photo look grainy. So do things like increase the lighting around the subject or increase your exposure time. (My Fuji F5700 allows me to take a 2second exposure which is really cool for taking photo's of light bulbs )

Exposure: This is how long the CCD is exposed for. Increasing this allows for better light. Decreasing it allows for better speed. Too slow and you will overexpose the photo (looks all white and washed out). Too quick and it won't be exposed long enough.

I'm a complete amateur with my camera. But this is the understanding that I have. I rarely if ever use automagic modes. Luckily my camera allows me to set a lot of things (but with in set limits). Also often you can take a photo and improve it via programs such as photoshop and fireworks due to the fact that what it looks like on the screen of your camera isn't at all what it looks like when printed.

[Guest Spottswoode]

On a Nikon, use S, on a canon, use TV. Full manual mode is almost too sensitive, though I'm sure Josh will disagree!

I was taking some mack photos of vegas skyline at night using a 15 second exposure, ISO100 and an aperture of about f/5.

Play around with the settings and take HEAPS of photos. The only way you're going to get better with an SLR is practice practice practice!

Also, set the camera up for a small time delay, as even the act of pressing down the button can ruin a photo.