[325 Baller]

My friends and I are going to Miami tomorrow night to take pictures and I was wondering what setting and such my Nikon D40x should be on to get good pics. The pics will be taken with light from the city in the background and a couple bridges with lights in the background and also a couple parking garages. If you could reccommend a good setting to use and a proper way of taking these pics that would be superb...im a night time photo newb..sorry

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by 325 Baller

My friends and I are going to Miami tomorrow night to take pictures and I was wondering what setting and such my Nikon D40x should be on to get good pics. The pics will be taken with light from the city in the background and a couple bridges with lights in the background and also a couple parking garages. If you could reccommend a good setting to use and a proper way of taking these pics that would be superb...im a night time photo newb..sorry

OFF THE TOPIC
Did you spot a AW e90 in Boca that is all MODDED -- lights, exhaust...looks like 330? Looks like the person lives off 18th St (PB Farms or so). Do you know who it is?
Thanks

[Sniz]

I would recommend a high f-stop (11-15) and you 100% need a tripod, best using a remote so you dont move the camera when releasing the shutter. Also use ISO 100 for the least noise.

From there play w/ your shutter speeds and see what gets the best lighting. If you go w/ a long shutter speed (10 seconds +) you will start to see some very interesting lighting patterns in the sky from the aura created by the city lighting. I love night time photography.

here is a shot I took in Montana last Thanksgiving. It was in a residential area so it has some ambient light that would not be there out in the back country. It was a 30 minute exposure so you can see the stars rotating on their cirucular pattern, very cool.



here is a shot of the 90th street bridge in Ocean City, MD

[TurboFan]

Wow, I think I'd take a different approach, but it depends what you want to accomplish.

What are you trying to shoot? That will help us answer you.

If the subject is stationary, you can go with a higher f-stop, but that will dramatically increase exposure time. I'd be shooting more wide open, around f/4 to f/8.

On the D40x, you can shoot ISO 400 w/o much problem. You may even get some good results at ISO 800, but it could get noisy.

And no matter what, USE A GOOD TRIPOD. A good tripod is one that is pretty beefy, and isn't going to move in the breeze. Legs will run you $50 or more, and the heads start at close to $100 these days.

[325 Baller]

Ya Im pretty sure I have one it should do...non motion car pics with various backgrounds is the purpose...3-4 cars total.

[OC Guy]

What length/focal length are you shooting at? Do you want the background to be as clear/sharp as the car? Are you looking for Bokeh?

Tripod is a must, remote not necessary. Use a timer on your camera so you don't get shutter shake when pressing the button.

[TurboFan]

For still car pics, try a variety of settings - it will be heavily dependent on the ambient light. One thing I've noticed is if the car lights are on, they blow out the exposure. The photo in my sig was taken with the lights off, and with about 5 seconds to go on a 20 second exposure (at about f/8 I think), I hit the unlock button. Experiment with this.

I use a lot of f/8 to get a good balance between large depth of field and a reasonable shutter speed. Also, most lenses are sharpest around f/8, +/- a couple stops.

Another fav trick is a hella powerful spot light and paint the car. Again, with a 20-30 sec exposure, use the spot light to "paint" the car with the shutter open. Cool effects can be had. Experiment!!!!

[Sniz]

painting the car can be really cool. If you can, use a LED light source, more natural light but you need to play w/ white balance to get it right.

This shot was taken using the ambient light where my car was located. Shot came out very sharp but took over 10 seconds to work. Obviously a different background would be cooler, but I was just playing around.

[Sniz]

Here is what I mean by the lights from a city creating some very interesting lighting. This was taken from my back deck which is probably 10 miles from Frederick, MD so the light you see in the sky is from the city. Depending on the lights, you will get different colors.

[Sniz]

Originally Posted by TurboFan

For still car pics, try a variety of settings - it will be heavily dependent on the ambient light. One thing I've noticed is if the car lights are on, they blow out the exposure. The photo in my sig was taken with the lights off, and with about 5 seconds to go on a 20 second exposure (at about f/8 I think), I hit the unlock button. Experiment with this.

100% agree on lights being on blowing out the exposure. See the photo I posted above from my deck, you can see a few homes in the bottom left that had their exterior lights on, they are blown out.

This is a heavily cropped shot but it shows lights on the car on during the shot, just shoot a lot and see what works best for you and your lens. Thats the beauty of digital, it costs you the same to take 10 shots as it does 100.

[scottwww]

There are more cars at night over here:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ighlight=night

[D-Rock]

I took these tonight. Sorry to thread jack . ?

[Sniz]

nice shots! Beautiful city

[TurboFan]

Cool night shots. Great opportunity for an HDR image.

[D-Rock]

Thanks alot guys !!!!