jp4712
Member
- Joined
- 1 May 2009
- Messages
- 471
I have always been a bit of a night photography hound, you can get so much atmosphere. Take a look at a few of mine at http://www.railphotoarchive.org/album_viewer.php?aid=730&tpp= .
There has been some good advice here; a tripod is an absolute must, small ones are perfectly serviceable and very cheap. Compact DSLR or whatever, you simply can't keep the camera steady enough in your hand at any exposure slower than1/15th second to get a sharp photo.
If you have a compact camera, there's a good chance that you can't control the ISO. It may have a 'night' mode, but be very cautious in using it: it may reduce the yellow tone, but it may actually INCREASE the ISO in order to get more light into the camera; so leading to the problems of grain and 'noise' referred to earlier. If this is so, play around with the settings to see what comes out best.
Unless you're a pretty advanced night phottist, DON'T use flash. It over-lights the foreground, very harshly, and therefore the rest of the shot disappears into inkyness. This shot DID use flash, but it was five flashguns fired remotely! http://railphotoarchive.org/rpc_zoom.php?img=1174020442000
If your compact has a 'manual exposure' setting, make it the longest that it will accept - on many of my shots in the link above, the exposure was 30 seconds or more.
You don't necessarily need a remote shutter release when you're a beginner - Compact cameras rarely accept them anyway. What you can do is to use the 'delay' setting, the one that people use when they put the camera on a wall to photograph themselves. Doing this means (I'm assuming that you've invested in a tripod) that when the shutter opens, the camera is perfectly still. Pressing the button on the camera to start the exposure, even pressing it as lightly as you can, inevitably moves the camera slightly and spoiling the shot.
If you can, get Photoshop or at least Photoshop Elements. This will enable you to do post-processing, which can make a huge difference. You can eliminate the yellow cast you get from sodium lamps; you can correct parts of teh shot that were under- or over-exposed. It's not hard, I taught myself.
Lastly, experiment. You'll make a Horlicks of most shots, but in the digital age that doesn't matter; just delete it and so another one.
Oh, one more 'lastly'! Every time I go on a station in the evening to take photos, I go to the Station Manager's office to tell them I'm there, assure them that the photos are for non-commercial use etc. But the station staff are very suspicious of tripods as they could be a trip hazard on the platform at night, so be very careful to make sure that you keep your tripod away from busy areas. And never, but never, photograph a train that is being driven using flash because it temporarily affects the driver's night vision.
Hope that helps
Paul
There has been some good advice here; a tripod is an absolute must, small ones are perfectly serviceable and very cheap. Compact DSLR or whatever, you simply can't keep the camera steady enough in your hand at any exposure slower than1/15th second to get a sharp photo.
If you have a compact camera, there's a good chance that you can't control the ISO. It may have a 'night' mode, but be very cautious in using it: it may reduce the yellow tone, but it may actually INCREASE the ISO in order to get more light into the camera; so leading to the problems of grain and 'noise' referred to earlier. If this is so, play around with the settings to see what comes out best.
Unless you're a pretty advanced night phottist, DON'T use flash. It over-lights the foreground, very harshly, and therefore the rest of the shot disappears into inkyness. This shot DID use flash, but it was five flashguns fired remotely! http://railphotoarchive.org/rpc_zoom.php?img=1174020442000
If your compact has a 'manual exposure' setting, make it the longest that it will accept - on many of my shots in the link above, the exposure was 30 seconds or more.
You don't necessarily need a remote shutter release when you're a beginner - Compact cameras rarely accept them anyway. What you can do is to use the 'delay' setting, the one that people use when they put the camera on a wall to photograph themselves. Doing this means (I'm assuming that you've invested in a tripod) that when the shutter opens, the camera is perfectly still. Pressing the button on the camera to start the exposure, even pressing it as lightly as you can, inevitably moves the camera slightly and spoiling the shot.
If you can, get Photoshop or at least Photoshop Elements. This will enable you to do post-processing, which can make a huge difference. You can eliminate the yellow cast you get from sodium lamps; you can correct parts of teh shot that were under- or over-exposed. It's not hard, I taught myself.
Lastly, experiment. You'll make a Horlicks of most shots, but in the digital age that doesn't matter; just delete it and so another one.
Oh, one more 'lastly'! Every time I go on a station in the evening to take photos, I go to the Station Manager's office to tell them I'm there, assure them that the photos are for non-commercial use etc. But the station staff are very suspicious of tripods as they could be a trip hazard on the platform at night, so be very careful to make sure that you keep your tripod away from busy areas. And never, but never, photograph a train that is being driven using flash because it temporarily affects the driver's night vision.
Hope that helps
Paul
It's a Hama Omega Premium 2, will let you know how I get on with it soon...
