Daredevil, thank for you comment and useful link. For the beginner start, I need to read more book relates and useful tutorial in WWW.
Yes, I like to take this kind of view. I normally will use the tripod. Sometime when lazy bring along the tripod I will use my both hand as tripod but I need to try a few times to get the clear view. Too bad for my skill.. :embrass:
Can share your technique shooting night view without using your tripod? Very appreciate...
Thanks....
This is the camera I used for these shots:
For pic #1, I was at the bund in shanghai. I did not have a tripod and the weather is a little fog and very cold (winter). I selected the landscape mode (so aperture will be small). Then I found a small flat brick ledge/wall. I balanced the camera on the flat side. Then I adjusted the view using 2 10cent coins as props. Once the angle is ok, I make sure the camera sits stable. I then set timer mode to 10s. Hit the shutter. After 10 seconds, the camera fire off and after a few seconds, the picture is taken. Long exposure with no tripod and no shake.
For pic #2 and #3, I switched to ISO400, since anything above that will be extremely noisy. Select "Portrait mode" to make the aperture bigger. Use 2 hands to hold the camera, elbows tuck into body, hold very still, hold my breadth and shot the picture.
All the pics I run through Photoshop, crop a little to ASP-C ratio size, adujsted curves for better contrast, boost vibrance (saturation) a little, and run noise reduction. After that, I resize to a small size, and apply "unsharp mask" filter to sharpen the pics. And the posted pics are the results you see. (I added in a signature logo in as well too).
Just know this, if you want pics not to be blur, you must try to achieve 2 things:
1. Camera must be as stable as possible. Better posture, or put on a solid surface or tripod.
2. Shutter speed must be as fast as possible. You want the aperture to be bigger, ISO to be higher.
If you are sure your camera is very stable (on a tripod or on a rock solid surface), you can go for long exposure to get good night lights effect. But make sure you use your camera timer so the camera shake caused by your finger hitting the shutter button is negated.
I also have one of these kind of mini tripods that fit into my pocket. It is the size of 3 ball point pens. Works very well. Better than nothing. Cost a few dollars, and I got mine for free.