Night Shots without tripod

[Snoweagle]

Hi CSers,

I have been pondering over this issue and would like to know how you guys actually manage night shots without tripod. Assuming doing a walkabout shots around some low litted areas.

Do you,

1) Pump up the ISO to 1600 or 3200 and use a faster shutter speed to prevent shakey hands

2) Use the standard ISO of 200 to 500 but use a longer shutter speed. ( I guess u would need a unshakeable hand to do this )

3) Use normal settings with flash ( No idea on outdoor flash but do you use flash if you want to preserve the lightings effect? My knowledge of flash is only indoor. )

I believe there is still a few more combi to actually attain higher exposure for some situation. But i would like to know the right way of doing it. Appreciate any inputs or comments on my thread. Thanks.

1) Higher ISO means more noise.

2) Longer shutter speed - Unless u're a walking tripod in which no one can do this handheld, unless u place the camera on something.

3) If u're shooting night scenes or cityscapes, even if u've the most powerful flash in the world with flash extender is of no use at all.

So don't be lazy if u want to take nice shots of night scenes, bring out a tripod and a cable release.

 

[puraime]

if tripod is not an option (even the lightest and smallest). shoot creatively. haha.

i tried with my newly acquired used 35mmf2 with 800 and 1/5. pretty ok. haven't tried in lounge areas. if flash is allowed, shoot with flash on frenz then blur out the background with f2 and maybe 1/2second or longer. wider angles is easier to handhold. on my tammy17-35mm i shoot at 17mm f2.8, up to 1 sec with alot of help, shoot from my lap/bollard with right angle finder. i believe f1.4 lenses will be easier(i don't have any.)

i've tried 1600 outdoors, colours is an issue, with the rainbow grain and the street light is like super hard to get the white balance right. my kelvin increment's quite drastic on my d80, i use 3600k or even 2700k, black+white is awesome, i go all the way to 3200, pass off as film grain =).

anything to help stabilize is great. i shot from benches, dustbins, traffic lights, railings or even cars at f9 with remote. right angle finder is a great help, i use handphone to change the angle of the lens haha!.

 

[shunzi]

i use tripod to protect myself in the dark
:bsmilie:

 

[calebk]

It's not the camera that counts.

Shot without a tripod.

 

[puraime]

It's not the camera that counts.

Shot without a tripod.

calebk stabilized.

 

[yehosaphat]

without tripod but on railing

 

[calebk]

without tripod but on railing

Smart.

When there is a lack of a tripod, find the next best thing.

 

[alan22]

wow a lot of valuable inputs coming in. Ya alternative method will be using rails, curbs or platforms.

 

[RichardSeah]

wow a lot of valuable inputs coming in. Ya alternative method will be using rails, curbs or platforms.

I have written an entire photo essay on this, and it got published by JPG Magazine. First and most important thing - buy a new camera that can take pixs at ISO with relatively low noise, eg Fuji S5 Pro (which is what I use) or some of the new Nikon models like D300, D700, D3 etc.

Read the rest of it here:
http://www.jpgmag.com/stories/7097

 

[calebk]

I have written an entire photo essay on this, and it got published by JPG Magazine. First and most important thing - buy a new camera that can take pixs at ISO with relatively low noise, eg Fuji S5 Pro (which is what I use) or some of the new Nikon models like D300, D700, D3 etc.

Read the rest of it here:
http://www.jpgmag.com/stories/7097

You have some good points, but long exposure without a tripod, or other support, solely relying on handholding and high ISO is quite an impossibility. Sometimes, you want to have a long exposure for the purpose of telling a story, or to add to the aesthetic value of the photo, and without a tripod or relevant support, you can't do that. I dug up an article written by Ken Rockwell on how "digital killed his tripod", but I think that it is quite narrow to say that because of the advent of digital and clean high ISO, we can now not use tripods for night photography ever again.

 

[wildsoyabean]

1) Higher ISO means more noise.

2) Longer shutter speed - Unless u're a walking tripod in which no one can do this handheld, unless u place the camera on something.

3) If u're shooting night scenes or cityscapes, even if u've the most powerful flash in the world with flash extender is of no use at all.

So don't be lazy if u want to take nice shots of night scenes, bring out a tripod and a cable release.

is cable release necessary?
can use timer right

 

[RichardSeah]

You have some good points, but long exposure without a tripod, or other support, solely relying on handholding and high ISO is quite an impossibility. Sometimes, you want to have a long exposure for the purpose of telling a story, or to add to the aesthetic value of the photo, and without a tripod or relevant support, you can't do that. I dug up an article written by Ken Rockwell on how "digital killed his tripod", but I think that it is quite narrow to say that because of the advent of digital and clean high ISO, we can now not use tripods for night photography ever again.

Of course looooong exposure (say, longer than 1/10 second) without tripod is not possible (unless you want camera shake).

But with high ISO, long exposure is no longer needed in many cases, unlike with film or early days of digital, when maximum practical ISO is usually 400.

And of course tripod has its uses for special effects, like you say, "to add to the aesthetic value of the photo." Even in bright daylight, tripod has its uses.

Nobody, I believe not even Ken Rockwell, is saying that we will never ever again need to use tripod. Just that in many cases, no longer needed.

 

[RichardSeah]

is cable release necessary?
can use timer right

Depends what you are shooting, right? Whether you must shoot at the exact moment (eg action pixs) or can delay a few seconds ie things that don't move ....

 

[Snoweagle]

is cable release necessary?
can use timer right

A timer remote release is costly and to me, pure waste of money.

 

[RichardSeah]

A timer remote release is costly and to me, pure waste of money.

Huh? What timer remote release?

I believe we are talking about ordinary cable release (no timer involved) vs self-timer in the camera - which is "free" (already paid for when you buy the camera).

 

[eagletay]

One example of my tour to hongkong, i was surprise to see so many DSLR users doing freehand shots. And i also realise some of the PNS cameras win hands down when comparing shots with my SLR. ARrrgghh a super long way to go for my photography hobby

This is what I cannot understand too....
Why is it that Pns wins via SLR when night shooting using hands...

Any one care to enlighten us?

 

[Simon_84]

can make use of prime lens as well.

 

[puraime]

This is what I cannot understand too....
Why is it that Pns wins via SLR when night shooting using hands...

Any one care to enlighten us?

I think pns does not really win hands down. I'm assuming hendheld shot. Cos most point and shoot have f2.8 on their lenses, they are pretty fast compared to the kit lens in dslr. But if you have a prime or a fast zoom then dslr is better.

 

[yehosaphat]

Also pns has many of those in-camera processings like IS, noise control, sharpening, etc while DSLRs generally do not have but allows the photographer to better control over the things you want to do.

 

[Snoweagle]

Huh? What timer remote release?

I believe we are talking about ordinary cable release (no timer involved) vs self-timer in the camera - which is "free" (already paid for when you buy the camera).

There are cable releases which have built-in timer for u to set the time u want to expose in bulb mode, after which it will cut off automatically.