Night Photography
Discussion
Tried some startrails tonight. I can't understand why the foreground seems so out of focus compared to some of the others on here. Do I need to take a final shot of the foreground with a different focus setting? I'm setting the lens to infinity manually and using starstax to blend the images.
Any info/advice appreciated. Also, how do you prevent the lens from fogging up and do I need to be concerned about the moisture affecting the camera long term?
Any info/advice appreciated. Also, how do you prevent the lens from fogging up and do I need to be concerned about the moisture affecting the camera long term?
ben_h100 said:
Tried some startrails tonight. I can't understand why the foreground seems so out of focus compared to some of the others on here. Do I need to take a final shot of the foreground with a different focus setting? I'm setting the lens to infinity manually and using starstax to blend the images.
Any info/advice appreciated. Also, how do you prevent the lens from fogging up and do I need to be concerned about the moisture affecting the camera long term?
Fogging happens when the dew point is reached and you ave a reasonable humidity. Can be staved off by keeping the lens front above the dew point temperature, using dew straps (heaters) or handwarmers attached to the end of the lens.Any info/advice appreciated. Also, how do you prevent the lens from fogging up and do I need to be concerned about the moisture affecting the camera long term?
Not sure about the focus, check one frame see how it is, might be not enough depth of field, or too far towards infinity focus etc.
ben_h100 said:
I can't understand why the foreground seems so out of focus compared to some of the others on here.
The other thing is you have plants in the foreground, as you are layering layer upon layer, if they have moved at all in the wind you'll get the movement there in your image which will make them look out of focus.If you want you can add one further layer after the stack of the foreground you want and put a mask on top of it to allow your star trails to show through above the foreground
Chris
ben_h100 said:
Tried some startrails tonight. I can't understand why the foreground seems so out of focus compared to some of the others on here. Do I need to take a final shot of the foreground with a different focus setting? I'm setting the lens to infinity manually and using starstax to blend the images.
Any info/advice appreciated. Also, how do you prevent the lens from fogging up and do I need to be concerned about the moisture affecting the camera long term?
Looks v wide angle so should have sufficient depth of field, even at a wide aperture. Any info/advice appreciated. Also, how do you prevent the lens from fogging up and do I need to be concerned about the moisture affecting the camera long term?
As Rob suggests, check a single frame (look at the writing on the sign rather than the bushes which may move). Also open the first and last frame at full screen size and flit backwards and forwards between them to see if the camera/ tripod moved at all during the course of the exposure.
Bear in mind under-exposed images can look softer than they really are because of a general lack of contrast and a specific presence of noise.
I try to avoid focus stacking as the shift in lens elements can make it a pain to align the two differently-focussed sets of frames. In the instance above I think I'd have focussed on the sign so that the one bit that people can use to confirm sharp focus is in sharp focus.
Moisture is a pain. I've had no long term problems from the many occasions my gear has accumulated condensation or frozen in the field. Some people use gel hand warmers held in place around the lens barrel to try and overcome the problem; never tried it myself as I imagine it introduces as many challenges as it solves.
Found this person on Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/45tmr/
got some impressive night shots
Rainbows on The Water by 45tmr, on Flickr
Fall In Love With You by 45tmr, on Flickr
got some impressive night shots
Rainbows on The Water by 45tmr, on FlickrFall In Love With You by 45tmr, on FlickrDave46 said:
Found this person on Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/45tmr/
Yeah, plenty of nice stuff on there, thanks for the linkThe light trails are very clean and crisp, whereas mine tend to look a little snotty.. I wonder.. Should I knock down the exposure, then layer more exposures over each other?
Edited by PGD5 on Tuesday 16th December 16:01
Loving my cycle to work at the mo! 
IMG_0137 by Ben Magee Creative Arts, on Flickr
Rowing Lake Pre-Sunrise by Ben Magee Creative Arts, on Flickr
IMG_0137 by Ben Magee Creative Arts, on FlickrRowing Lake Pre-Sunrise by Ben Magee Creative Arts, on Flickr
chrismarr said:
Super clean light trails! I think if you were to zoom in a little, so the building on the right is closer to the frame edge. Correct the verticals, white balance and shoot earlier in the evening when there's a little blue in the sky - then, this would be ace! The location is spot on for this type of shot - good work
Spent a pleasant couple or so hours on the South Bank yesterday evening... came away with these
1S7A9309.jpg by Robert Clayson, on Flickr
1S7A9307.jpg by Robert Clayson, on Flickr
1S7A9213.jpg by Robert Clayson, on Flickr
1S7A9284.jpg by Robert Clayson, on Flickr
1S7A9296.jpg by Robert Clayson, on Flickr
A few more on flickr.
Robert
1S7A9309.jpg by Robert Clayson, on Flickr1S7A9307.jpg by Robert Clayson, on Flickr1S7A9213.jpg by Robert Clayson, on Flickr1S7A9284.jpg by Robert Clayson, on Flickr1S7A9296.jpg by Robert Clayson, on FlickrA few more on flickr.
Robert
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