Some tips/techniques if possible...

[CB2152]

Last week I was able to pick up a brand new Nikon D5100, 35mm 1.8f prime lens, and SB400 external flash for next to no money at all. Having wanted a DSLR for a while but not being able to justify the expenditure I jumped at this chance.
I've also just bought a tripod and mini tripod for low light conditions...

I know enough to know what most things on the camera do, and that I need a tripod for a surprising amount of stuff, but I'm just not very good yet

I'm hoping to go out tonight when it's dark and play around with the camera and accessories by photographing a couple of cars...so....

What tips/advice would you give regarding lighting, composition, camera settings for this sort of thing?

I'm also slightly familiar with photoshop (albeit PS Touch on iPad) if there's any advice around that?


Thank you!

[MysteryLemon]

Depends what kind of pictures you are after, but in general, you'll benefit from shooting in M mode and you may need to use manual focus too as most cameras will struggle to focus in the dark.

If the car is the main focus of the image then you will most likely want to shoot low ISO. The lower the better really for less noise, although this will mean longer exposure times. Shooting high ISO can bring benefits to the picture though as you will be able to pick out details such as stars a lot easier, but there will be more noise. Depends what you are going for.

Make sure the tripod is nice and sturdy. If you havent got a remote shutter release, use the cameras timer so you can press the shutter button and have the camera still when it actually starts the exposure. Without the timer, you might blur the image slightly when pressing the shutter button.

Shoot in raw to avoid the camera applying excessive noise reduction. Infact, go through the menus and turn it off, although worth leaving long exposure NR on. This will double the exposure time but can really help clean up the picture and will help avoid hot pixels. Shoot raw and you can apply the noise reduction you want to the image in post processing.

Try posting some examples of the sort of image you want to take and we'll probably be able to advise better.



I shot this the other week whilst out trying to get something totally different. Kept the ISO high (800 iirc) so that I would capture detail in the sky (mainly stars) but even this was a 30 second exposure. Baring it mind it was pitch black with no street lighting and only the moon to light the scene. I used a torch to light the car for the camera to lock focus, although could have just focused manually.

Edited by MysteryLemon on Sunday 19th January 14:01

[CB2152]

This is the sort of thing I would like to work towards:






Thanks

[MysteryLemon]

Results like those may have used multiple lights or flashes to light the car correctly. You can achieve similar results with a single flash head or a torch and simply walk around the car, firing off the flash to light the car how you want. You'll need a nice long exposure to allow you to do it without being picked up by the camera but it's doable.

Someone else with more experience with this method will give you some pointers in a bit no doubt.

[CB2152]

That'll be something to try, thanks

[budfox]

I'd suggest that before trying to be too clever, learn the basics. Look at how the holy trinity of aperture, shutter speed and ISO work in relation to each other.

Get the idea of depth of field, and how it varies between different focal lengths and different apertures.

Learn composition too. Spend time looking through the viewfinder without taking photos.

[CB2152]

I know how they relate to each other and what those bits do in theory, it's just the issue of making it look good...

The composition tip isn't something I'd have thought of doing though. I tend to just take pictures quite quickly. The point and shoot habits I guess...

[Simpo Two]

It might be easier to get to grips with photographing things in light before you try darkness.

The examples you see above are indeed 'cars in the dark' but they've been carefully thought out from the start, not snapped.

[ExPat2B]

Cars in the dark - its a tough first project. Lots of good advice above about usinga torch to light the car etc. The challenge is getting the car and background perfectly exposed, as they require different settings for optimum results. I personally would cheat and create an hdr image from 2 images, one with a 20 sec exposure with no flash at iso 800 or thereabouts ( hard to give exact setting as light pollution makes a huge difference ) to get the background stars ( 20 sec will mean they are not too blurred ) and moonlit /streetlit landscape, and one with the flash and a short exposure at iso 200 to get the car lit up with lots of lovely reflections and high lights from the flash. See if you can get the flash off camera and firing into a long rectangular softbox high up if at all possible for optimum reflections. . Then composite the two together with photoshop.

Also you need to stop down the 35mm to f11-8 or so. It has great low light capability at f1.8 but it has a wafer thin depth of focus which is not what you usually want on a car shoot.

Edited by ExPat2B on Sunday 19th January 20:24

[CB2152]

As ever, PH delivers good advice

I went to an empty car park (which I know isn't the best setting) with a good (read patient) friend and managed to have a decent play around with the different settings to determine different results.

Didn't stay for too long as it felt like my thumbs were about to fall off due to frostbite, and while it was his car we were using as a subject I didn't want to give anybody hypothermia...

I'll have a look through the results and post some tomorrow.

Thanks

[CB2152]

Ok, these are straight from camera. Photobucket is probably not the best for uploading, but hopefully it's clear enough






One thing about which I am quite curious, is the star type thing that's going on with all the lights. I used a very narrow aperture on these, so is that what could be causing it?

I know they're not that bright, I could have stayed longer and got slightly brighter ones but as I said, I wanted to keep my fingers

These are probably the two best, the others were quite dark or not composed so well.

Of course, constructive criticism welcome, thanks

[Simpo Two]

CB2152 said:

One thing about which I am quite curious, is the star type thing that's going on with all the lights. I used a very narrow aperture on these, so is that what could be causing it?

Yes, it's a function of the iris blades.

As for the rest, homework is lighting and composition:

Lighting. You have to view the background and the subject as two different things and light each accordingly. You can't light the background so that uses ambient light (in this case a long exposure) and then you have to think how to light the subject, which you can control.

Here the background is just too dark - try dusk when there's still a little light in the sky.

Composition. Top one could lose some foreground; headlights to close to background lights. Lower one - seems to have its butt stuck in the air; car leads you straight to ugly bus shelter. You're looking at the subject but not the whole scene.

Main problem really is that you're taking on to much in one go

[CB2152]

Simpo Two said:

Yes, it's a function of the iris blades.

As for the rest, homework is lighting and composition:

Lighting. You have to view the background and the subject as two different things and light each accordingly. You can't light the background so that uses ambient light (in this case a long exposure) and then you have to think how to light the subject, which you can control.

Here the background is just too dark - try dusk when there's still a little light in the sky.

Composition. Top one could lose some foreground; headlights to close to background lights. Lower one - seems to have its butt stuck in the air; car leads you straight to ugly bus shelter. You're looking at the subject but not the whole scene.

Main problem really is that you're taking on to much in one go

Excellent, thanks.

In terms of the composition of the top image, would I be looking at angling the camera upwards slightly?

I know about the bus shelter in the background of the second, not ideal really and not something I'd normally have there. That's just where we pulled up and it was getting cold at that point

[Simpo Two]

CB2152 said:

In terms of the composition of the top image, would I be looking at angling the camera upwards slightly?

I'd have tried standing up. The position of the camera is as important as the way it's pointing. As for the foreground, it can be cropped off later; photos don't have to be the same aspect ratio. Use position, direction, focal length (angle of view) to create composition. That said, you can't make every scene lovely - sometimes it's better to move on and find a better one.

CB2152 said:

I know about the bus shelter in the background of the second, not ideal really and not something I'd normally have there. That's just where we pulled up and it was getting cold at that point

Ah well there you have it!

[masher22]

I'm looking forward to next weekend especially when the photos come out that good when the car isn't even clean, it wasn't really a matter of patience, I've always been a keen photographer I've just never had the kit to do it