Exposure for Night View

[Colin Southern]

Just had a look at my D7100 manual. It seems there are two options. "Bulb" require you hold the shutter button down for the duration either manually or with a remote. "Time" operates in the way that you describe with the shutter button being depressed twice, once at the start and once at the end of the exposure. It raises the Q of why you would need both options. The "Time" option would seem to fit most situations.

Thanks John,

Not sure to be honest - perhaps it's for compatibility with intervalometers?

[Hui Song]

1. Your photo is similar to the work of friend and former member Yan Zhang (his website is here) - you might get some inspiration from it.

Hi Colin,

I am glade that you mention Yan Zhang. Actually, when I decided to learn photography last August, I came cross Yan Zhang's pictures at photo.net. They immediately caught my attention. Those pictures take me to another peaceful fantasy world. I went on to search him more at google and found the "In conversation with .... Yan Zhang". It is that interview leading me to CIC.

Yan's pictures and his story are true inspiration to me. I know that landscape / architecture photography is my passion. Right now, I am still learning the basic of the camera, lightroom and photoshop. Hopefully, I can master some basic techniques within 2 years as Yan Zhang did in 2007~2009.

[Hui Song]

Just had a look at my D7100 manual. It seems there are two options. "Bulb" require you hold the shutter button down for the duration either manually or with a remote. "Time" operates in the way that you describe with the shutter button being depressed twice, once at the start and once at the end of the exposure. It raises the Q of why you would need both options. The "Time" option would seem to fit most situations.

That is the same as I get from my D600 manual. You used the "Time" or "--" option with remote shutter release and use the "bulb" speed option press the shutter release button on camera, right? I have not gotten my remote yet. Does the remote also work with the "bulb" speed?

[Colin Southern]

Hi Colin,

I am glade that you mention Yan Zhang. Actually, when I decided to learn photography last August, I came cross Yan Zhang's pictures at photo.net. They immediately caught my attention. Those pictures take me to another peaceful fantasy world. I went on to search him more at google and found the "In conversation with .... Yan Zhang". It is that interview leading me to CIC.

Yan's pictures and his story are true inspiration to me. I know that landscape / architecture photography is my passion. Right now, I am still learning the basic of the camera, lightroom and photoshop. Hopefully, I can master some basic techniques within 2 years as Yan Zhang did in 2007~2009.

Just leave him a message on his blog, and that'll go straight through to him as an eMail. Point him to your first photo and tell him "Colin says it's payback time "

He's done really well - I'm impressed. He's over this way (in my area) in a few months and we plan to meet up. I'll just be annoyed with myself if he gets better photos than me in my own back yard!

[Hui Song]

2. Camera metering of night scenes is complex; the dynamic range of the scenes are usually extreme and the camera will normally try to protect the highlights, which are often pin light sources, with the result that everything else is under-exposed. Using camera metering for a night scene is usually a no-win situation, so normally you need to take an experimental/analytic approach (as you've done), and for scenes like this, needing to combine separate images is common (you did a great job of that). Probably the only in-camera approach that may have worked would be to use a GND filter, but it's likely that the results still wouldn't have been as good.

4. Get to know bulb mode; it's your best friend at night. If you DO want to use camera metering as a starting point, max out the ISO until you get a reading, but don't take the photo; work backwards and then use bulb mode at a lower ISO (high ISO modes reduce the dynamic range that the sensor can record). eg if the camera is suggesting 15 seconds @ ISO 3200, working backwards, that's 30 seconds at ISO 1600, 1 minute @ 800, 2 minutes at 400, 4 minutes at 200, and 8 minutes at 100 - so you'd then try 8 minutes @ ISO 100 in bulb mode, and go up or down from there.

5. I have quite a lot of low-light / night-time work in my landscape galleries; you might get some ideas from there too.

These are exactly what I need to learn. They clarify and confirm many of my thought. This Bear Mountain Moon Light picture is my forth time ever try to shoot the low-light / night-time picture. I will do a lot of experimental practice after I get the remote timer. Thanks again, Colin. You are truly expert.

[Colin Southern]

These are exactly what I need to learn. They clarify and confirm many of my thought. This Bear Mountain Moon Light picture is my forth time ever try to shoot the low-light / night-time picture. I will do a lot of experimental practice after I get the remote timer. Thanks again, Colin. You are truly expert.

Practice is the best thing - you'll be amazed at how much you pick up in just a couple of weeks.

[Hui Song]

3. Often the "rules" say not to shoot scenes like this vertically and with things centered. The rules can be broken and the image still work (this is a good example of that), but I'd like to encourage you to also keep other formats in mind. Case in point, I wonder if this may have worked even better if shot as a horizontal with the excellent moon positioned to use the rule-of-thirds?

I was using the vertical and center composition to emphasize the relationship between the rock on the ground and the moon in the sky.
I did shoot another horizontal composition with more in both left and right. Also, there was some cloud with horizontal line helped the new composition. After combining three shots vertically into one, I get a square composition as the final image. I just finish the PS. Here it is:

[Colin Southern]

I was using the vertical and center composition to emphasize the relationship between the rock on the ground and the moon in the sky.
I did shoot another horizontal composition with more in both left and right. Also, there was some cloud with horizontal line helped the new composition. After combining three shots vertically into one, I get a square composition as the final image. I just finish the PS. Here it is:

Yep - looks good.

Don't be afraid to experiment with different crops though.

Marc Adamus is another for doing that type of thing - you might like to Google him.

[jcuknz]

To be pedantic as an old timer I would point out that B or Bulb comes from the old time camera where the shutter was held open by air pressure expelled from a rubber ball to open the shutter and then permitted to return to the bulb which closed the shutter. On the other hand T or Time was always press to open and press to close. Trouble that people without knowing the reason for the titles use them improperly. The bulb was also used for instantanious exposures

A useful accessory to go with the remote release/ timer is a small torch to be able to read the settings and see which button you are pressing.

Before these modern gadgets became available I counted seconds by saying one hundred and one, one hundred and two until I got to twenty and the count each 'twenty' on my hand by extending a finger etc. It is suprisingly accurate.

I remember for one night exposure I went back to the first hand after counting the 20's with my second hand ... my cable release of the old type has a locknut to hold the pin depressed.

Indeed Hui Song you have a great shot there.

[Colin Southern]

A useful accessory to go with the remote release/ timer is a small torch to be able to read the settings and see which button you are pressing.

I agree about a torch being handy (that's what I use my iPhone for), but most electronic releases have a backlight in them anyway.

Folks do need to be careful about using a torch (or letting the sun in) around the back of the camera during metering though, as it makes it's way "in reverse" (if your eye isn't at the eye cup) (eg unattended shooting) and upsets the metering (easiest way to see it is to put the camera in Av mode - leave the lens cap on - and watch the exposure dance all over the place if there's a strong light behind).

[Hui Song]

To be pedantic as an old timer I would point out that B or Bulb comes from the old time camera where the shutter was held open by air pressure expelled from a rubber ball to open the shutter and then permitted to return to the bulb which closed the shutter. On the other hand T or Time was always press to open and press to close. Trouble that people without knowing the reason for the titles use them improperly. The bulb was also used for instantanious exposures

A useful accessory to go with the remote release/ timer is a small torch to be able to read the settings and see which button you are pressing.

Before these modern gadgets became available I counted seconds by saying one hundred and one, one hundred and two until I got to twenty and the count each 'twenty' on my hand by extending a finger etc. It is suprisingly accurate.

I remember for one night exposure I went back to the first hand after counting the 20's with my second hand ... my cable release of the old type has a locknut to hold the pin depressed.

Indeed Hui Song you have a great shot there.

What a interesting "BULB" background knowledge and story, thanks jcuknz!

[Hui Song]

Nothing much to add really other than I really like this shot.

Hi Jeff, I am glad that your like this picture. Thanks for viewing.

[Hui Song]

Nicely done on both shots, Sui...I like your compositions.

Thanks Isabel for your kind words. I am still learning. CiC is such s great community to share and learn.