First time doing night photography

[DemSpursBro]

Hey all,

I was on holiday for a week near the coast and while there I took some photos. I originally didn't plan to take any photos, the only reason I even had a camera is because I forgot that I left my old one in a bag. I was out with a couple of friends on a walk one night and came across a lighthouse that was nearby. I went home and grabbed my camera and an old wine box to sit it on as a makeshift tripod and took some photos. The camera I was shooting on was fairly limited in its settings, but I tried my best to get nice shots. Could I get some general C&C on how I did please? I haven't been doing photography for very long. Here are a few of the shots I took.

This one here is my favourite of the bunch.




The colours on this one are a little bit messed up. The clouds seem too green. I'll have to try and fix that.

[Donald]

This one here is my favourite of the bunch.

I'd agree with that assessment. That little strip of light just running down the right hand side of the lighthouse wall, just lifts it beautifully. The idea of having the person with outstretched arms holding on to the chainlink fencing is also very good, I think.

I realise that you were working without a tripod and, given that, it is a good image. But I do wonder if you'd been able to go for a longer shutter speed just to get a hint of detail into the structure of the lighthouse and the ground at the bottom, if that would have made for an even more powerful image?

I think it's a brilliantly conceived idea and it is a good image, I think. It's just that if it had got more light into it, you would have had more control in post processing about how you then made the final image.

[DemSpursBro]

I'd agree with that assessment. That little strip of light just running down the right hand side of the lighthouse wall, just lifts it beautifully. The idea of having the person with outstretched arms holding on to the chainlink fencing is also very good, I think.

I realise that you were working without a tripod and, given that, it is a good image. But I do wonder if you'd been able to go for a longer shutter speed just to get a hint of detail into the structure of the lighthouse and the ground at the bottom, if that would have made for an even more powerful image?

I think it's a brilliantly conceived idea and it is a good image, I think. It's just that if it had got more light into it, you would have had more control in post processing about how you then made the final image.

Thanks for the critique, I appreciate it. I really wanted to get a longer exposure on it, but unfortunately the camera I was using only could expose for a maximum for 4 seconds, which is what I used. I attempted to take the image with a higher ISO, but it was far too grainy. My aperture was as wide as I could make it at 2.8 and my ISO was at 400, with the next stop at 800 which was too grainy.