My Lake at Night....

[kevinj]

So out of my comfort zone, I don`t do a lot of night stuff.

[MJ224]

I think it looks good. There is a lot to see as the eye gets used to the dark. Love the stars...:-)

[kevinj]

Thanks, didn`t notice the crooked horizon.

[MJ224]

Nor did I. Not sure what is crooked tho'...:-)

[Ozzie_Traveller]

G'day Kevin

We all have our 'comfort zones' and occasionally it's good to give 'em a bit of a tug 'n stretch !
The pic looks okay to me ... a minor horizon tweak maybe, -- it's good to see a couple of stars too

Watch out for Isac tho ...... he will probably do a Shadows Lift and then put the Eiffel Tower into the background (going on what he's done with one of my Norfolk Island pics)

Phil

[kevinj]

Thanks Phil, didn`t really know what I was doing, trial and error really, I`m sure Isac will point me in the right direction. fixed the horizon, shouldn`t edit at 3:30 am.

[wigz]

Looks good Kevin. Just enough detail in the foreground, good reflections and even some clouds and stars.

[kevinj]

Thanks, I got lucky with the conditions, didn`t know at the time but do now.

[Isac]

Great for first attempt Kevin. I like that you were able to get the starbursts on the lights.

Here's my 10 settings for getting city landscapes at night.

1. Manual (or Shutter Priority).
2. Aperture f:9 to f:11 - stopping down further may introduce diffraction.
3. Evaluative Metering.
4. 100 ISO.
5. Focus 1/3 into the scene OR something away in the background. (good to try each method).
6. Shutter Speed (trial and error) 10 - 20 - 30 seconds.
7. Shoot RAW with Auto White Balance. You can adjust WB in ACR.
8. Use the rear viewing screen and adjust the shutter speed with the top wheel until you see a good exposure.
9. Take the shot!
10. Tripod is a must.

If you use the above settings, you have a good starting point and can adjust to your liking.

To get the Starbursts nice and sharp from the street lights, stick with f:9 or f:11. Using a wider aperture will not get the starbursts as sharp.

Trivia:
The number of shutter blades will determine the number of tines in the starburst.
An even number of aperture blades, will have the same number of rays in the starburst as blades in the aperture, so 8 blades = 8 starburst rays.
An uneven number of aperture blades, will have Double the number of rays in the starburst as blades in the aperture, so 9 blades = 18 starburst rays.

Here's a photo I took of the City of Perth with much the same settings as suggested.

Canon EOS 7D | Manual | f/9 | 20 sec | ISO 100 | 267 mm | Metering: Evaluative | 0 EV | Lens: Sigma 150-500

Enjoy your night shooting and lets see some more.

[Isac]

You could program those settings into your Custom Shooting Mode dials (C1 and C2).

[kevinj]

Oh yeah, forgot about those settings, C1 is for Macro.

[Isac]

OK, adjust the night shot settings in MANUAL mode and then register them in C2.

[avkomp]

good work on this.
I used to shoot a lot of night cityscapes.

[kevinj]

I`m definately going to do more of this type of shots, it`s fun to try something different.