Post your night time long exposure photos here!

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > Post your night time long exposure photos here!

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

# ¿ Mar 27, 2010 06:52

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 12:33

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

suddenlyissoon posted:

you wouldn't happen to have this any bigger, would you? I'd love to make it my desktop at 3840x1080

Sure. I have the original 4272 x 2848 file. Do you just want a jpg or the raw file? I suck at post, so you're more than welcome to mess with it.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2010 02:48

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Took a chance shooting the Milky Way over the weekend. A little too noisy, but I had to shoot @ 6400 to get the view. Next time I'm going to try a faster lens so I can shoot at 1600.

# ¿ Jul 7, 2010 04:28

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Four Banger posted:

This was my first jump into night time long exposure photography. having problems focusing. Especially when it's 2-3 AM in the pitch black.

Live view and manual focus sometimes helps in such situations. Especially if you magnify the live view.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2010 05:33

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Four Banger posted:

I was manually focusing but it's very hard when it's pitch black. There was quite litterally NO light except the stars. And the D80 doesn't have live view. I kinda wish it did sometimes. IT would have come in handy here

Yeah, without live view, forget what I said. Using manual focus through the viewfinder may be your only option, but it's not going to work very well.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2010 06:04

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

That green line is a train.

TheAngryDrunk fucked around with this message at 10:17 on Aug 8, 2010

# ¿ Aug 8, 2010 10:14

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Eventually I'm going to go somewhere I can get this shot without the light pollution on the horizon.

TheAngryDrunk fucked around with this message at 09:57 on Aug 15, 2010

# ¿ Aug 15, 2010 09:55

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Combat Pretzel posted:

When I know I'm going to do night sky photography, I'm going to focus the lens properly during day time and pray I don't accidentally hit the focus ring. Because I don't have live view either on my EOS 400D. (--edit: Apparently I can focus my Sigma f1.4 a little further than infinity?)

Yeah, I didn't realize that until I ended up with a card full of blurry shots once. Apparently you can focus past infinity (whatever that is). As you said, your best bet is to actually autofocus on something far away during the day and leave the focus there.

# ¿ Aug 15, 2010 18:11

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Frag Viper posted:

Im never going to get quality exposure shots with a Canon G9 am I? Everything will always be too noisy is what it seems.

I really need a Digital SLR.

2.8 / ISO 3200
25 Seconds

I'm not familiar with the camera, but the focus seems off. Also, the star trails look like a longer exposure than 25 seconds.

At f/2.8, you should be able to drop it to ISO 1600 and still get a decent shot.

# ¿ Aug 17, 2010 00:35

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Malalol posted:

How would I even start getting a picture like this? (or is this way more editing?)

Click here for the full 580x871 image.
I took this photo this weekend, 30sec I think, in a not populated/dark place and its the best Ive been able to do in bringing out the milky way..some photoshop editing

Your exposure settings seem fine to at least be able to see the Milky way (f/2.8, 30 sec, ISO 1600), but I can't see it. Either you weren't in dark enough skies or you weren't aiming in the right spot.

This is a good resource for light pollution. The photo you're asking about was taken in one of the grey areas in the map linked. If you're not at least in a blue zone (maybe green), you may have difficulty shooting the Milky Way.

# ¿ Sep 3, 2010 19:59

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Hazardous Taste posted:

Some shots I took last night from the bank of the Knik River between Anchorage and Wasilla, Alaska:

Is that Russia in the background?

Kidding. Nice shots.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2010 06:30

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Yeah, that's pretty sick.

# ¿ Sep 29, 2010 05:03

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Long exposures can definitely cause noise. How long are we talking about here?

# ¿ Sep 30, 2010 19:34

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

TheAngryDrunk fucked around with this message at 20:38 on Dec 24, 2010

# ¿ Dec 24, 2010 20:35

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Ola posted:

This is really surreal, very cool!

Cross_ posted:

This is wonderful. I am amazed that there is so little clipping in the houses despite the long exposure.

Thanks. Yeah, I definitely had to try a few different exposures to get the right look.

# ¿ Jan 6, 2011 05:52

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

A5H posted:

How on earth do you do this? Is it false colour or something?

It's processed, but most of the look comes from a moonlit night, a fast lens, and a 15-30 second exposure. At the actual location most of the scene isn't visible with your naked eye.

Here it is straight out of the camera.

TheAngryDrunk fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Mar 7, 2011

# ¿ Mar 7, 2011 16:18

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Rhyolite, NV - Abandoned Truck by xxyzz road, on Flickr

# ¿ Mar 7, 2011 16:19

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Cook Bank - Rhyolite, NV by xxyzz road, on Flickr

# ¿ Mar 8, 2011 05:09

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

priestdaddy posted:

Can I get some info with this one? What do you shoot with?

exif is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7597174@N04/5507801309/meta/

If you have other questions, ask away.

Fists Up posted:

How do you guys get such long exposures of the stars without them moving? I assume that telescope guy had a motor which automatically compensated for the earths rotation or something but when I take a shot thats a minute or longer the stars start turning into lines.

The general rule of thumb is: 500/focal length = # of seconds before star trails start to appear

So a 16mm lens (full frame) should give you about 30 seconds before you start getting star trails.

To get that many stars to appear in only a 30 second exposure, you need a fast lens (2.8 or better) and a high ISO (as much as you can tolerate).

TheAngryDrunk fucked around with this message at 07:03 on Mar 8, 2011

# ¿ Mar 8, 2011 07:00

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Fists Up posted:

Thanks. I see you shot that at ISO 6400. I was probably shooting around 400 for mine so would need a few minutes vs your 30 seconds. To be honest the noise isn't even noticeable in yours. Maybe it blurs in with the stars a bit.

I normally don't shoot ISO 6400 on my star/landscape shots, but it helped that the weather was cold at the location. Cool weather helps keep the sensor from getting too hot during a long exposure. You can see the noise on a 100% crop, but it's still a usable image.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2011 07:10

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Yeehaw McKickass posted:

Obviously shooting on a crop (T2i) would find less success?

It might not look as good, but you could still get some nice images.

torgeaux posted:

What was the light source for the building?

There were some flood lights a couple hundred feet away.

William T. Hornaday posted:

Is that chromatic aberration, or was there just a green light source as well?

Yeah, it kind of looks like CA, but I believe it was just one of the other lights hitting the building in a weird way.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2011 16:49

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Greybone posted:

This looks horribly noisy and pixellated to me when viewed bigger, what am I doing wrong? (apart from it not being a particularly interesting photo)

20s f 4,0 at iso 200 - it looks like iso 1600 on my XSi

It doesn't look that noisy to me. It does look like your camera was moving though.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2011 23:08

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Greybone posted:

I've had this before and I'm wondering if my monitor is all funky - here's a photo of the photo:

The orange is from ambient/autofocus assist I think, but the blotchy blue stuff is really obvious on my screen.
Edit: But yeah, strong wind made the camera move

I'm on a lovely laptop screen right now, so I don't have the best view. But I definitely don't see anything looking that bad.

Lando posted:

Gorgeous. How do you not get the swirl effect of the stars? I still dont know WTF.

500/lens focal length = approximate number of seconds you can expose for before star trails become visible

TheAngryDrunk fucked around with this message at 23:31 on Mar 8, 2011

# ¿ Mar 8, 2011 23:25

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Rhyolite Mercantile by xxyzz road, on Flickr

# ¿ Mar 13, 2011 08:36

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Rhyolite General Store by xxyzz road, on Flickr

# ¿ Mar 13, 2011 21:50

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

jm3000 posted:

TheAngryDrunk,

Did you setup any an artificial lights for your Rhyolite shots, or did you just use what was there? Being a ghost town I wouldn't think there's many lights around.

A mix of both. There's still active mining going on, so there actually are some lights nearby.

The red hue on the mercantile building is from my car brake lights.

The lights in the general store shot (in the background) are from two huge street lights a couple hundred feet away. The long exposure makes sure any available light really gets picked up.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2011 02:59

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Elite Taco posted:

I usually stop down to F8 or so

There's the problem. Shoot wide open.

A remote trigger won't really matter on such a long exposure.

Can you post an example of what you got?

# ¿ Mar 18, 2011 21:37

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

The Mother Road and the Milky Way Part Deux by xxyzz road, on Flickr

# ¿ Apr 11, 2011 01:09

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Ak Gara posted:

How did you avoid star trails with a 30 second exposure?

What annoys me is, if my camera takes a 10 second exposure, it then goes into "processing mode" for 10 seconds. A 20 second exposure makes me wait 20 seconds, 30 for 30, 60 for 60, etc. It's really annoying because I like to take multiple exposures for error correction but the pause time makes a gap in recording.

Do all cameras do this or is it just mine?

With a wide enough focal length, you can go 30 seconds without star trails. There are actually some star trails starting to form, but you can't really see them.

I don't know what camera you have, but on Canon what you're talking about is "long exposure noise reduction." Check your manual and you should have an option to turn that off.

# ¿ Apr 11, 2011 06:02

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Auditore posted:

What difference does long exposure noise reduction make to long exposures anyway?

It's supposed to help, but I don't usually use it. I tried a few test shots using it once and didn't see much of a difference.

Phanatic posted:

The formula I keep seeing is something like 600/focal length = maximum exposure in seconds if you don't want trails.

A question I have is, is that actual focal length, or effective focal length if you're using a DSLR with a smaller sensor?

Yeah 600 or 500 / focal length is the rule of thumb. I was pushing it by going 30 seconds. You can see trails if you zoom in 100%.

I'm not 100% certain, but I believe you have to include the crop factor. So:

600 / (focal length * crop factor)

# ¿ Apr 11, 2011 16:45

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Death Valley Star Trails by xxyzz road, on Flickr

# ¿ Apr 20, 2011 03:38

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

IceLicker posted:

First attempt at a long exposure night shot. I tried to do some star trails but god drat it was cold out and I couldn't get the focus right. Plus I think I'm gonna need some sort of remote. Any tips on focusing on stars at night or is it all just trial and error?

20s f/3.5 18mm ISO 800

The stars seem to be in focus. To get infinity focus, try and focus on the brightest thing in the sky.

If that doesn't work, just try and focus on something far enough away like a street lamp. On a wide angle lens, infinity isn't far away. On a crop sensor, 18mm, f/3.6, your hyperfocal distance is 15.8 feet (add a few more feet just to be sure you got it.)

This is pretty helpful: http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

Edit: Actually, the overall focus seems pretty good. It's hard to tell if it's perfect at this resolution though.

TheAngryDrunk fucked around with this message at 04:33 on Apr 22, 2011

# ¿ Apr 22, 2011 04:30

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Vincent Thomas Bridge by xxyzz road, on Flickr

# ¿ Apr 25, 2011 06:38

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

Los Angeles in the morning by xxyzz road, on Flickr

# ¿ Jul 5, 2011 03:59

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 12:33

TheAngryDrunk: Jan 31, 2003; "I don't know why I know that; I took four years of Spanish."

You should be able to get pretty long "correct" exposures at f/16 at night. That should help time things, no?

# ¿ Jul 25, 2011 17:21

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > Post your night time long exposure photos here!