so, relatively new to 365 i want to learn and grow with photography as much as i can! there are some styles that i have not tried yet but would like to but are CONFUSED as to how to come about taking photos like that! i am trying to become "popular" on here, having people critique my photos and stuff but i just dont seem to have a lot of followers! are my photos that bad? I want to start entering some compitions and such and the theme for this week is night portrait. Can someone help me out with how to take night pictures?!! not only that, but maybe with long exposure? i have a canon rebel 2ti and any help would be appreciated! i just dont understand all the technical terms, but i really want to try it. If anyone can explain it to me that would be really nice. Like i read about the shutter and all that, but i have no idea HOW to change my settings on my camera to fix it!
I have learned a bit about long exposure on this project. I used a Canon XS, but it has recently died, so I am trying to help you through memory. I hope any of these tips help.
To do long exposure you play with the shutter speed and the f-number. Set the dial to M. There should be a raised dial near your shutterbutton (what you press to take the photo), move that dial to a number in the 1/20s. Find the AV +- button (on my XS it's on the back near the LCD), hold that down and move the dial to a high f number like 22. I have been succesful with a 100 ISO number, but it has be recommended to me to use a 400 ISO.
Here is a photo I took with these settings:
I hope this helps! Good luck. Make sure you post what you do! I used to hate night photog and now I LOVE playing with it whenever I can stay up late enough!
Here are a few tips. In all honesty, read the manual (multiple times). I have read mine prob about 10 times and constantly go back to it for little things I am confused about. Second, become part of a forum (Dpreview.com) has a great beginner section where I learned a lot from. You can post questions and get some great responses (usually). For night photography, you cannot do it without a tripod, so if you don't have one, don't waste your time because you will just get frustrated and will lose your patience. Lastly, read some good books (understanding exposure by bryan peterson), any book written by him actually, Scott Kelby books, The photographer's eye by Michael Freeman and any other book you can get from your local library. Then once you read them, go out there and mess around with all different settings and try what they are talking about!! Most importantly....have fun and experiment but don't attempt night photos without a tripod.
Just to add to @mattyb 's comment...if you don't have a tripod, at least have a solid rest to put your camera on. A tripod is best and you can get them for around $20 at most box stores (target, etc). They are good for starting out till you figure out what you really want and can afford.
@cfitzgerald thanks so much for the help! i will try to hopefully get some photos this weekend i will try to look into it as much as i can and hopefully experiment. For my results, i will definetly post them up here :) @mattyb@shadesofgrey thanks for your help! i will definitely look into reading those books and yes i do in fact have a tripod so i will be using that for my night portraits.
@swiegers If you have a tripod......you're all set! Get out there and play with settings. I would suggest to start out with the semi-manual settings (aperture priority and/or shutter priority). That way you only have to deal with one setting and the camera will figure out the rest. If you know how to use your in camera meter then put it on M and just mess around with different settings until you find something that you like. I look forward to seeing them.
Best thing I did was look at someone else's long exposures and looked at the exif data for their shot. That helps a lot. You then can get a feel for what you need to do to create your own.
I just took this one tonight.
ISO - 100
f/9.0
4 second exposure
Firstly, I would say, don't "try to be popular". Try to be a good photographer, and work on improving your images, and popularity will follow. This site isn't really about "who can get the most comments", or "who can have the most followers" - it's about a bunch of people who enjoy photography (whether that be just as a hobby, like me, or as a career, like some of our celebrated "pro" shooters) coming together to share that passion.
Secondly, I would say, spend some time getting to know your camera, and what it is capable of. I don't know the model you mentioned (although I do know that it's a much better quality camera than what I currently have!) but you should have an instruction manual, that will help with that. Or just go into "menu" or "settings" or whatever in the camera itself, and just experiment with different options until you find some things you like.
Also, for shooting at night, a tripod is important - pretty much essential, I'd say. When you have very limited light, try to think about where that light is coming from, and how you can best use your light sources to your advantage.
Like @webfoot wrote, look at other night shots and the EXIF information. You can search the words "night photography", "night-photography", and something similar on this site, and look at the EXIF information of the photos you like. The search results will be lots and lots of night photos.
I also recommend that you start with a tripod, although 90% of my night shots are non-tripod but that is a personal preference...
I agree with Nod, when you like someone else's pic and would like to try something in the same line of idea, look at the exifs, it tells a lot about how people did. About followers, I have no idea how active you are, but the more you follow people yourself and are interested in others' work, the more they look at your work too.
I can't emphasise enough how important it is to know your camera.
There are books written specifically for your particular camera that will take you through each setting and dial mode. Photography can be tricky and it doesn't come good overnight... it take hours of practice and read, read, read that manual hun, or watch YOU TUBE tutorials for help ! good luck. ;-)
@netkonnexion@jennlouise@scatcat@viranod@manek43509 alright so thank you so much for everyone that had commented to help me out! last night it was pouring rain out but i decided that i just had to try to take a picture... so here is my result! i know its not the best but hopefully i will get better and im thinking that tonight i am going to give it another try! thank you all for being so helpful and nice :) here is the result of my trial last night: http://365project.org/swiegers/365
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To do long exposure you play with the shutter speed and the f-number. Set the dial to M. There should be a raised dial near your shutterbutton (what you press to take the photo), move that dial to a number in the 1/20s. Find the AV +- button (on my XS it's on the back near the LCD), hold that down and move the dial to a high f number like 22. I have been succesful with a 100 ISO number, but it has be recommended to me to use a 400 ISO.
Here is a photo I took with these settings:
I hope this helps! Good luck. Make sure you post what you do! I used to hate night photog and now I LOVE playing with it whenever I can stay up late enough!
@mattyb @shadesofgrey thanks for your help! i will definitely look into reading those books and yes i do in fact have a tripod so i will be using that for my night portraits.
I just took this one tonight.
ISO - 100
f/9.0
4 second exposure
Secondly, I would say, spend some time getting to know your camera, and what it is capable of. I don't know the model you mentioned (although I do know that it's a much better quality camera than what I currently have!) but you should have an instruction manual, that will help with that. Or just go into "menu" or "settings" or whatever in the camera itself, and just experiment with different options until you find some things you like.
Also, for shooting at night, a tripod is important - pretty much essential, I'd say. When you have very limited light, try to think about where that light is coming from, and how you can best use your light sources to your advantage.
Good luck! And let us know how you get on. :)
I also recommend that you start with a tripod, although 90% of my night shots are non-tripod but that is a personal preference...
There are books written specifically for your particular camera that will take you through each setting and dial mode. Photography can be tricky and it doesn't come good overnight... it take hours of practice and read, read, read that manual hun, or watch YOU TUBE tutorials for help ! good luck. ;-)
It's called: Is ‘exposure’ still relevant? Enjoy!