How, HOW HOW! I get the whole tripod thing, but I can't ever get the settings right. How do I do it without flash? (I hate flash) and I've been trying for a week now, but can't. Can anyone help with settings or tips?
Depends what you are trying to do. Firstly, if you are using a DSLR, set it for mirror lock up, to prevent any additional shake.
If shooting for stars and astronomy, you need a long exposure. Since the world moves, you would need am Equatorial Head for the Tripod that moves with the coordinates of the movement.
Portraits are tricky at night. I put a difuser on my flash (a polystyrene cup would you believe) or bounce the light off the ceiling using a sheet of A4 paper with the front edge curled up :)
Not many options here without flash.. pump up your ISO, drop your Aperture, increase shutter speed. Is there anything that you particularly dont like like about flash at night? Are you finding it too close in and not lighting up the background so the portrait just looks like a person in the middle of black?
You could always start by finding somewhere with alot of ambient light and then using your flash to light the subject?
The beauty of digital... raw image files and high ISO settings. I love shooting night portraits without flash, or instead using OCF (off camera flash).
Taken with flash pointed straight up in the air:
Streetlight only:
Flash set off to the left, on a tripod:
Ambient light only:
Like @snaggleture has shown, slow shutter speeds really do help. So long as your subject can stay very still. And there is no reason why you can't combine methods to produce a great result - slow shutter speed, hand-fired flash, etc.
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If shooting for stars and astronomy, you need a long exposure. Since the world moves, you would need am Equatorial Head for the Tripod that moves with the coordinates of the movement.
For night photog settings, I recommend reading:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/night.htm
There are plenty of recommendations out there, but his is at least entertaining, Go for it!
You could always start by finding somewhere with alot of ambient light and then using your flash to light the subject?
Taken with flash pointed straight up in the air:
Streetlight only:
Flash set off to the left, on a tripod:
Ambient light only:
Like @snaggleture has shown, slow shutter speeds really do help. So long as your subject can stay very still. And there is no reason why you can't combine methods to produce a great result - slow shutter speed, hand-fired flash, etc.