I went downcity tonight to do some after-dark street photography with the new lens. While walking along the waterfront, I spotted this gondola slowly making its way up the Providence River towards Waterplace Park. With portions of the Providence Skyline in the background, I waited for them to approach the bridge and then fired off a handful of photos.
There has been a bit of discussion regarding night photography lately, so I thought I'd mention how this photo was exposed. I set the ISO at 3200 and my camera was in Aperture preferred mode and set to f/2.2. (The lens will go down to f/1.4, but I did not want that deep a background blur since the skyline at night is quite pretty.) The background was bright enough to "fool" the light meter, so I added an exposure compensation value of +1 1/3. Meaning, I overexposed the photo by 1 1/3 stops from what the light meter wanted to use. I shoot in RAW mode, so the white balance is Auto and adjusted later in post processing. When adjusted using Camera RAW, I slid the temperature over to 3700 degrees (pretty far to the cold, or blue side of the spectrum) and the tone was +17 off the center mark. The shutter speed, with the other adjustments mentioned, weighed in at 1/50.
Post processing started with a brilliant cold filter in Topaz Adjust. I adjusted adaptive exposure, regions, contrast, and protect highlights. A levels adjustment was added in PSE.
We aspire to take a photo like this one day. We did pretty much as you have described above (I'm assuming you've seen the result, which is our post for today), except for: 1. We were zoomed in to 20X (maximum zoom), and when we set our F stop to F3.5 (which is the smallest our camera will go), the camera overrode us to be F6. The IS) was 3200. Do you think what we did is the best our camera will do under such circumstances? Thank you so much for all your advice, not only to us, but to everyone! You're so generous.
@cejaanderson Thanks, Jane! I did finally get a chance to comment on your photo. (I was out car shopping today, and it took MUCH longer than expected.)
Since the "f" value is a ratio (focal length of the lens / diameter of the lens opening), most zoom lenses do result in a variable "f" value. Your f/3.5 value is only available with the lens zoomed out to its smallest setting. f/6 at that zoom just limits the type scenes that can be hand-held, but other than that, it won't hinder you at all.
I do think you got the best of what your camera will do under the circumstances in your selected scene. You selected a very difficult scene for your first try, so I'd definitely be please with the results! For that same scene with the same zoom, I'd suggest lowering the ISO to 1600. That's a 1-stop difference in exposure, but it's a tremendous difference in noise. It also looks like the meter really emphasized the dark areas in the mountains, so you may want to underexpose by 1-stop as well. I believe your camera has exposure compensation, although I'm not sure how it's set.
Spectacular night image, especially when viewed in high resolution and enlarged! The composition is especially good, and I like the glimmer on the water and the starry lights. Beautiful!
@jyokota Thanks, Junko! This was the first attempt at night photography with this lens (it only arrived last Tuesday,) but I'm definitely pleased with the way it performed.
@lizzyjane66 Thanks, Elizabeth! I love Newport, but don't get there as often as I'd like. Of course, having lived in RI you know that the 45 minute drive (for a Rhode Islander) requires an overnight trip. LOL
Wow I spent like a good five minutes just staring at this one.... *_* It's MESMERISINGLY BEAUTIFUL. I love it. The bright lights, the sharpness, the reflections, the water...everything. Wow. defintely a fav!
Since the "f" value is a ratio (focal length of the lens / diameter of the lens opening), most zoom lenses do result in a variable "f" value. Your f/3.5 value is only available with the lens zoomed out to its smallest setting. f/6 at that zoom just limits the type scenes that can be hand-held, but other than that, it won't hinder you at all.
I do think you got the best of what your camera will do under the circumstances in your selected scene. You selected a very difficult scene for your first try, so I'd definitely be please with the results! For that same scene with the same zoom, I'd suggest lowering the ISO to 1600. That's a 1-stop difference in exposure, but it's a tremendous difference in noise. It also looks like the meter really emphasized the dark areas in the mountains, so you may want to underexpose by 1-stop as well. I believe your camera has exposure compensation, although I'm not sure how it's set.
Keep shooting!
@bkbinthecity Thank you!