Ed Rooney Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 It's winter, the days are short, and the holiday lighting is festive. I plan to do a lot of Night Photography in the next month or two. How about you? When shooting film in the past, I always used a tripod at night. I preferred ASA 25 Kodachrome for the shadow detail and normally bracketed through a roll or two to make sure I got the best exposures. These days, with digital, I usually shoot handheld at night. I let the IS and higher ISO's do the work of the tripod for me. I can cover a lot more territory that way. Remember I'm shooting for Alamy editorial. I have 5 stars now, so I'm not in fear of failing QC. I shoot RAW and reduce noise in LR and have my Sonys set at A or Night Auto or Twilight. Each works well but each gives a different look. What do you do? 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Morrison Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 I shoot a lot of night pix too (or, rather, twilight pix), but I go the opposite route: tripod, low ISO... 17 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said: I have 5 stars now, so I'm not in fear of failing QC. Not sure this is true. Alamy presumably don't want us to drop our standards... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted December 4, 2019 Author Share Posted December 4, 2019 (edited) I have no plans to drop my standards, John. Edited December 4, 2019 by Ed Rooney 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Ashmore Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 For me, it depends where I am, what camera I have with me. If I have my Nikon D7000 with me then it's a normally tripod and low ISO. If I have my Sony RX100M3, it's handheld, often using the night mode on the camera which seems to do some wizardry and works quite well. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Woods Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 (edited) Tripod, low ISO. Shoot in brackets of three - metered, +1 and -1. If there are any really bright areas like a shop window I may add a -2 to avoid a huge burnt out patch. Blend in Aurora HDR. It comes out like this, which was a repeat seller a few years back. Edited December 4, 2019 by Colin Woods 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Morrison Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 ^^^ Sorry, I don't miss HDR. That actually hurts my eyes... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 (edited) Mille Miglia in Ravenna. Hand-held at 2000 RAW. Still the A58 SLT. Actually, I'm not sure it really counts as "night" at 1/60sec. Still, I like it. Edited December 4, 2019 by spacecadet 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Normspics Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 Ed that’s a great picture of the Museum of Liverpool, great to see a nice deep blue sky not inky black! @Colin Woods Another great image beautiful done, where is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Woods Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 2 hours ago, Normspics said: Another great image beautiful done, where is it? Annecy in France Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Normspics Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 8 minutes ago, Colin Woods said: Annecy in France Thanks, looks beautiful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Woods Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 Just now, Normspics said: Thanks, looks beautiful! It is. Annecy is lovely and the whole of that area is just fantastic. Well worth a visit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted December 4, 2019 Author Share Posted December 4, 2019 A lovely scene, Colin. Good on you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 I don't use a tripod very often these days, preferring to handhold most of the time and use a lens with image stabilization. I sometimes use Sony's "handheld twilight" mode (JPEG only), which can work very well in some situations. This topic reminds me that I need to add more night images to my collection. A couple have licensed recently. I handheld this (RAW) with a Sony NEX-6 and Sony 35mm lens f/1.8 , which is nice and sharp. It's even good wide open. Think I used f/2.8 or f/3.2 here. I still use a tripod for shots like this one, though (Sony NEX-3) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vpics Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 If I'm using high ISO for blue hour pictures, I tend to upload them via the "reportage" route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MizBrown Posted December 5, 2019 Share Posted December 5, 2019 (edited) New Years 2018 after midnight, with fires and fire works. The only Mac browser that allows me to drag in a photo that will resize is Chrome. Then sometime, I use flash for the foreground and let the background do what it will. Edited December 5, 2019 by MizBrown figuring out how to deal with Chrome and Mac OS in inserting images that will resize properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MizBrown Posted December 5, 2019 Share Posted December 5, 2019 (edited) Duplicate Edited December 5, 2019 by MizBrown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted December 5, 2019 Author Share Posted December 5, 2019 (edited) "I sometimes use Sony's "handheld twilight" mode (JPEG only), which can work very well in some situations." John Mitchell Which Sony is it that won't let you shoot RAW in the Twilight Scene mode? I'll have to check it today to be sure but I believe I can use RAW with Full Auto Night or any of the Scene settings on my Sony RX100-6 or my a6000. Maybe with the RX100-3 I couldn't. Anyone know? Edo Edited December 5, 2019 by Ed Rooney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinS Posted December 5, 2019 Share Posted December 5, 2019 On the RX100 mk3 the raw options are greyed out in Hand-held twilight mode. Three jpegs settings are available. This was the only camera I took on a recent family trip and it turned out to be perfectly capable. I'd have preferred 6D, but that's just too big for this type of outing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Ashmore Posted December 5, 2019 Share Posted December 5, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, KevinS said: On the RX100 mk3 the raw options are greyed out in Hand-held twilight mode. But in "Night Scene" and "Night Portrait" modes, RAW is still an option.... I have mine in my hand as I had to check. Why RAW isn't an option for "Twilight" mode is an interesting one. Edited December 5, 2019 by Matt Ashmore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinS Posted December 5, 2019 Share Posted December 5, 2019 (edited) 36 minutes ago, Matt Ashmore said: But in "Night Scene" and "Night Portrait" modes, RAW is still an option.... I have mine in my hand as I had to check. Why RAW isn't an option for "Twilight" mode is an interesting one. Great to know this. Thanks! I have to admit I haven't taken the time to really understand the different Scene modes. I did check those three, and HH Twilight is the only one that shoots multiple frames (4), probably the reason for jpeg only. Edited December 5, 2019 by KevinS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted December 5, 2019 Share Posted December 5, 2019 8 hours ago, Ed Rooney said: "I sometimes use Sony's "handheld twilight" mode (JPEG only), which can work very well in some situations." John Mitchell Which Sony is it that won't let you shoot RAW in the Twilight Scene mode? I'll have to check it today to be sure but I believe I can use RAW with Full Auto Night or any of the Scene settings on my Sony RX100-6 or my a6000. Maybe with the RX100-3 I couldn't. Anyone know? Edo Handheld twilight is available only in JPEG with my a6000, unless I'm missing something... Same deal with my NEX-6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted December 5, 2019 Author Share Posted December 5, 2019 I'm sure you're right, John. And it's (probably) the same with my RX100-6. But . . . the files that I get out of my Sonys when using Twilight are labeled ARW files and I was under the impression that that meant they were Sony RAW files. ??? https://www.online-convert.com/file-format/arw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted December 5, 2019 Share Posted December 5, 2019 17 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said: I'm sure you're right, John. And it's (probably) the same with my RX100-6. But . . . the files that I get out of my Sonys when using Twilight are labeled ARW files and I was under the impression that that meant they were Sony RAW files. ??? https://www.online-convert.com/file-format/arw It sounds as if they are RAW files. I guess the RX100-6 is more sophisticated than the a6000 and other earlier Sony's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted December 5, 2019 Author Share Posted December 5, 2019 Maybe, but I don't think so, John. Both the files from the 100/6 and my a6000 come out as ARW . . . and both cameras say they don't support RAW in the Twilight setting. I don't know what to think, really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted December 5, 2019 Share Posted December 5, 2019 3 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said: Maybe, but I don't think so, John. Both the files from the 100/6 and my a6000 come out as ARW . . . and both cameras say they don't support RAW in the Twilight setting. I don't know what to think, really. Hmmm... that is odd. I use DxO software, not LR, for RAW processing. Perhaps that makes a difference. Handheld twilight files show up as JPEGs in DxO. I usually re-save them as 16-bit TIFS for tweaking in PS Elements if necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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