NIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY FOR BROOKGREEN GARDENS FIELD TRIP AND HOLIDAY PHOTOS BY JACK EYLER

NIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY FOR BROOKGREEN GARDENS FIELD TRIP AND HOLIDAY PHOTOS BY JACK EYLER

BEFORE EVER SHOOTING LIGHTS MAKE SURE YOUR LENS IS CLEAN!!! EVEN A LITTLE SMUDGE WILL CAUSE BLURRING OR FLARE!!!

WHAT ARE WE COVERING TONIGHT Using a monopod Settings for shooting lights Using Cell Phones, Point and Shoots or DSLR s Using Flash

BROOKGREEN GARDENS DOES NOT ALLOW TRIPODS! So how are we going to shoot in the dark? Use a Monopod Use a high ISO Have a fast lens

HOW TO USE A MONOPOD For easiest use make sure the monopod has a ball head Carbon Fiber is the lightest but Aluminum is cheaper and almost as good. You can pick up a good monopod for under $100 without a ball head. Southeastern Camera has a RPS Studio Aluminum 5 section monopod RS-3305 for about $79. Amazon Prime has a Sirui P-326 6 section Carbon Fiber for $98. You should be able to use the ball head from your tripod.

MONOPOD CONTINUED Whatever is your dominant hand point that foot at your subject and rest the bottom of the monopod against the inside center of your foot. Bring the opposite foot slightly forward and point at either 10 o'clock for the left foot or 2 o'clock for the right foot. Make sure the ball head is just loose enough so you can move the camera up or down. You do not need to apply downward pressure as some sites suggest. The weight of the camera and your hands will be enough. To much force causes camera shake. Unlike a tripod leave your image stabilizer on. You won t be doing really long shutter speeds so stabilization is ok. If you have a rail or a chair to lean monopod against it will make a sturdier setup. It can double as a walking stick!

MONOPOD CONTINUED Why do sports and wildlife photographers use a monopod when they are using fast shutter speeds? Because their lenses are heavy and after a long period of use the photographers arms/hands get tired. Using a monopod makes long use of heavy equipment less of stress on the body.

ISO IS THE BIGGEST DECISION YOU NEED TO MAKE You will have to use a higher ISO than you would normally shoot. You should do some experimenting to see what is the highest ISO you can stand the noise level. Point and Shoots Older cameras may only go up to 800 or 1600 ISO and may have a lot of noise. New camera models may go to 3200 ISO and higher. A DSLR you should be able to get a reasonable shots at ISO 3200 to 6400. You can reduce some image noise in post processing.

ISO ISO 400 ISO 800 ISO 1600 ISO 3200

ISO ISO 6400 ISO 12800 ISO 25600

ISO CROPPED ISO 400 ISO 25600

SHOOTING WITH A CELL PHONE Not a lot of options as its pretty much automatic HDR mode and flash not useful

CELL PHONE PHOTOS Room lights on Room lights on and flash No lights

If you are getting enough street light or ambient light you can get some good shots CELL PHONE PHOTOS CONTINUED

SHOOTING WITH A POINT AND SHOOT Automatic mode or AI should work fine Higher ISO available than cell phones Some additional settings for low light shots

POINT AND SHOOT PHOTOS

POINT AND SHOOT PHOTOS CONTINUED Night Portrait have subject hold still as shutter speed can to 1 sec. Will flash should use a tripod ISO 800 f/5 ¼ sec with flash

POINT AND SHOOT PHOTOS CONTINUED Night Scenery Can go up to 4 seconds us a tripod ISO 800 f/5.6.4 sec no flash

POINT AND SHOOT PHOTOS CONTINUED Hand held night merges multiple images to reduce blurring

POINT AND SHOOT PHOTOS CONTINUED High Sensitivity Increases ISO for fast moving objects ISO 3200 f/4 1/25

POINT AND SHOOT PHOTOS CONTINUED Starry Night For shooting stars. Must use a tripod and choose a exposure time 15,30 or 60 seconds. ISO 80 f/5.5 15 seconds on tripod

DSLR CAMERAS You will get your best results and can get the best combinations of ISO, Aperture and Shutter speed to be able to handhold the camera. Start with setting your ISO Put camera in Aperture Priority mode Set your aperture Take picture and adjust settings as needed

DSLR PHOTOS CONTINUED Picture with overhead lights ISO 400 f/2.8 1/20 sec Picture with no overhead lights ISO 400 f/2.8 1/10 sec

DSLR PHOTOS CONTINUED Picture no overhead lights ISO 100 f/2.8 1 sec must us tripod Picture with no overhead lights ISO 100 f/22 30 sec must use tripod Notice by having a longer exposure you get the blinking ornament on top of the tree By using a small aperture you get a sunburst effect

DSLR PHOTOS CONTINUED Zoom effect Must use a zoom lens. Left Image - Have lens set at a wide angle. Take exposure and halfway through the exposure slowly turn zoom in to telephoto length. ISO 100 f/8 6 seconds. Right Image start at telephoto length and zoom out halfway through exposure. ISO 100 f/9 4 seconds.

DSLR PHOTOS CONTINUED With slow shutter speeds you are able to move the camera and produce abstract photos 5 sec exposures Horizontal shake Vertical shake Star trails effect

Reflections If you have puddle use it for reflections. Get as close the reflection as possible for best results. Ponds, lakes or oceans with still water make great reflection photos. In this photo glass was used for illustration purposes. DSLR PHOTOS CONTINUED

DSLR PHOTOS CONTINUED Use wide apertures to blur the background for cool background effects. ISO 400 f/2.8 1/25 sec handheld

DSLR PHOTOS CONTINUED Take advantage of the many colored lights and do some close-up work. You and use can them in for a holiday card or add into a book. ISO 1600 f/5 1/13 sec handheld

DSLR PHOTOS CONTINUED Expose for the ambient light. Then bring in the flash to give a little pop to your subject. ISO 400 f/2.8 1/2 sec Same exposure with ETL flash off camera on tripod

Before heading out on the field trip get out and practice, try some settings. Do some of the things talked about tonight. Make sure every thing works and you know how everything works. Make sure you have extra batteries. Long exposures use a lot of juice. Have fun!!! Questions?