Metering for night shots

[JTC]

Hey all, I've been having some fun doing some night shots using a tripod and longer exposures.

I'm just keen to get any tips on the best ways to nail the exposure, especially when an image has huge contrast (i.e. bright lights and lots of almost blackness). I find that measured exposures can be all over the place, and keen to get tips on how to nail such exposures. I took some last night, and found that oftentimes the camera would blow those lights way out for a given exposure.

I'm also keen to dig a bit into how best to expose for stars; my 30s+ exposures are long enough to result in short star trails (not by much but enough to spoil things) so is it better to increase the ISO to reduce the exposure and deal with increased noise later, or try to do a composite of two images?

Final question is more one of approach: for those that shoot night shots, do you aim to reproduce how you perceived the scene through your own eyes, or do you look to artificially increase (or decrease) the light for the best overall aesthetic impact?

 

[dan m]

I would be looking at the histogram to make sure I kept everything within the dynamic range (ie expose for the highlights). Shouldn’t take more than a few test shots to get it right.

If you want to reveal shadow details you could stack images, if you have the capability in post. Interesting blog here: https://www.robwengritzkyphotography.com/blog/star-stacking-with-sequator

Star trails can be eliminated with stacking software for astrophotography but ideally you’ll want a tracking mount and nothing else in the scene. It does ‘plate solving’ which I think simply means it figures out how to shift each image based on the star locations. But I am imagining you not trying to do astrophotography. In which case it’s either a bigger aperture or higher ISO or stacking software that can handle foreground.

 

[Mr Perceptive]

If this is with your Fuji, then my 2p

1) The X-Trans sensors are much better at recovering shadows than highlights, that said it cannot recover the black cat in the coal hole!
2) Try Bracketing and merge afterwards, the X-T2 has up to 9 shot bracketing available, you don't have to use them all either in the field or in post production, beware of things like the moon which will move! But for cityscapes this can work really well.
3) SOmetimes with really bright lights, you just have to blow the highlights, the cameras do not have enough dynamic range, at least 8 stops less than your eyes!!

Hope that helps

 

[JTC]

Both really. Q2 and XT2, although typically it's been the Q2 I've been using for night shots. I will upload a couple later when I get the chance, they're far from perfect but as a newer type of shooting for me, I'm learning and enjoying the experience.

 

[boon]

I found this article on the Nikon USA website, maybe of some use to you. It should all still work with other brand cameras as long as you have manual settings.

https://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/tips-and-techniques/photographing-the-night-sky.html

 

[JTC]

Thanks. Here's what I've got so far, there are quite a few but this one (from Monday) has a hint of the aurora which I hadn't noticed at the time, so I quite like it. Problem is, balancing the sky and the lit-up street was difficult. This is a new aspect to photography for me, but I am up for learning.

A second, framed as a panorama, doesn't pick up the aurora (it may be there but difficult to say), but I quite liked the reflections looking out into the bay:

I'm not chasing aurora by any means, and if I were this wouldn't be the place, but a happy find (perhaps)...

 

[dan m]

I think you might benefit from using something like Starry Landscape Stacker. I’ve no experience with it though, so would be interested to hear how get on if you try it out.

 

[Mr Perceptive]

Everything you need to know and more!

https://www.fotovue.com/shop/books/photographing-the-night-sky-softback/

Its a good book, (and very heavy!)

 

[gavreid]

I'm not chasing aurora by any means, and if I were this wouldn't be the place, but a happy find (perhaps)...

With these kinds of images you've probably realised that really need to get in there (wth LR or equivalent) and make adjustments to different areas of the image separately. This is the consequence of the dynamic range of the sensor and it can be quite time heavy!

 

[vince rocker]

A bit OT but I came across this https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ recently - a site that predicts aurora activity for the UK. You can sign up for notifications.