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Night Shot Tips

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Troy.
Posts: 5070 - Karma: 12,545
So, I have recently started shooting skiing, and shot my first night skiing at a rail jam. 80% of my photos were unseeable or just shitty, but this is what I got http://www.flickr.com/photos/pyrokarma/sets/72157625658588785/

What does NS do to get great shots of skiing at night? I am shooting with a Canon Rebel XT.
Jan 9 2011 11:58AM
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LuminatX
Posts: 197 - Karma: 40
Those weren't as bad as I was expecting.
But it looks like your using the built in flash, if you can (have the funds) invest in an external flash, its going to make your night shots look 100x better once you get the hang of things.

Just remember to keep your ISO as low as possible, the more you bump it up the grainier your photos are going to be.
But of course you don't want your shutter speed to low or your subject is going to be blurry.

Also some faster prime lens's are key in low light situations, so low f/stop is what your looking for.

and Last, your angles aren't the best, never shoot from behind, you always wan't to see the front of your subject (no one likes ass shots....well at least in sports)

But overall you'r photos will get better with time and practice, just keep at it.

/walloftext.
Jan 9 2011 9:59PM
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Troy.
Posts: 5070 - Karma: 12,545
How much would a decent external flash run for? (side question: can older rebels, around 5+ old, use wireless flashes?)

I had my ISO at 1600. Unless I screwed up, isn't the higher the number, the better for reading night shots?

Do you even try to work with the light meter at night, or just disregard and just have a fast shutter?

This was my first time shooting at night, or skiing at all for that matter. I really appreciate the critiques. I know I need to get better positions, but all in time, right?


Thanks for the response, +K
Jan 9 2011 11:17PM
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LuminatX
Posts: 197 - Karma: 40
yeah you can, but you need to buy a wireless transmitter/receiver, and your best bet would be to look and buy used. like the canon 430EX.

Boosting your ISO at night will make your photos brighter, but as you noticed you start to get grainy, usually anything over 800 and it starts getting bad.

and yeah, your photos will get better with time, its all practice /trial and error.
Jan 9 2011 11:51PM
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Microcosm
Posts: 4765 - Karma: 153
Shooting action sports at night is probably one of the more difficult areas of photography, technically speaking. You're combining a low light situation with the need for a fast shutter speed. If you're really serious about it then invest in a few flashes and check out Strobist: http://strobist.blogspot.com/
Jan 9 2011 11:57PM
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Troy.
Posts: 5070 - Karma: 12,545
Will do. Thanks so much for the help guys.

N00b question, are most flashes universal? Not Canon/Nikon crossovers, but more Canon working with older Canon.
Jan 10 2011 1:37AM
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Microcosm
Posts: 4765 - Karma: 153
Some older flashes operate at a higher voltage than the newer cameras are designed for. Here's a list of what should work: http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html

Jan 10 2011 2:49AM
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clisle
Posts: 44 - Karma: 306
check out pocket wizard as well (wireless flash transever) http://www.pocketwizard.com/products/transmitter_receiver/   and  alien bees lights http://alienbees.com/
Jan 10 2011 10:55AM
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LuminatX
Posts: 197 - Karma: 40
he doesn't need PW's, just starting out, he can get some ebay triggers.
unless he wants to fork over that kinda money right off the bat then by all means go for it.
Jan 10 2011 1:06PM
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Microcosm
Posts: 4765 - Karma: 153
Agreed, the circuitry really isn't overly complicated when it comes to flash triggers. I had an ebay trigger which worked fine for quite some time, until the battery died. I'm sure it still works, just haven't gotten around to buying new batteries yet. If you're looking for the range and overall reliability (really reflected in the build quality) then obviously the ebay triggers are not the best option. But given the price, I'd say they're worth it.
Jan 10 2011 1:27PM
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Troy.
Posts: 5070 - Karma: 12,545
Not quite sure what you guys mean, but I'm willing to drop $200-300, as long as it is compatible with all Canon's made, because I plan on buying a new camera in the summer, so if it will work I will be willing to drop more on it.
Jan 10 2011 5:47PM
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Ben.
Posts: 21463 - Karma: 683
Yes, the higher the ISO the more sensitive it is to light. However you will also get more grain/noise.


As far as exposure, if you are shooting in raw, you can probably get away with underexposing by a stop, maybe a little more, and pushing it in post.
Jan 10 2011 6:58PM
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TBigCat
Posts: 629 - Karma: 4
just get good angles
Jan 10 2011 9:04PM
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1337
Posts: 31038 - Karma: 29,003
for two to three hundred, this is what I would recommend:

Two Vivitar 285 HV's
RF-602 trigger and 2x receivers
lightstands
hotshoe flash holders for stands
Jan 10 2011 9:19PM
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Microcosm
Posts: 4765 - Karma: 153
Was just looking through an old set of bookmarks when I came across two sites about lighting:
For awhile I was really interested in learning all about off camera flash, and while I never actually ended up buying a ton of flashes I found these sites  pretty helpful.

http://super.nova.org/DPR/#Canon

http://www.dg28.com/technique/index.htm

Unfortunately they aren't actually specific to skiing photography, but learning all about lighting will definitely help your area of interest. After all, photography is really only about capturing light.








Jan 11 2011 1:40AM
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Jordan
Posts: 4079 - Karma: 2,122
Vagabond pack?

orrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Like jamie said, go with a couple speedlights, poppers and you're set for a bit.
Jan 11 2011 2:40AM
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MN_Nice
Posts: 3824 - Karma: 56
Bump for advice too. I have been shooting recently at night due to going after school and my pictures have come out like this:

Click for larger image

I plan on buying a flash attachment (probably a used 430EX or something) to help but maybe I'm doing something else wrong. I have been shooting with a high ISO of 3200 because of terrible lighting on the park and a shutter of 1/60. And there was no flash in that one because I was doing continuous shooting and the flash is too slow.
Jan 26 2011 4:37PM
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MN_Nice
Posts: 3824 - Karma: 56
Bump.
Jan 26 2011 8:59PM
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DrZoidberg
Posts: 5675 - Karma: 4,268
What was the aperture on the above shot, and what's the park's lighting situation like? You're not gonna do too well without some sort of flash or really strong lights. I was at the denver big air, and the lights there were bright enough for my point and shoot digi to have iso 400 and like 1/100 or something at like f5.3 if I remember right.

On camera stuff isn't gonna look as good as off camera lights. You could try to balance the flash with ambient by using a rather long shutter and tripod and hope the ambient isn't gonna blur the skier too much, which it probably will.
Jan 26 2011 9:39PM
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MN_Nice
Posts: 3824 - Karma: 56
I was using F5.6. And the lighting is pretty much terrible.
Jan 26 2011 9:46PM
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