How to take this shot better?

[Glen]

Hi all, just took this shot about 15 minutes ago, and while I am happy to catch the light of Sydney and its aura, some of the lights have become highlights (eg the light near the centre of the page). What is the best way to avoid that in future? Filters? Aperture?

This shot was taken at F8 for 13 sec at 12mm.

[stubbsy]

Glen. I can't help you, but I'm compelled to comment on the image, blown highlights or not. I think this is bloody good for a first go. Isn't Sydney harbour just beautiful at night. I look forward to the results after the experts help out.

Cheers

[bwhinnen]

I would have closed the aperture down a bit more personally. And then checked the exposure at the 13seconds. But I'm a novice so that's what I'd do and it may not be right. I like the photo though even with the overly bright lights.

Cheers
Brett

[sirhc55]

Nice shot Glen and the only comment I can make is that possibly the exposure time was too long. If you look at the foreground you can see mottling where the sensor is trying to expose the sand(?)

If you shot this in RAW it might be worth playing with the settings in camera raw.

Chris

[mudder]

The colors are beautiful in this... Was it taken in jpeg or RAW? The only reason I ask is that I assume with RAW you canplay with the exposure a little more? If you only wanted to lessen one spot or highlight, maybe you could try a layer underneath in PP and then lightly erase the one highlightin the top/bright layer?

I'd be tempted to crop the top and bottom and call it a pano

Cheers,
Mudder

[MHD]

Either picked a lit foreshore or flashed the beach to provide some intersting stuff in the bottom right...

How long was the exposure... long enough to try some light painting?

[phillipb]

Glen,
How about taking one shot at dusk exposing for the sky and then taking the same shot after dark exposing for the lights and combining them in photoshop.

[Mj]

I've had problems with this too Glen where city skylines etc are the subject... have a look at my bridge shot and you'll see an annoying red light right in the centre. Seems the sensor is particularly sensitive to red.
I suspect some clever PP is the answer... but not yet been successful.

Not the answer you were looking for, I know...

[AlistairF]

I'd shoot the same scene, but use twilight to help add some ambient light, hightlighting the bridge and landscape, but retaining the great colour youve got in the reflections.

Alistair

[Glen]

Thanks Guys, yes Sydney Harbour is beautiful, I always love seeing it. I closed the aperture down in another shot of this, didn't help. It was taken in RAW at F8 for 13 sec. I was thinking of cropping top and bottom, or more correctly, learning how to take it right and then crop that image top and bottom. It looks like I will have to learn something about PP.




I had the same problems on another shot taken at the same time (I took about a dozen shots tonight) with the 70-200 at F8 for 5 secs, taken at 200mm. You can see some of the signs aren't too clear

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Thanks everyone for their help

[AlistairF]

Glen,

In Nikon Capture, have a play with your Tone compensation. This might help open up the contrast a little.

Alistair

[yeocsa]

Hi Glen,

In my humble opinion, there are some problems I can see.

1. Exposure was too long. It cause the blowout lights to blur a otherwise sharp picture.

2. You will get better result if the f-stop is 11 or greater. You will get natural star effects of the street lights without use of any filter.

3. There's a lack of sharpness - not sure if it is due to the lens. A tripod and cable release or self-timer can make alot of difference.

regards,

Arthur

[Killakoala]

I see one big problem with your pics Glen.....

Why are you out taking them when you have heaps of PP to do on your Thailand photos? Get back home and get back to work........

[Oneputt]

Glen I have had the same problem with a lot of night photos I have taken.
Next time I go out I'm just going to take a lot of consecutive shots, changing the exposure by a second each time, and see what I get.

[Glen]

Alistair, thanks for the tip will try it

Yeocsa, 1. It also happened on the Opera House picture at 5 sec though that may be due to other reasons. Will try a much shorter exposure as the 12-24 does not need too small an aperture for great depth of field
2. F18 was not much better. I am actually trying to avoid too bright highlights. 3. I agree with you, I think especially the Opera House could be sharper. Even though I have a Gitzo, RRs have a delay on heads, so this was taken with a $60 Velbon not even extended at all. It felt loose. By comparison, at the long lens workshop, I felt I could have done chin ups from Birddog's Gitzo/RRS combo. Thanks for your suggestions.

Killa, spot on. I went down to take the coloured ball (it has been blue and red since my return) but alas it is no more

Oneputt, good idea, will try it

[yeocsa]

Hi Glen,

Another thing you can try is to take the picture earlier. You can get very clear night signage and wordings while the sky is still blue and not dark. In Singapore, this occurs 10 minutes before the sky turns dark black. That 10 minutes gap (sometimes only 5) is the best time. this may not apply to Australia. Using aperture preferred is also very adequate for last light.

regards,

Arthur

[yeocsa]

This shot is taken at 6.50pm. At 7pm, it will be dark and the sky would be dark blue to black. Canon 10D + 17-40mm L - my previous camera before switching to Nikon.