Taking pics at night

[kit_fisto]

Hey guys, how do u all take night photos ar? long exposures, flash? like say u wanna take a pic of someone at the merlion. i tried long exposures, but but having shorter exposures(abt 2 sec) + flash seem to work better for me.

[karnage]

Short exposures with flash should be ok. Approximately 1/4s is enough to capture ambient light already. Of course, it's not a fixed shutter time la.. it varies with the light intensity & surroundings & the effect u want. In the end, it's what works for you that matters.

[kit_fisto]

I tried it at the merlion just nw. short exposure + flash gives a yellow cool colour. with long exposures alone, the colour looks quite dull

[user111]

flash can only light up the foreground subject at up to about 10m away

outdoors long exposure at night, flash will not be needed because there is nothing to light up. unless there is a model or foreground object meant to be the subject of the composition.

[karnage]

Originally Posted by kit_fisto I tried it at the merlion just nw. short exposure + flash gives a yellow cool colour. with long exposures alone, the colour looks quite dull

What do u mean by yellow cool color? And what do you mean by dull? Wanna post the pic so we can see?

I was around the area last night too! About 7.30pm like that. Haha! But I wasn't taking photos though...

[kit_fisto]

Originally Posted by user111 flash can only light up the foreground subject at up to about 10m away outdoors long exposure at night, flash will not be needed because there is nothing to light up. unless there is a model or foreground object meant to be the subject of the composition.

hmmmm... so if there is someone at the foreground, no matter how long the exposure is, it still wont be as good as a shorter exposure with flash?

[kit_fisto]

and I cant seem to post any pics. Anyone know y?

[kit_fisto]

Hey Karnage my pics are here. look at eps and eps2. both are 1 sec exposures, eps is with flash, eps2 is without.
http://davison1985.myphotoalbum.com/...umName=album01

[karnage]

I see what u mean by yellowish... Is your WB set to Auto? Because if u set to auto & u have flash, the camera will try to counter the bluish cast of some flashes by pushing the WB more to the yellow side. Try a daytime WB or whatever that gives u satisfactory results.

Abt dull colors, because on Esplanade bridge the lamps are all orange, if u don't use flash, your subject will turn out orange too. And if the exposure isn't long enough, it'll be dark. Like what user111 says, the flash should be used if there's a subject in the foreground, in this case, urself.

Hope this helps.

[kit_fisto]

yeah my WB is auto, cant find anything white to custom set it. but if taking someone in the foreground, a long exposure will mean the person in front will be blur right? If he/she can stand really still for 5 sec..hehe anyway thats not me, its my fren

[user111]

you can still adjust the colour tone in photoshop even if the WB fail to register correcly at the time of shooting. but it takes a bit more work

[Robin]

the yellowish tinge is probably caused by a mixture of the yellow street lamps and your WB thingy....

[karnage]

Haha! The thing abt FZ20 is that u can't set slow sync flash on manual & shutter priority. Only aperture priority. Anyone care to share why that is so? I would have thought slow sync flash should most probably be available in the other 2 modes instead of Av?

Long exposure with flash, the person no need to stay very still la. The flash will be bright enough to "freeze" the person... Know what I mean? Haha! I dunno how to explain it well. Maybe someone else can help?