Time of the day for landscape shots

[Nikon79]

Hello,,, juz asking some very noob question

1.i wanna take some shots of landscapes, building around chinatown, little india area..
when is the best timing of the day to go?

2. i wanna try some nite shots, my equipment juz include very basic D60 with 18-55 lens
is tat enough? do i need extra lens with higher aperture to be able to capture nice nite shots like u guys here??

many many thanks...

[ssping83]

evenings before the sky turns totally dark.. with the street lights juz about turned on should be a good time to go..

and yes your basic kit is enough.. you dun need top end gear to be taking good photos.. =)

[ahbian]

Also consider adding a tripod to your existing gear. Go at an earlier timing and set up shop.

[Nikon79]

the tripod tat comes with the camera seems like a cheap and low-end one

i don look stable to me.. but good thing tat its quite light.. shall bring it along

[ahbian]

If you see yourself going into dawn/dusk pictures, might as well invest in a decent one from the start.

[giantcanopy]

For night shots for streets be prepared to crank up the ISO really high.
Else for buildings and landscape yes a stable tripod is pretty essential.

Ryan

[Nikon79]

oh ISO msut be high?

[Shen siung]

To shoot night / evening / dawn scece, when light is not very strong, I usually use longer exposure (more then 0.5 sec sometimes, depends the light). With this long exposure, you need a tripod.

If you do not have tripod, you can increase ISO (say 1600) to allow you to shoot at about 1/40 ~ 1/80, depends your aperture.
With this about 1/40 ~ 1/80, you may avoid image blur due to minor hand shake.

For me, I always carry a tripod for night scene. Tried once with 50 f1.8 lens, aperture 1.8, ISO 800, get shutter of about 1/50, the results is just marginally accpetable for me.

Anyway, best to invest in a decent tripod, about $100 to get an acceptable once

[cy_j]

Landscape would need small apertures, consequently longer shutter speeds. Invest in a good tripod - don't skimp.

And around sunrise/sunset are usually great times to shoot.

[MarkNKL]

Originally Posted by Nikon79 Hello,,, juz asking some very noob question 1.i wanna take some shots of landscapes, building around chinatown, little india area.. when is the best timing of the day to go? 2. i wanna try some nite shots, my equipment juz include very basic D60 with 18-55 lens is tat enough? do i need extra lens with higher aperture to be able to capture nice nite shots like u guys here?? many many thanks...

1- Best time would be in the evenings around 7pm, when you get something called "Blue Hour" or Magic Hour as I like to call it, you can google or search flickr for some examples.

2- You'll need a tripod and a cable release because of the slow shutter speed times and you won't want to jitter the tripod when pressing the shutter release.
I think an 18mm would do well enough here and a low f/stop is not needed as you'll want as much detail as possible hence small aperture.

In recent weeks the weather's been crap (overcast skies the norm) so I suggest you wait for the sunny season before going for these shots. But I may be wrong, so if somebody has managed to get the blue hour in recent weeks, I stand corrected.

[night86mare]

Originally Posted by Nikon79 oh ISO msut be high?

IF and ONLY IF you don't use a tripod.

[3in1c]

Different time, different scene, different feel. Try all of them on weekends.

[giantcanopy]

Originally Posted by Nikon79 oh ISO msut be high?

Like wat night86mare has answered, you need pretty high ISO to get street shots of the people ( you cannot be using long exposure on a tripod to shoot unless u intend to have motion blur )

Else for static subjects, a sturdy tripod, long exposure with the lowest cleanest ISO and a remote release is good to work with.

Ryan

[Kit]

Firstly, congrats for realising that getting the timing right is essential. Some people just don't get it.

I suggest you do a recce of the places that interest you. Study the quality of ambient light at different times of the day. Note the position of the rising/setting sun and the effects it has on the buildings. Knowing how to read the light and being able to anticipate how that light will turn out in your photos is crucial. Be patient and select your spot with care and wait for the light. Do not that the sunrise/sunset timing varies throughout the year. Don't let the light get so dark that you cannot record any details on the building facades anymore. I usually call it a day just before 20:00.

These 2 shots were taken from the same spot, about 30 mins apart.


18:32


19:06

Older works...


19:40


19:30

[MarkNKL]

@ TS- Note the blue sky in the 2nd photo, wait a little longer and do some PP to give it a deeper, richer shade.
and also note that the building lights have come on. That is what you want as well, adds tons of colour and life

[Nikon79]

hey thanks for all the reply and advices

hi kit, i wanna capture photo like wat u did
care to share wat aperture and shutter speed, iso u used for the 3 photo u taken?

p/s: i find it quite difficult to determine wat aperture and shutter speed to use
is there a rule of thumb to follow? its either i get too bright or too dark... its making me crazy.

[Shen siung]

Originally Posted by Nikon79 hey thanks for all the reply and advices hi kit, i wanna capture photo like wat u did care to share wat aperture and shutter speed, iso u used for the 3 photo u taken? p/s: i find it quite difficult to determine wat aperture and shutter speed to use is there a rule of thumb to follow? its either i get too bright or too dark... its making me crazy.

for me, I never know what to use, I just mount my cam on tripod, then shoot with various combination. My own experience: I set to Shutter priority when taking this evening - night scene...

[calebk]

Originally Posted by Nikon79 hey thanks for all the reply and advices hi kit, i wanna capture photo like wat u did care to share wat aperture and shutter speed, iso u used for the 3 photo u taken? p/s: i find it quite difficult to determine wat aperture and shutter speed to use is there a rule of thumb to follow? its either i get too bright or too dark... its making me crazy.

There's this thing in your camera called an exposure meter. It tells you what your exposure will be given a set of exposure settings. Learn to read it, and you'll be on your way towards getting pictures that are accurately exposed.

Asking for settings that people use for their photos, IMHO, is not going to help, because they were there at a different time from you, with different lighting conditions, at different positions. With so many variations, how would taking their settings and using it in your own situation help much, as opposed to learning to read your own camera's exposure meter?

[ortega]

Originally Posted by Nikon79 Hello,,, juz asking some very noob question 1.i wanna take some shots of landscapes, building around chinatown, little india area.. when is the best timing of the day to go? 2. i wanna try some nite shots, my equipment juz include very basic D60 with 18-55 lens is tat enough? do i need extra lens with higher aperture to be able to capture nice nite shots like u guys here?? many many thanks...

1. there is no best time of day, it all depends on at what time is the light best suited for your particular composition. but basically the best times are dawn/morning/evening/dusk and night

2. your camera setup is enough, but you might want to add a tripod and maybe an external flash when you are ready for more complicated lighting setups.