Always carry your camera, even at night.
I just got back from teaching, after an executive portrait shoot this morning.
But I want to talk not about light, but about lack of light. And how when it gets dark, you do not put away your camera. Like I carried mine, just the other night in Montreal:
Montreal, night scene, handheld (Aug 2010)
Montreal, Rue Hutchison, Aug 2010
Montreal, "The Shining", handheld
All those were handheld shots.
Tips for those:
- Hold the camera steady!
- Use a wide lens, since they are more forgiving of motiong
- Make it a fast one the fastest you can get (I used a 16-35mm f/2.8 on a full-frame camera);
- Use a high ISO if handheld (but low if using a tripod);
- Expose down 1-2 stops (use manual, or use aperture mode and Exposure Compensation “minus”) ;
- Shoot multiple times to make sure!
If you do it that way, it is easy. And you will be happy with your images.
Great shots Michael, What Iso setting did you have your camera set at. When taking night shots and using a tri-pod do you disable image stabilizition or does it matter?
ISO was 1600, because I was using the camera handheld. When using a tripod, I use lower ISOs and indeed then I turn IS/VR off.
Any reason as to why you would turn of the IS/VR off?
Oh yes. It needs to be on when you have the camera stationary. When you are moving the camera turn it off (except if you have an “active” mode, for stabilization in one dimension only, e.g. left-right or up-down, in which case you turn it on during panning.