What Camera Settings To Use?

[Phimp]

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So ya, next time I'm in Seattle at night, possibly this weekend, I want to bring my newly acquired Canon 40D and play around with a few photos that I've been wanting to take and a couple panoramic ideas I've had.

But I'm still fairly new to photography, so I haven't mastered the advanced settings (aperture, iso, exposure, etc.)

So for example, what settings do you think the photographer used for that particular scene in the photo above? I like the placid look of the water that most pictures have, I'm guessing just use a long exposure time...
But ISO should be relatively low so it's not grainy, so does that mean a really long exposure to compensate?
And the colors look so bright and vivid, is that just post-editing of the saturation?

I'm thinking that if I want to take a photo of a freeway where it's just a blur of red/white lines on the freeway from the vehicles lights, I'd need to use a time value of like 10+ seconds or something, but I have no idea what the other settings should be on..

I really don't want to set up in a perfect spot and have a great composition, and take 40 pictures while fiddling with settings and then have to wait till I get home to see which ones turned out and check the settings I used, then have to go back and use those settings for everything I wanted. lol

Thanks

 

[KodiakStar]

My guess is he had a tripod on, was later at at night since there are no motion blurs on the right side of the picture on the roads. In the city there are some pretty big spots where you could see where traffic would be.

Also, note his shooting angle from the bridge, you can't see the traffic from where the shot was taken, so that part will not be blown out.

The long exposure time does give the water a more smooth water look, similar to those waterfall pictures that look like silk (Using ND filters during the daytime)

ISO depends on your camera, not sure what your limitations are in low light, but would be easy to work on at home even having the camera resting on a table working through ISO's and speeds.

I would probably do no more then ISO 400? Probably 200 to get a sharper picture. Around f11 (gives you a sharper picture as well)

Time exposure, I would guess 15-20 seconds.

I'm fairly new as well, but i'm sure someone here could give you some more insight to Canons and low light shots

 

[Phimp]

Thanks for the help KodiakStar.

I have a tripod, and I've tried playing around with the settings at night, but they always seem to differ completely when the lighting is just slightly different.

But in that picture if you look carefully, about 1/4th from the left you can see a road on the other side that has a faint red line a foot or two above it. I'm thinking those are brake lights. And also at about that same part, you can faintly make out a boat in the water. You can see a light blue line that wavers up and down along the water, that's because of the slight waves.

So judging by how far that small boat traveled, I'm gonna guess it was a 10-20 second exposure, and a fairly low ISO since the sky isn't very grainy. It was also done with several pictures that were stitched together though.

I'm thinking if I was taking several pics to stitch I'd have to manually set the white balance so it doesn't automatically pick different ones for each image because of the lighting composition, that could turn out quite ugly after the images are put together. So I'd pretty much have to use the same settings all around?

 

[Grentz]

If you are going to stitch, the best way is to use M mode (full manual) so that your exposure is consistent throughout the frames. In manual mode you have to pick both the Aperture and Shutter Speed. If you dont want to mess around that much, use Av mode (where you pick the aperture), and pick an aperture of around f/8 - f/11.

Anyhow, starting point:
I would do either ISO200 or ISO400. The 30D/40D are good with noise up to ISO800, but darkness really brings it out and there is no need to increase your shutter speed since you will need to use good support no matter what.

For Aperture I would stick around f/8 - f/11. Good for some nice DOF, but not too high to start getting into extremely long shutter times and other problems (diffraction and such).

Shutter Speed will depend on the situation, play a bit to find what is the proper one to use for exposure (usually a few seconds)

Overall the most important thing is a steady support. Tripod or sturdy thing to set the camera on is a must. Also use Mirror Lockup mode. This is enabled in the Custom Functions and is CF III-7. Mirror lockup works like this: You focus and press the shutter button all the way, the mirror will flip up and the viewfinder will go black, wait a second, then press the shutter again to take the picture. The picture will be taken, then the mirror will go back down. This is to eliminate vibration from the mirror moving when you take the picture.

Another nice thing to use is a remote shutter button (can be had for around $50, cheaper on ebay) so you do not induce vibrations into the camera when you press the shutter button. If you dont have a remote shutter, there is a way around the problem of inducing vibration when you press the shutter. Use the self timer! That way you can press the shutter and it will wait a few seconds before taking the picture, letting vibrations settle down.

Mirror Lockup + Self Timer will really help.

The key to clear, sharp night shots is no vibration and solid support. Any movement will cause blur and loss of sharpness.

 

[Ripskin]

Very good advice, generally you want long exposure and low ISO to keep the image clear and crisp. If you dont have a remote shutter trigger you can set a timer on your camera, I use a 2 - 5 second delay when I am doing exposed shots so I can push the button and back off before it snaps the shot.

I am not familier with that camera but I know mine has a photostitch mode which is essentially manual with the added bonus of it lables the shots a - z start to finish and gives me a preview of the previous shot so I can line it up better. If yours doesnt have that option use a good marker on the city to keep your shot leval across your pan, if you change your elevation and tilt it can change how the buildings look and make your stitched image less clean.

 

[Phimp]

Grentz, thanks a ton for the advice!

I figured full manual mode would be the way to go so the settings are consistent.
I really had no idea what aperture to use, I have only played around with aperture when doing macro shots, so that really helps.

I hadn't played around with any of the Custom Functions yet, but the Mirror Lockup mode is pretty neat, I'll definitely use that.
I don't have a remote shutter button yet, I want one though. I've been using the self timer like you said and it works great.

I noticed there's a "Long exposure noise reduction" mode (CF II-1). Is that something I'd want to use?

Ripskin, The 40D doesn't have a photostitch mode that I'm aware of, but I can manually reset the File Numbering, so the photos first numbering sequence will increase by one. If my most recent photo is named 100-1105, before I start a few shots that will be stitched together, I manually reset the numbering and the next shots will be named 101-0001, 101-0001, etc. Then when done with those shots, reset it again so the next shots will start with 102, so that I can quickly tell which photos go with each other.
I've used cameras that would show a portion of the last image so you could easily line the next shot up and it is pretty helpful but I make due by just eyeing the shots using buildings and such for markers.

 

[ScYcS]

The picture above could also be a HDR picture. To achive these kind of shots, use a tripod, use ISO100, aperture priority mode (aperture at around f8 or so) and expose the shot with -1, 0 , +1 and combine them later to a HDR picture.

 

[sl3000gt94]

I would say tripod, M mode, ISO 100 who knows the actual fstop and shutter speed. That is something you shoot on scene multiple times to get the exposure you want.
It is not an HDR shot

 

[Grentz]

I noticed there's a "Long exposure noise reduction" mode (CF II-1). Is that something I'd want to use?

Play around with it. I have heard good and bad from it. I have the 30D but it does not have that feature. It is not essential, but can help in some situations. Test though as it can hurt in others from what I have heard (sometimes actually adding noise).

You should be fine with self timer + mirror lockup (MLU). I used to have a remote for my rebel, but when I switched to a 30D it no longer worked with it and I never bought a remote for my 30D. Self timer + MLU works for the cases I have done nighttime shots.

The picture above could also be a HDR picture. To achive these kind of shots, use a tripod, use ISO100, aperture priority mode (aperture at around f8 or so) and expose the shot with -1, 0 , +1 and combine them later to a HDR picture.

Its not HDR, nighttime shots are usually not HDR, HDR is for bringing out different exposed areas in the same image usually due to sunlight brightening different areas. I mean you could try HDR for night shots, its just not needed in most cases as your exposure is very consistent over the whole image.

For everyone who keeps saying ISO100, yes thats great and all, but with the 40D there is no reason to be scared of going up to ISO200-ISO400. It does not add any noticeable noise in most cases. The other thing is at ISO100 you will have such long exposures that you are going to get a worse image due to camera shake, little vibrations, and long exposure artifacts in many cases.

One other tip if you are doing a stitched image, do not try to lineup the images like you will want the final. Usually you will want a 15%-30% overlap in the images so the software you use can get a good lineup and blend between the images. Also stay level and at the same Focal Length to get good clean stitches.

 

[sl3000gt94]

For everyone who keeps saying ISO100, yes thats great and all, but with the 40D there is no reason to be scared of going up to ISO200-ISO400. It does not add any noticeable noise in most cases. The other thing is at ISO100 you will have such long exposures that you are going to get a worse image due to camera shake, little vibrations, and long exposure artifacts in many cases.

Why would you not shoot at the lowest ISO..noise is amplified in dark areas. and a night time shot will show the most. Put the camera ona tripod..set it up. turn on Mirror lock up and set the timer to shoot. There will be no issue with shooting. People do this stuff ALL the time. I mean there are some that do 20min exposures to show the rotation of the earth from the stars in the sky looking like they are streaking across the sky. If you have a tripod dont fear using ISO 100

 

[Grentz]

Why would you not shoot at the lowest ISO..noise is amplified in dark areas. and a night time shot will show the most. Put the camera ona tripod..set it up. turn on Mirror lock up and set the timer to shoot. There will be no issue with shooting. People do this stuff ALL the time. I mean there are some that do 20min exposures to show the rotation of the earth from the stars in the sky looking like they are streaking across the sky. If you have a tripod dont fear using ISO 100

The reason is sensor noise and increased risk of blur.

With these cameras you can build sensor noise because of the heat the sensor creates, this will in turn hurt image quality much more than the jump from ISO100-ISO200. The long the exposure the more risk from a slight breeze or vibration screwing up the photo as well.

You can play with it and see what works best, but there is no reason to be scared of ISO200-400 or so. I have gotten bell clear night shots with ISO400 on my 30D...

Experiment though, that is the key. I am just saying dont limit yourself and I was giving a good starting point to get a feel for things, then work to longer exposures with ISO100 and such