Night shot, how was it done?

I'm looking at this shot and wonder how the photographer made it work:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/futura/...7594562627177/
I realize that the shot is out of focus, but each time I attempt this
sort of thing the result is very poor: the dark areas are all yellowy
and the lights are all washed out. Where to take the light meter
reading from? Would you use spot metering? What distance would you
focus on? Just a bit out of focus or very much? Any other suggestions
you have about this kind of shots?

Thanks.

Looks like no more than someone shooting using manual focus (deliberately
making it out of focus) with a pretty decent lens looking at the bokeh.
Then using a fastish shutter speed. Light metering is experimental with
this type of shot.

The tricky bit is finding the location that this was taken, as it is this
that plays a big part of the shot.


"Hoshisato" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm looking at this shot and wonder how the photographer made it work:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/futura/...7594562627177/
I realize that the shot is out of focus, but each time I attempt this
sort of thing the result is very poor: the dark areas are all yellowy
and the lights are all washed out. Where to take the light meter
reading from? Would you use spot metering? What distance would you
focus on? Just a bit out of focus or very much? Any other suggestions
you have about this kind of shots?

Thanks.

....use one of these for short DOF determination:
http://www.pbase.com/image/81217280

very slightly focus out...

while the light meter measures you the right twilight....

reduce EV by ~2...

shoot.

There you go with an excellent BOKEH


focus on? Just a bit out of focus or very much? Any other suggestions
you have about this kind of shots?

"Hoshisato" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm looking at this shot and wonder how the photographer made it work:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/futura/...7594562627177/
I realize that the shot is out of focus, but each time I attempt this
sort of thing the result is very poor: the dark areas are all yellowy
and the lights are all washed out. Where to take the light meter
reading from? Would you use spot metering? What distance would you
focus on? Just a bit out of focus or very much? Any other suggestions
you have about this kind of shots?

Thanks.

You are overexposing the image. You judge the exposure by consulting the
histogram.
Jim

Hoshisato wrote:
I'm looking at this shot and wonder how the photographer made it
work:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/futura/...7594562627177/
I realize that the shot is out of focus, but each time I attempt
this
sort of thing the result is very poor: the dark areas are all
yellowy
and the lights are all washed out. Where to take the light meter
reading from? Would you use spot metering? What distance would you
focus on? Just a bit out of focus or very much? Any other
suggestions
you have about this kind of shots?

Thanks.

Does the photographer not answer your queries?

Hoshisato wrote:
I'm looking at this shot and wonder how the photographer made it work:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/futura/...7594562627177/
I realize that the shot is out of focus, but each time I attempt this
sort of thing the result is very poor: the dark areas are all yellowy
and the lights are all washed out. Where to take the light meter
reading from?

Skip the light meter and use manual exposure. The nice thing about
digital cameras is that you can try many different versions without
spending money.

At ISO400 I'd start at f2.8 and, say a 30th of a second. Don't reduce
the aperture by much if you want the blur.

--
Ray Fischer

Hoshisato wrote:
I'm looking at this shot and wonder how the photographer made it work:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/futura/...7594562627177/
I realize that the shot is out of focus, but each time I attempt this
sort of thing the result is very poor: the dark areas are all yellowy
and the lights are all washed out.

You are probably over exposing.

Position yourself where everything in the near foreground is
dark. Set the camera to the widest f/stop, focus it just
slightly closer than the nearest object that is well enough
light to be distinguishable in the image.

Then expose at a relatively fast shutter speed and look at
the histogram it produces. Change the shutter speed to
position the brightest parts of the image almost to the
right side of your histogram. Ideally that would be with
the aperture wide open, but if you run out of shutter speed
range it may be necessary to use an ND filter, or stop the
lense down slightly.

The problem with stopping down the lense is loss of what
everyone has been saying is "great bokeh". With the
aperture wide open it produces circular out of focus
highlights, but if the lense is stopped down they will be
the shape of your aperture. If you do have a great lense it
won't be bad (if you have a 9 bladed shutter it might even
be great!), but it won't be the same as the example image.

Where to take the light meter
reading from? Would you use spot metering? What distance would you
focus on? Just a bit out of focus or very much? Any other suggestions
you have about this kind of shots?

The focus point, and the relative distances to highlight
objects, will affect how the image looks. Hence you might
want to look for a location where all objects are about the
same distance (relatively, and keeping in mind that focal
length of the lense will affect how relative that is) if you
want the out of focus circles to look all similar.

In any case, you'll have a very hard time judging what they
look like through the viewfinder. It probably won't be all
that easy to tell looking at an LCD display either! So take
several exposures, each with the focus at slightly different
points.

And then switch focal lengths and do it again!

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)

On Jun 27, 4:45 am, (Floyd L. Davidson) wrote:
Hoshisato wrote:
I'm looking at this shot and wonder how the photographer made it work:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/futura/...7594562627177/
I realize that the shot is out of focus, but each time I attempt this
sort of thing the result is very poor: the dark areas are all yellowy
and the lights are all washed out.

You are probably over exposing.

Position yourself where everything in the near foreground is
dark. Set the camera to the widest f/stop, focus it just
slightly closer than the nearest object that is well enough
light to be distinguishable in the image.

Then expose at a relatively fast shutter speed and look at
the histogram it produces. Change the shutter speed to
position the brightest parts of the image almost to the
right side of your histogram. Ideally that would be with
the aperture wide open, but if you run out of shutter speed
range it may be necessary to use an ND filter, or stop the
lense down slightly.

The problem with stopping down the lense is loss of what
everyone has been saying is "great bokeh". With the
aperture wide open it produces circular out of focus
highlights, but if the lense is stopped down they will be
the shape of your aperture. If you do have a great lense it
won't be bad (if you have a 9 bladed shutter it might even
be great!), but it won't be the same as the example image.

Where to take the light meter
reading from? Would you use spot metering? What distance would you
focus on? Just a bit out of focus or very much? Any other suggestions
you have about this kind of shots?

The focus point, and the relative distances to highlight
objects, will affect how the image looks. Hence you might
want to look for a location where all objects are about the
same distance (relatively, and keeping in mind that focal
length of the lense will affect how relative that is) if you
want the out of focus circles to look all similar.

In any case, you'll have a very hard time judging what they
look like through the viewfinder. It probably won't be all
that easy to tell looking at an LCD display either! So take
several exposures, each with the focus at slightly different
points.

And then switch focal lengths and do it again!

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)

Much obliged for the clear instructions!