Focussing in the dark.

Alan wrote:
Use of tripod/cable (or timer as you say below) is right on.

WAY too complicated. I photo "Christmas houses" by just propping the
digicam on the car's door with the window down - and that works fine!

Manual Focus on a light directly in front.

ESSENTIAL.

Set lens to three stops closed from widest aperture.
Spot meter one of the the white lights.
Increase exposure two stops from that reading (eg: slower shutter, not open
up the aperture).

I just use automatic and flash. It works fine for these photos - with a
little afterward PhotoShop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Alan wrote:
Use of tripod/cable (or timer as you say below) is right on.

WAY too complicated. I photo "Christmas houses" by just propping the
digicam on the car's door with the window down - and that works fine!

Manual Focus on a light directly in front.

ESSENTIAL.

Set lens to three stops closed from widest aperture.
Spot meter one of the the white lights.
Increase exposure two stops from that reading (eg: slower shutter, not open
up the aperture).

I just use automatic and flash. It works fine for these photos - with a
little afterward PhotoShop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BDissident news - plus immigration, gun rights, weather, Internet Gun Show
IA HREF="http://www.alamanceind.com"ALAMANCE INDEPENDENT:
official newspaper of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy/A/b/i

GLC1173 wrote:
Alan wrote:
Use of tripod/cable (or timer as you say below) is right on.

WAY too complicated. I photo "Christmas houses" by just propping
the digicam on the car's door with the window down - and that works
fine!

Manual Focus on a light directly in front.

ESSENTIAL.

Set lens to three stops closed from widest aperture.
Spot meter one of the the white lights.
Increase exposure two stops from that reading (eg: slower shutter,
not open up the aperture).

I just use automatic and flash. It works fine for these photos -
with a little afterward PhotoShop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mine were tripodded, no timer.

Seems to me you can't get all the things you want in one exposure. Pays
you money and makes you choice.

http://www.fototime.com/inv/0A11C3DE4D0B5E4

--
Frank ess

Ok, plenty of suggestions here.


David Taylor:

- setting the camera to "landscape" or whatever fixed infinity focus is
called on yours.

That's an option I hadn't consideded. I rarely use anything other than program
or ap.

- stopping down to f/8

Can't do that if I use landscape, but then, landscape might do that anyway.

Embee:

Was it at all windy when you took the picture? If so, it's possible the
tripod wasn't completely steady ...

Not a breath.

Owamanga:

Try this again. Don't let the day get too dark (in fact, do it when
it's dusk about 1/2 way between sunset and darkness)

Yep, that's worth a try, that'll reduce the contrast, which mat help.

Frank:

Where do you live? Whose idea was the barricade? Just curious.

Philippines. we need that stuff. I had already lost a mountain bike before I had
the spikes fitted...

GLC1173:
When photoing "Christmas houses," I always use the flash on my digicam.

I'm not sure the built in flash will do much at that distnce, but it's worth a
try.


eawckyegcy:

Take another with the lights off

And while I'm inside turning them off, someone will nick the camera. :-)

Filipinos + christmas ... well, let's just say it isn't normal. ;-)

Tell me about it. it starts in September...


Bob:

You have the classic problem of trying to photograph a scene with WAY
too much contrast.
Try shooting near dusk.

Yep, that might be the key.

Thanks everyone.

There is another option, I'm getting a D70 for christmas... :-)

--
Chris Pollard


CG Internet café, Tagum City, Philippines
http://www.cginternet.net

Ok, plenty of suggestions here.


David Taylor:

- setting the camera to "landscape" or whatever fixed infinity focus is
called on yours.

That's an option I hadn't consideded. I rarely use anything other than program
or ap.

- stopping down to f/8

Can't do that if I use landscape, but then, landscape might do that anyway.

Embee:

Was it at all windy when you took the picture? If so, it's possible the
tripod wasn't completely steady ...

Not a breath.

Owamanga:

Try this again. Don't let the day get too dark (in fact, do it when
it's dusk about 1/2 way between sunset and darkness)

Yep, that's worth a try, that'll reduce the contrast, which mat help.

Frank:

Where do you live? Whose idea was the barricade? Just curious.

Philippines. we need that stuff. I had already lost a mountain bike before I had
the spikes fitted...

GLC1173:
When photoing "Christmas houses," I always use the flash on my digicam.

I'm not sure the built in flash will do much at that distnce, but it's worth a
try.


eawckyegcy:

Take another with the lights off

And while I'm inside turning them off, someone will nick the camera. :-)

Filipinos + christmas ... well, let's just say it isn't normal. ;-)

Tell me about it. it starts in September...


Bob:

You have the classic problem of trying to photograph a scene with WAY
too much contrast.
Try shooting near dusk.

Yep, that might be the key.

Thanks everyone.

There is another option, I'm getting a D70 for christmas... :-)

--
Chris Pollard


CG Internet café, Tagum City, Philippines
http://www.cginternet.net

On 16 Dec 2004 02:16:27 GMT, (GLC1173) wrote:

WAY too complicated. I photo "Christmas houses" by just propping the
digicam on the car's door with the window down - and that works fine!

Except that this one is on a narrow road, and I have to be on the other side of
that road with a wide angle convertor to fit it all in.

And no, I'm not going to try a panoramic...

--
Chris Pollard


CG Internet café, Tagum City, Philippines
http://www.cginternet.net

On 16 Dec 2004 02:16:27 GMT, (GLC1173) wrote:

WAY too complicated. I photo "Christmas houses" by just propping the
digicam on the car's door with the window down - and that works fine!

Except that this one is on a narrow road, and I have to be on the other side of
that road with a wide angle convertor to fit it all in.

And no, I'm not going to try a panoramic...

--
Chris Pollard


CG Internet café, Tagum City, Philippines
http://www.cginternet.net

Bob Williams wrote:

Christopher Pollard wrote:
I tried the manual focus, but it's very difficult to use. The centre of the
display shows an enlarged version of the centre of the image, but there's no
noticeable change from infinity until I get to about 4 ft.

You have the classic problem of trying to photograph a scene with WAY
too much contrast.
Try shooting near dusk. Take a picture every few minutes before sunset.
At some point you will be able to get the right ratio of ambient light
to decoration lights. Also your camera wil be able to focus more
accurately with more ambient light.
Most cameras are notoriously bad at focusing in the dark.
However, I don't think your focus is off that much. It was obviousy a
long exposure and the lights probably moved a little bit in the wind.
Bob Williams

Couldn't he set up on tripod and do the focus before dark, then
leave it manually focussed at that setting? What about doing a
sort of double-exposure exposing the house with lights off, then
just a shot of the lights separately. They could be overlayed
off-line. Or, depending on the length of exposure (say a 4 sec
exposure), have someone flick the lights while the shutter is open.
Worth a bit of a play, anyway. Not entirely sure what it would solve.

--
Ken Tough

Bob Williams wrote:

Christopher Pollard wrote:
I tried the manual focus, but it's very difficult to use. The centre of the
display shows an enlarged version of the centre of the image, but there's no
noticeable change from infinity until I get to about 4 ft.

You have the classic problem of trying to photograph a scene with WAY
too much contrast.
Try shooting near dusk. Take a picture every few minutes before sunset.
At some point you will be able to get the right ratio of ambient light
to decoration lights. Also your camera wil be able to focus more
accurately with more ambient light.
Most cameras are notoriously bad at focusing in the dark.
However, I don't think your focus is off that much. It was obviousy a
long exposure and the lights probably moved a little bit in the wind.
Bob Williams

Couldn't he set up on tripod and do the focus before dark, then
leave it manually focussed at that setting? What about doing a
sort of double-exposure exposing the house with lights off, then
just a shot of the lights separately. They could be overlayed
off-line. Or, depending on the length of exposure (say a 4 sec
exposure), have someone flick the lights while the shutter is open.
Worth a bit of a play, anyway. Not entirely sure what it would solve.

--
Ken Tough

On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 09:49:58 +0200, Ken Tough wrote:

Couldn't he set up on tripod and do the focus before dark, then
leave it manually focussed at that setting?

That's an option, assuming the camera remembers the setting next time I tiurn it
on.

I'm going to try the twilight thing next, I was too late last night.

--
Chris Pollard


CG Internet café, Tagum City, Philippines
http://www.cginternet.net