Night Shots...What am I doing wrong?

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D

03/18/2006 06:35:33 AM · #1

I've just been out trying to get some shots of the moon and the other day I tried to take a few shots of the sunset, both nights there was a nice orange color in the sky ( right across the sky with the sunset and on the moon itself like a bushfire moon).

In both shots I got some good detail and the pics don't look to bad, but they look nothing like what I saw in the sky. The moon just looks like a photo of the moon and the sunset just looks like a shot of the sky with a little bit of orange, the whole sky was ment to be orange.

Does anyone have any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

Message edited by author 2006-03-18 06:36:22.

David.C

03/18/2006 06:54:29 AM · #2

White balance would be my first guess. If, for example, you are focusing on the moon with auto-WB on it will try to make the moon a neutral color. This would take some (or all) of the glow the sky had.

If you shot in RAW, the WB is easy to adjust. Just move the slider around until it looks how you want it.

David

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

03/18/2006 07:39:37 AM · #3

Thanks, that seems to have helped. Hopfully I can get the rest of what I want using photoshop. Is there a "best" white balance setting to use for night shots? I do most of my shots in RAW unless I'm a long way from home in that case I need the extra space as I only have 2x 1GB cards, so I just use Jpeg/Fine.

strangeghost

Canon EOS-7D

03/18/2006 09:42:07 AM · #4

More detail about what you're doing, as well as the results you're getting would be helpful. Can you post a couple of examples for us to look at? What lens are you using? Are you trying to shoot the moon itself, or as part of a landscape composition?

When shooting the sunset (or moon), it's easy to over expose. Doing this will wash out most of the beautiful colors created by the sunset. Bracket your shots along a range of shutter speeds, both over and underexposing what you think is the ideal setting. Shooting RAW is good because it gives you maximum flexibility when you get back to your computer.

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

03/21/2006 07:49:13 AM · #5

Sorry it took me so long to get back, I've been sick the last few days.

I uploaded some the shots for you to have a look at.

Both thoses shots were edited in raw format and that is the best I could get. With the moon one I was tring to get the moon to show it's nice orange color and at the same time be able to see the grey clouds, everytime I set the shutter speed slower the clouds would show up but the moon was washed out, on faster speeds the moon was good but the the sky was black. The moon looked much like this one on that night but a little darker

With the sky/sunset shots the clouds looked alot like this but when I took the shot the orange only realy showed up behind the clouds

Both shots were taken with Canon EF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 III

Message edited by author 2006-03-21 07:50:22.

strangeghost

Canon EOS-7D

03/21/2006 08:25:31 AM · #6

Originally posted by 308:

I don't think you're doing anything wrong with the exposure. The moon is so bright that it's REALLY difficult to get a properly exposed moon with anything else being bright enough to satisfy. If you expose for the sky or the foreground, the moon gets waaaay overexposed. My shot, Solstice Moon Rising, is a composite of two exposures taken a few seconds apart, one for the moon, and another for everything else, then combined using photoshop. For comparison, this is the best I was able to do with a single exposure:

Note how much detail is lost in the sky and the skyline of the city.

Your moon shot is very out of focus. Are you using a tripod? Are you using a remote release? With 1/500th you should get sharper features. Focusing on the moon is not easy. Practice, practice, practice.