Night Shooting w/ Canon Rebel XT

I am a total newb at the SLR world, my last camera being a Nikon Coolpix 995.

Now, I got this Canon Rebel XT and just this week got the 70-300mm IS USM lens.

My apologies in advance if I have posted this in the wrong place.

 

My problem is shooting at night. I have several books that I have been reading

as well as the manual. If I set the camera to night mode, the shutter will often

stay open for a long time. Of course, I can't hold my hand that steady so it not

only messes up the IS but if the background has cars, I get streams of light.

Now, sometimes that might be kewl, but not always.

 

Other times, if I focus on an item in a dark area, the camera will just not

shoot at all, with flash or not. I thought the entire point of this is to be

able to use it whenever and in all conditions. I have tried some manual

settings, but am not really sure how to adjust for the conditions. Oddly,

neither of the books I have really address this. The assumption is that the P&S

mode of your camera will take over. But mine doesn't. It will try to AF for a

while, then either read busy on the display, or just not click the shutter.

COuld my camera body be bad? It did this also with the stock 18-55mm lens.

 

I posted some of the photos on Picasa:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/justkimberly/ShortyHowellParkAtNight

 

If you click on the photo/then "more info" on the right, it gives all of my

camera settings.

 

In semi-pro's in the Duluth, GA area who want to do some private training? LOL,

that is what I really need. I *really* want to learn this stuff, so any advice

is appreciated.

http://photonotes.org/articles/beginner-faq/

I suggest you get a tripod, a remote shutter release and read a book like "Night and Low Light Photography" and check out the nocturnes web site.

 

Good luck!

Set your camera to Tv (shutter priority), put it on a tripod, focus on your subject and fire. If you're in the city 5-10 seconds will do, if you're out where there's no light you may need the full 30 seconds. Just experiment. Your camera will tell you if you're over or under exposing (look at the green scale in your viewfinder).

 

As for the light trails - when your shutter is open for 2 seconds or 10 seconds or whatever, you will capture motion. The car that passed your camera effectively scribed those streaks onto your 'film'. If you're shooting in the nighttime this will happen - and is often a good thing.

 

This will take a bit of figuring out, but your rebel can work in the nighttime with the help of "mirror lockup". Go into your custom functions (C.Fn in your menu) and enable mirror lockup. Then set your camera to timer. Now as soon as you hit the shutter button the camera will time for 2 seconds instead of the standard 10 and you'll have a clear shot. Otherwise buy a remote shutter release.

 

Just ask if none of this is clear!

With great power comes great responsibility.

 

Your camera can take all sorts of shot, but you have to learn how. In the dark, for instance, the shutter WILL need to be open longer, and that DOES mean you need a tripod. The "green square" mode (a.k.a. "granny mode") and the other preset makes it as easy as a point-and-shoot, but they are no substitute for knowing this stuff.

 

There are excellent courses - if you are serious, NYIP (New York Institute of Photography) is a good correspondence course. But your library has many great resources too, and especially, the Internet is a fantastic resource. But that is why you are here of course.

 

For a start - I would first learn the relationship between aperture ("F/5.6"), shutter speed ("1/125th")and sensor sensitivity ("200 ISO").

 

have fun!

Thanks for all of the tips everyone. I am anxious to learn this stuff. It never occurred to me to search on "nocturnes" LOL. There is a class being offered here locally starting at the end of June, but I am too impatient for that. I do have a tripod so may try this again with your suggestions this week.

Time to learn how to use the camera more fully. Get the manual out, and look up how to shoot in Av mode. Set an aperture of f/5.6 (or lower number if you can, depending on the position of the zoom). Change the ISO setting to 1600. Check to see what shutter speed you are getting when you half-press the shutter release. If it's lower than 1/60th, you'll need to use a tripod, and you might as well turn the ISO back to 100 and accept a several second exposure. Faster, and with IS switched on you stand a good chance of sharp shots hand held, providing the subject isn't moving.

 

You may find this provides a useful introduction toward gaining a little more understanding of the art of the possible:

 

http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm

<p>You need a tripod and a remote release cable.

 

<p>You will often need to turn off autofocus on your lens and focus manually since there

is

generally not enough light for your camera to acquire focus. (That is why the camera

sometimes won't shoot.)

 

<p>I recommend f/8 and exposures ranging from 10-15 seconds up to several minutes

for

different types of scenes. Instead of using "night mode", use the B (or bulb) setting and

manually open and close the shutter using your remote release.

 

<p>Also, engage the long exposure noise reduction feature for exposures over 30

seconds.

(Read about this in your manual - it has one odd side-effect that may otherwise confuse

you.)

 

<p>IS won't help on exposures longer than fractions of a second. Turn it off.

 

<p>The streaks of light from cars cannot be avoided with long exposures.

 

<p>Here is my basic approach:

 

<ol>

<li>Camera is on a sturdy tripod.

<li>I always use remote release cable (e.g. cable release) to activate shutter.

<li>I tend to use mirror lockup, though it probably isn't necessary for long exposures.

<li>In general I use f/8 on a crop sensor camera.

<li>I turn on the special function that does a second black from for noise reduction on

long

exposures.

<li>Brightly lit night scenes often can be shot with approximately 10-20 second

exposures.

<li>Night scenes with full moon and artificial light might range from 30 seconds to 3-5

minutes. Some full moon scenes in areas with no artificial light might be longer.

<li>Light meters are pretty worthless for night photography. Fortunately you can take a

photo and inspect the histogram and then make adjustments.

<li>Turn IS off when doing long exposures like this.

</ol>

 

<p>You can see some of my night photography here: <a href="http://

www.gdanmitchell.com/

newsItems/departments/photographsNight">http://www.gdanmitchell.com/

newsItems/departments/photographsNight</a>. A couple of others are on this page: <a

href="http://www.gdanmitchell.com/newsItems/departments/

photographsDeathValley">http://www.gdanmitchell.com/newsItems/departments/

photographsDeathValley</a>.

 

<p>Dan