Camera Selection

[w.o.w_92TT]

Originally Posted by Macky

your camera should have a setting to change your white balance. the orange glow can be corrected (iirc) by tungsten WB. if not that, shoot in RAW, and fix it in Photoshop.

here are some night shots that have been color corrected due to those orange lamps:





granted I used remote strobes to light up the car, but the WB was getting fooled by the sodium lamps in the background. i just readjusted my WB on the fly (for those I can correct) and fixed the rest in RAW in PS.

also, how do you avoid the headlights from being too bright, and overpowering the exposure for the rest of the picture (especially the cool star light spread effect--is this in the editing)? when i've tried pictures like this they end up like i'm taking a picture of a flashlight shining at me against a black backdrop, because the lights just end up overpowering the exposure (especially with a black car). thanks for all the advice--also, is there a more appropriate, dedicated forum for photo questions that I haven't discovered? thanks for all your help guys

[Red92vr4]

Originally Posted by jbavousett

Why buy a Nikon and not use Nikon glass? Tamron lenses are complete trash. The reason I started using Nikon bodies was solely for the Nikon Lenses. No one makes glass as well and Nikon does.

Haha, except for Canon!

Originally Posted by w.o.w_92TT

hey thanks for the help, I'll definitely try that. any tips about achieving good focusing too at night? I usually just go by trial-and-error, manually...but its hard for me to systematically get a sharp picture like these you've posted. do you usually use relatively long exposure/small aperture, and one what ISO setting/exposure comp (ballpark)?

For focusing at night, carry a flashlight on you or in your gear bag. It will allow you to illuminate the scene enough to focus, then you can set the parameters, and take the photo with whatever setup you have. I usually use manual focus at night, as almost all auto-focus systems have issues with darkness.

Originally Posted by w.o.w_92TT

also, how do you avoid the headlights from being too bright, and overpowering the exposure for the rest of the picture (especially the cool star light spread effect--is this in the editing)? when i've tried pictures like this they end up like i'm taking a picture of a flashlight shining at me against a black backdrop, because the lights just end up overpowering the exposure (especially with a black car). thanks for all the advice--also, is there a more appropriate, dedicated forum for photo questions that I haven't discovered? thanks for all your help guys

I might be wrong but for the headlights, you can use a small aperture (like f/22) to diffract the light to achieve the star effect and tone the brightness down a bit. Then you balance the ambient light with one or more strobes (flashes) so that the head lights don't over expose. Maybe Macky can share his exact method, but that's what I'd do.
As for photo forums, I'd recommend two specifically. www.photography-on-the.net/forum/ and www.nikoncafe.com.

[leet]

Originally Posted by jbavousett

Why buy a Nikon and not use Nikon glass? Tamron lenses are complete trash. The reason I started using Nikon bodies was solely for the Nikon Lenses. No one makes glass as well and Nikon does.

you couldn't possibly be more wrong about that

and the rest of that post wreaks of blind fanboyism and sackriding

[Red92vr4]

Originally Posted by leet

you couldn't possibly be more wrong about that

and the rest of that post wreaks of blind fanboyism and sackriding

Lol. That is a funny post. I've never really used Tamron lenses, so I really can't personally comment on them, but I haven't really heard many bad things about them, well in pertinence to Canon cameras anyhow.

[leet]

Originally Posted by Red92vr4

Lol. That is a funny post. I've never really used Tamron lenses, so I really can't personally comment on them, but I haven't really heard many bad things about them, well in pertinence to Canon cameras anyhow.

it's true though, top of the line nikon glass is just as good as top of the line canon glass, it all comes down to preferance

and there are really good tamron and sigma lenses, and there are some crappy ones, same as nikon and canon

[Macky]

the parameters for that particular shot were: 6 seconds, f/8.0 @ 27mm. the EXIF embedded in the image are from the data of the template I use for the framing, so it is not accurate.

here is another example of a night shot (some old shots of my TL) where I didnt use strobes but just ambient moon lighting and background lighting:







i currently dont have the correct EXIF data (its embedded in the RAW file), as if you check the EXIF on these they would all be the same. iirc they are shot in the neighborhood of about 8 seconds at f/8 as well, ISO 100.

[97mits3kgtSOHC]

camera comes today! woohooo....ive been waiting home all day for it....already have the uv filter and memory card just waiting for the two big things to get here...