How can I take pictures of night time city lights?

Question

I don't know how to take good photos at night, you know, the kind where u can see the city lights really well, and then the other kind is where you take a picture of someone with the city lights in the background and you can see both the subject and the lights well. Now i have a kodak easy share C330, i dont know if such a basic camera can do what i want it to do, but if anyone could give me any tips it would be very much appreciated thank you!

Answer 1

You will need a tripod, and a camera with manual settings. I'm not sure if your camera can do that. You might have to rely on a mode setting. See if you have a night scene mode, or a night portrait mode. Either way, you should use a tripod.

If you can set it to manual, set your ISO as low as it will go, set your aperture small (high number) and your shutter speed slow (1/60 or slower, depending on the scene).

Answer 2

You will need a tripod and a long shutter speed. Your camera will have to be in Manual Mode since you'll be setting everything. Some cameras have a minimum shutter speed of 15 seconds so if your's has that feature you can use the self-timer to release the shutter. If not, your shutter speed setting must have either a "T" or "B" setting and you'll need a cable release.

I use the FotoSharp (fotosharp.com) Day & Night Exposure Guide and recommend it.

Here is what it says for a "City skyline in the distance" :

ISO 100

f2.8 @ 4 sec.
f4 @ 8 sec.
f5.6 @ 15 sec.
f8 @ 30 sec.

ISO 200

f2.8 @ 2 sec.
f4 @ 4 sec.
f5.6 @ 8 sec.
f8 @ 15 sec.

To accomplish the second part of your question, try this. Have your subject pose and cover them with a black cloth. Set your camera for one of the times suggested above and at the last second remove the cloth and use the flash. An off-camera flash with a diffuser is best and if you can adjust the power on the flash that's even better. You'll have to experiment with this technique.

Answer 3

Use a tripod or something stable like the top of a post or something. Use the modes Terisu mentioned. Your tool is somewhat limiting. No or little manual control. If you can use 100iso for cityscape images like this one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/martini2005/2043248094/ -- use the nitescape mode and a low ido if you can

for shots with people in, use the night portrait mode and maybe 200 or 400 iso.

Learn as much as you can if you one day step up to a more advanced camera your learning now will help in the future.

Have fun, learn and practice

a

Answer 4

Your camera will take pictures up to 4 seconds long and goes up to ISO 400. That might be enough. Set the camera for those settings, use the self time, and put it down on something that doesn't move to take the picture. Don't use a flash!

Answer 5

with a c330 you arent gonna do that much

you need a camera with long exposure and low iso, bulb mode helps but get at least a shutter speed of 8 seconds

Answer 6

A camera with a manual mode would really be needed. A sturdy tripod and remote are also a must. A camera with a higher max ISO would be helpful, but using a tripod, raising the ISO is not necessary.

Answer 7

A tripod and extremely low ISO setting. You need to be patient and never give up. Keep trying different settings until you get what you want.

Answer 8

Do you guys mean to say, "set your ISO low?"

Personally, I try to do that to limit digital noise, but conventional wisdom would be to use a higher ISO for more sensitivity...