Workshop night photography in Toronto

[Matthias]

So I participated in a night photography workshop in the city. Have participated in multiple workshops organized by the company and I really enjoyed them. In this thread a few photos I took during the aforementioned workshop.

• ILCE-6300
• FE 35mm F1.4 GM
• 35.0 mm
• ƒ/4
• 2 sec
• ISO 100

• ILCE-6300
• FE 35mm F1.4 GM
• 35.0 mm
• ƒ/11
• 10 sec
• ISO 100

• ILCE-6300
• ZEISS Loxia 2.8/21
• 21.0 mm
• ƒ/11
• 20 sec
• ISO 100

• ILCE-6300
• ZEISS Loxia 2.8/21
• 21.0 mm
• ƒ/10
• 30 sec
• ISO 100

 

[Matthias]

Wery well done. Excellent exposure and noise control, and very impressed from an APS-C. Good job!

Thank you, Tim!

We had "Long exposure noise reduction" switched off and I processed the photos through DXO deepprime (last years' version) before making minor changes in Lightroom.

Especially the white balance of the highway shot was challenging because of the yellow/orange lights. I tried setting custom white balance at that moment by pointing at a grey card but the camera gave an error, it could not go to a lower Kelvin.

 

[Matthias]

Unless the color is ridiculous, sometimes the added warmer lights can be a plus. In any case, you did a very nice job on these from beginning to end.

Thank you for your kind words!

 

[MeowZzz]

Thank you, Tim!

We had "Long exposure noise reduction" switched off and I processed the photos through DXO deepprime (last years' version) before making minor changes in Lightroom.

Especially the white balance of the highway shot was challenging because of the yellow/orange lights. I tried setting custom white balance at that moment by pointing at a grey card but the camera gave an error, it could not go to a lower Kelvin.

Hmm, on the a6300 is there a WB selection for manually adjusting the kelvin number? And will it WYSIWYG the colour shift on the screen?

Anyways, looks like you had a good time, good stuff!

 

[Loke]

Very nice photos! There is just something magical with low-light long exposure photos, i dont know how to describe it, but i really like the style! All four images are stunning!

 

[Matthias]

Hmm, on the a6300 is there a WB selection for manually adjusting the kelvin number? And will it WYSIWYG the colour shift on the screen?

Anyways, looks like you had a good time, good stuff!

Thanks!

Yes, you are right! We tried the 'auto-custom-white balance' tool and did not think of manually setting it. I think it was because we said it can be done in Lightroom afterwards.

But in hindsight, it would be good to have done it right then and there. I always try to get the photos as much as how I perceived the scene at that moment so I only have to do minor adjustments afterwards.

 

[Matthias]

Very nice photos! There is just something magical with low-light long exposure photos, i dont know how to describe it, but i really like the style! All four images are stunning!

Thanks!

I like it too! I also have a 10-stop ND filter to do long exposure photos during the day, that is also a very special effect.

 

[Jeff A]

Impressive photos Matthias! I did a couple of night time experiments a while back and really enjoyed it. Did you learn any Rules-of Thumb for exposure or did you just shoot multiple shots and pick the best?

 

[Matthias]

Impressive photos Matthias! I did a couple of night time experiments a while back and really enjoyed it. Did you learn any Rules-of Thumb for exposure or did you just shoot multiple shots and pick the best?

Thank you!

A few learnings from the workshop:

• Always decide first what's more important: aperture or shutter speed and set that first. Adjust the other accordingly to get the correct exposure.
• Use DMF for focus, in case autofocus cannot find your subject you can try to focus on something close to your subject and then adjust using focus ring.
• If you want to take a picture of the moon, remember that it is lit by the sun and therefore you should expose like you would for a daytime photo.

Additionally, we did some more artistic photos, for example: a long exposure of a statue that was in the dark and we used colored lights to illuminate parts of it to create a nice effect (light-painting).