pierre_khoury
Senior Member
just wondering if it is necessary to buy a flash for outdoor photography during the night?
Help Required!
- Thread starter pierre_khoury
- Start date
No....but it wouldn't hurt.
Depends on the available light, what you're shooting, aperture, shutter speed, lens selection.
pierre_khoury
Senior Member
More so aperture!
Don Kuykendall_RIP
RIP :(
You are really going to have to give us a lot more details. I have shot at night with no flash.
This was available light and it was dark
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pierre_khoury
Senior Member
sorry to bother you, but by any chance do you remember what settings and functions you used to take a shot like this?
Michael J.
Senior Member
Here I used for the first time the popup flash on my D5100
and here no
After many days taking pictures at night I came up with the idea for me that I don't need a flash.
You can see many photos on this forum I've taken at night without flash and tripod.
and here no
After many days taking pictures at night I came up with the idea for me that I don't need a flash.
You can see many photos on this forum I've taken at night without flash and tripod.
Michael J.
Senior Member
Take a look at some photos I shot Night-performance out of a moving car at Bangkok
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Don Kuykendall_RIP
RIP :(
sorry to bother you, but by any chance do you remember what settings and functions you used to take a shot like this?
Exposure
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter Speed: 15s
Metering: Center-Weighted
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 100
There are basically two realistic options for most night photography. High ISO, or long exposure - or a mixture of the two. High ISO is simply cranking up your ISO in order to take a 'normal' shot - either handheld or on a tripod. The downside of that is noise if you go too high. The other is best explained here: Article: Long exposure | ND Magazine - Fine Art Photography, Interviews with Photographers, Black & White, Long Exposure - although that is written for using a Neutral Density filter, the techniques are essentially the same. It's not noise-free, but usually you end up with less actual noise and just get a few spots from 'stuck' pixels. More info can be found (and a lot of it) by Googling 'Long Exposure' or 'Night Photography'. Read, Read, and read some more. Then go practice it
WhiteLight
Senior Member
Beautiful picture.
Curious Don-
Since you shot at 15secs am sure you had a tripod.
Why did you choose f/2.8 instead of the sweet spot of the lens around f/8?
Rexer John
Senior Member
Flash is great at night for freezing a moving subject with a long shutter speed. Go to 3:20 on this video for an example.
Not the best example I could find, but it gives you the basics.
Set your shutter speed, aperture and ISO to get the background exposed as you want it. Set the flash power to expose your close subject correctly, the flash wont alter the background exposure.
If you need far objects to be lit by flash but the flash is not powerful enough (no close objects). Increase the ISO, each double of ISO is the same as having twice the flash power.
Not the best example I could find, but it gives you the basics.
Set your shutter speed, aperture and ISO to get the background exposed as you want it. Set the flash power to expose your close subject correctly, the flash wont alter the background exposure.
If you need far objects to be lit by flash but the flash is not powerful enough (no close objects). Increase the ISO, each double of ISO is the same as having twice the flash power.