test shots using sigma 70-300mm / whats your verdict?

Ok its not the subject matter at the particular moment or the composition itself , I'm new to night and low light photography.
This shot was a few doors down from me and using a cheapo sigma 70 -300mm telephoto lens as well .
It not the best subject matter but its a start.

These were taken from my living room window shot 3 was letting the nikon meter and was at 25 secs , my shots were under exposed according to the nikon by a couple of stops . 5 ,6 8 sec exposures .
which seems the best of the 3 . plus there is the window to take into consideration when metering .

I am not a night/low light photographer myself but I know this . . . you will not get good results unless you are exposing correctly regardless of subject and composition. Not sure what it is you are asking in this thread except you said "What's your verdict?".

I say try something a little more interesting and not in such a mixed lighting.

What I'm asking is , is it correct to let the camera meter for you or in the case of the other shots use your own discretion .
I under exposed on the first shot then lifted the brightness a tad .
The second was untouched and the third was camera setting.
It seemed 25secs was an age for the 3rd shot. And if it had been my last camera it would have been daylight virtually.
So it seems the meter did a fair job on its own , but I preferred the last shot at 8 secs using f4 .others were at f5.6
I dont know if what I'm doing is right but I happy with the result.






Sent from my SM-T310 using Tapatalk

For night photography I usually meter the shot using Aperture Priority mode and a medium aperture, say f/4 or so. I switch to Manual, try the suggested settings and see what I get. From there I use reciprocity (e.g. 1 sec @ f/4 = 4 sec @ f/8 = 8 sec @ f/11 etc.) until I get the effect I want.

For shots with shutter speeds of 10 seconds or less, I trust the meter if I need to. For shots longer than 10 seconds my faith in the meter drops off rapidly. I'm not saying it won't give you good results, I'm saying that's how I roll based on my experience and shooting style.

I rarely deviate from using ISO 100 for night photography but adjusting your ISO will give you some additional creative control.
...

Thanks I do seem to start with 5 6 8 secs and work from there bearing in mind ,I always have used manual lenses .
Its just I'm new to night photos with this camera.
My last camera seemed to have more colour depth but it may be the lens or because I have the nikon set on neutral.
I have not used the kit lens yet for night shots , I might give that a try later.
Trouble is where I live there is nothing much of interest so I get my practice here before going back home and getting a lot more subject matter.
Anyhow thanks.

Sent from my SM-T310 using Tapatalk