Night Photography - Are Night Photos always blurry ?
- Thread starter gerfoto
- Start date
At night you shoot anything that radiates light. You can check the "low light" thread to see what others shoot.
It's not different from daytime in the sense of focusing except it being harder because the visibility is low which renders AF useless in many cases. If you use live-view, the image might be grainy when you zoom in.
You can use the same f/ setting you use during the day but often the widest option is selected because it allows most light in. The wider the aperture, the better the image on your live.
It's not different from daytime in the sense of focusing except it being harder because the visibility is low which renders AF useless in many cases. If you use live-view, the image might be grainy when you zoom in.
You can use the same f/ setting you use during the day but often the widest option is selected because it allows most light in. The wider the aperture, the better the image on your live.
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Scott Murray
Senior Member
You can get a few different types of blur, motion blur or focus blur. Both will result in blurry photos especially at night. You would require a tripod and no wind if outside to get sharp un-blurry night photos.
But to answer your question, no they are not always blurry and can be nice and sharp if taken correctly.
Phillydog1958
Senior Member
Yep. A tripod is critical.
I don't know if you have a problem with the focus in the shot itself or with focusing using live-view. If there's a moon, use AF to focus on the moon if you need infinity. Else look for the brightest area you can find around you and try to focus there. Worst case scenario you gamble, take a quick shot, check the image on the LCD and then adjust until perfect. Rinse and repeat. That's how I occasionally have to do it when I'm in pitch black.
If you use live-view, it is best to first open the lens wide until you have focus and only then to close down to what you prefer.
Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
A powerful flashlight can be helpful when shooting at night. I use one to light up the subject long enough to get to focus lock before taking the actual shot. This technique is probably less effective for moon shots.
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Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
A specific answer would depend on what you mean, exactly, by "blurry". I used to do a lot of night photography but I never had issues with what I would call blurry shots. But let me be clear here... Sometimes auto-focusing can be a challenge, and while out of focus shots are blurry, I consider focusing issues one thing and blurry shots even with good focus, say from unintentional camera motion or motion of my subject during a long exposure, an entirely different issue. Without meaning so sound pedantic I do think it's an important distinction.
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Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
That's really not telling me much.
You're "zooming" in to... What? 100%, 200%, 1000%? Did you have focus lock when you took the shot? RAW file or JPG? What lens, what aperture, what ISO was the shot taken at?
All of this relates to overall image sharpness and if you don't provide specific information it's impossible to provide specific answers.
Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
I can't use that photo for reference because it's now a tiny JPG.
Good luck, I'm sure someone will come along who can help you with your issue.
It makes little difference in regards to sharpness if you shoot at night or during the day. There's less light but you compensate that with longer exposure. I don't know if your lens is the same as mine but during the day mine takes a pretty good shot so it should do the same at night.
The same rules apply, your aperture defines your DoF and ISO affects sharpness but when working around that, you can as easy take sharp shots at night as during the day.
Here's a crop of one of my night shots. It's a different lens but it shows night makes little difference in regards to sharpness.
The same rules apply, your aperture defines your DoF and ISO affects sharpness but when working around that, you can as easy take sharp shots at night as during the day.
Here's a crop of one of my night shots. It's a different lens but it shows night makes little difference in regards to sharpness.
Nope.
I have my night shots posted here but besides some (shot) blog I have mainly for other reasons, I have nothing out there.