Night/low light photography

[Laura]

OK I consider myself a pretty good photographer (Here's some of the pics I've taken in the last few months: http://andrew-laura.com/favorites/) but one thing I am not the best at is low light photography.

Have any of you been succesful at taking no-flash pictures on the dark rides? How do you keep the motion blur down? I know I should bump up my ISO but is there anything else I can do to keep the pictures clear while the ride vehicle is moving?

Another question is about the fireworks. I will not be able to carry a tripod with me into the parks (too much stuff already with 2 kids) so do I have any chance of getting a good picture of the fireworks? Or should I not even bother?

Thanks for the input.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Dark Rides - High ISO or High Speed film and a fast lens. In short, most of mine suck and dont come out all that well on dark rides. Its best not to try most of the time. HM, IaSM, Pan, PotC, etc, photos just dont come out usually unless you have a flash and thats not kosher. Plus the white flash will wash out the UV paint effects.

Tripod - Either take a small one or buy a small superclamp to clamp it onto a railing or something. PM me and i can explain further...

 

[barnum42]

I got some shots of Illuminations using my digital camera by resting it against the bottom of the railings and tilting it by hand. Not an ideal solution, but I got some OK shots out of it without having to use additional kit.

 

[Woody13]

You could give your digital camera to one of the "Imaginum" Statues in the world showcase and have "it" take the low light pictures. Those statues can hold very still.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Im still a big fan of the 30 dollar superclamp. Fits in a bag nicely and clamps onto anythingn... comes with a stud to screw the camera onto.

 

[pisco]

High ISO and a fast lens is the way to go. I just picked up the Canon 50 f/1.8 for my Digital Rebal and am amazed by the shutters speeds I can get in low light. For $75 I figured it was something I had to have in the camera bag.

You just have to be careful of the very narrow depth of field you will get when shooting wide open. But if you are relatively far from your main subject (as you would be on a dark ride) it shouldn't pose too much of a problem.

 

[Laura]

Originally posted by pisco
High ISO and a fast lens is the way to go. I just picked up the Canon 50 f/1.8 for my Digital Rebal and am amazed by the shutters speeds I can get in low light. For $75 I figured it was something I had to have in the camera bag.

You just have to be careful of the very narrow depth of field you will get when shooting wide open. But if you are relatively far from your main subject (as you would be on a dark ride) it shouldn't pose too much of a problem.

Wow $75??? I also have a digital rebel but just assumed all the lenses would be expensive so I've just been using the one that came with my camera, and I've had a ridiculous time trying to shoot no-flash pictures with it. Even in fairly well lit settings it slows the shutter speed to about half a second and when you're shooting kids it's impossible to have such a slow shutter speed. I will be looking into that lens (but I can't afford to get it before we go to Disney unfortunately).



Dave - do you have a link to the superclamp? Sounds interesting. I definitely don't want to lug a tripod around with me at the parks.


I'll probably just not bother taking dark ride pictures. Sounds like there's not much of a chance (unless maybe the ride stops for a minute and then I could prop the camera on the handlebar LOL).

 

[Laura]

Is this it??

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00009R6BK/104-8238825-8177526?v=glance

 

[PhotoDave219]

Yes, thats it. Great lil device. Also Picking up the 50mm/1.8 lens should cost you under $100. Another great lil thing, IMO.

Either way, try boosting the ISO if youre having long exposures at unwanted times.... Other problems, just PM me and i'll do my best to troubleshoot.

 

[pisco]

You might also want to look at the UltraPod II. It works as a tabletob tripod and can be velcroed to almost anything that the clamp would attach to. And it's only $15. I take mine with me everywhere.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Yes, but with that clamp i can mount a strobe to it and hook up a radio slave and light just about anything, as well as mounting a remote camera ... if i wanted to of course

 

[Laura]

Oooh....that Ultrapod looks nice too!

What kinds of things in Disney can you clamp/velcro a camera to for the fireworks?


Dave - I've been practicing taking photos with the ISO bumped up, and it sure does shorten the shutter speed. It takes a lot of photoshop work afterwards to lighten the pictures because they are so underexposed and grainy, but I like the end results better than the blurred mess I was getting before.

Here's one I took this week in insufficient lighting that came out pretty good at 800 speed, but it's still really grainy. I'm still trying to find a happy medium between blurry and grainy.

 

[pisco]

With the legs all folded up you can vercro it to about anyting with a circumrence of ~10". It works best on railings and tree branches. If you can get a good spot you could alos just set it up on top of a trash can or any other flat service and point it wherever you want. It does have a real low-rent ball head as well for positioning.

For help with the graininess check out Noiseware. It's a noise reduction program that I think is as good as NoiseNinja and NeatImage and it is free. It is also faster than either of the others that I mentioned.

 

[Laura]

Holy cow! That noise reduction program works amazingly well! In about 2 seconds I made Woody look crystal clear. Thank you!

 

[Laura]

Derald, OMG I am so happy with this program! I've been playing with it for an hour. I took an almost completely black picture, lightened it in photoshop, used the program you linked me to to remove all the grain, and then fixed it some more in photoshop and it looks like a whole new picture and there's no noise at all!!!

:sohappy:

 

[pisco]

Makes ISO 1600 Look pretty useable doesn't it?

I have been getting better results cleaning some ISO 1600 pics than I used to get at ISO 400 on my old point and shoot. Just one more reasone to love the Rebel!

BTW, The shots look great!