Night time photos and exposures
 

Hi all,

I recently took some night time shots at Sydney Harbour. I used my camera on Aperture priority. They are the first photos I have taken with my D90 at night time. As you can see from the shots I have posted the exposures are okay but a bit washed out in some areas mainly the lights on the bridge and the neon signs on the buildings. Is there any way to expose he picture so none of the light sources appear too bright or washed out.

The iso was set at 200 on all shots and average metering. White balance has been adjusted in Aperture 2. I have adjusted the exposure in some other pictures to try and reduce the blown out lights but that has only made a small difference.

Any help much appreciated.

The opera house:

f/9; 20.0 secs; 0ev; Long exposure noise reduction used.

Opera House and Bridge:

f/9; 30.0 secs; 0ev; Long exposure noise reduction used.

Sydney City:

f/9; 8.0 secs; -1.0ev; Long exposure noise reduction used.

Bracket the exposures around the meter reading which is only a starting point for this type of shot. Also there is a wider dynamic range if you use RAW. The main thing is bracket widely though.

It's likely that point light sources will always be burnt out at night if you are going to get any sort of shadow detail in the exposure. But that is often how they appear to the naked eye too, so unless it's really intrusive, I dont worry about it too much.

Thanks Gordon. I recently took some night time pics of another bridge in SYdney and used spot metering to expose for all the different light sources in the pictures and you are right about the shadow detail. I lost plenty of detail in the shadowed area when I exposed for some of the brightest light sources.

On a whole are my pictures exposed okay in your opinion. I'd appreciate the feedback

Yes, they are exposed ok. The dynamic range of the sensor limits the capability to resolve fine detail in the bright signs whilst simultaneously preventing the darker areas as appearing completely black. You've achieved a reasonable compromise here.

Thanks Yelvertoft. Any advice on how to improve on my finished product?

See post #2