[yelvertoft]

Today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, at least in the northern hemisphere; you guys from Oz can just wait for 6 months. When faced with such gloomy short days, it’s very easy to think I won’t bother taking any photos, there’s no light. I thought I’d put together some suggestions for night time subjects and some suggested settings to use.

Subject: City Skyline (at dusk)
ISO 100 4 seconds f/2.8
ISO 200 4 seconds f/4
ISO 400 4 seconds f/5.6

Subject: Floodlit Buildings
ISO 100 1 second f/4
ISO 200 1 second f/5.6
ISO 400 1 seconds f/8

Subject: Streetlit/Candlelit
ISO 100 1/2 second f/2.8
ISO 200 1/2 second f/4
ISO 400 1/2 second f/5.6

Subject: Dimly lit Interiors
ISO 100 1/4 second f/2.8
ISO 200 1/4 second f/4
ISO 400 1/4 second f/5.6

Subject: Dimly lit Street Scenes
ISO 100 1/8 second f/2.8
ISO 200 1/8 second f/4
ISO 400 1/8 second f/5.6

Subject: Brightly lit Street Scenes
ISO 100 1/15 second f/2.8
ISO 200 1/15 second f/4
ISO 400 1/15 second f/5.6

Subject: Brightly lit Shop Windows
ISO 100 1/30 second f/2.8
ISO 200 1/30 second f/4
ISO 400 1/30 second f/5.6

Subject: Fireworks
ISO 100 “B” f/5.6
ISO 200 “B” f/8
ISO 400 “B” f/11

Subject: Traffic Trails
ISO 100 20 seconds f/11
ISO 200 20 seconds f/16
ISO 400 20 seconds f/32

Subject: Fairground Rides
ISO 100 4 seconds f/16
ISO 200 2 seconds f/16
ISO 400 1 second f/16

I am assured that for lightning, the same settings as for fireworks should be used, but despite many attempts, I’ve never managed to capture lightning with a camera yet.

These settings are just suggestions, feel free to adjust as required. Remember, with digital it costs nothing to experiment and try some different settings. I’m certainly not saying this is the only way to do things, but it’s a starting point. If nothing else, I thought it may give people some ideas about possible things to take pictures of.

Regards,

Duncan