Long exposures for night photos

[TonG]

Thanks for all the tips folks. I took the P3 out on a semi-windy night aloft and shot this 1.5 second , ASA 100 exposure of the Austin skyline as it was getting dark. Totally agree that the best shots are while there is still some ambient light and not dark-dark yet. Then you massage the look of the shot with your EV dial for the proper affect. Pretty darn sharp.
View attachment 26619

In my opinion most of the images although they are nightshots are too dark. Especially the foreground. Most of the nightpictures I see on this forum getting much more interesting if you lightens/opens up the the shadow parts. Shoot in DNG it gives a much wider range of exposure editing and try to find a more pleasing balance.
As a example I did lighten up the shadows of your image.

 

[AlmostTan]

Background: I know absolutely nothing about photography - I'm just an amateur with a drone that has forced me to try my hand at both things like long exposures and Lightroom and Premiere Pro.

After this thread, here is my first attempt at a long exposure and my first go at Lightroom. Looks a little noisy and I have a lot to learn but thanks to everyone for the informative thread.

 

[Bigalpdx]

from Portland using P3P

 

[xave]

Well done

 

[AlmostTan]

from Portland using P3PView attachment 27285

Oh this is badass. Is this multiple photos stitched together a la HDR or is this just one long exposure that you edited?

 

[lm402]

I read this thread and then I decided to go fly and let me tell you that reading this helped me a lot. Here is a picture that I took that night

 

[Philip Ruiz]

Looks great. How did you do it?

 

[lm402]

Looks great. How did you do it?

I started playing with the ISO and shutter speed, it tried it more that 10 times before I could find the right picture and then at home I used Lightroom cc to give more life to the picture.

 

[MattyDread]

After reading this thread I thought I'd post my first evening /long exposure shots - was fairly windy but I'm fairly happy with the results, but look poor compared to the shots on here. Just jpegs -

no adjustment

I turned the lights off after the first few

 

[kookydo]

first night shot with p3p..

 

[ELHEAPO]

Wow those shots are awesome - all I need is no wind - difficult in Wales it never seems to blow less than 30mph - in Winter 90mph is more common gggrrrrrr.

You might get the perfect conditions 3 times a year if your lucky..lol bloody british weather!!

 

[mimako]

ISO 100 - 4 secs. a few nights ago.

 

[Andres Posada]

downtown miami skyline, iso 100, 3 second expo. auto shutter speed

 

[Mordor]

ISO 100 + -3s + P3A

 

[88VMX12]

View attachment 26384
1/2 sec 1800' out and 200' approx high- over the river from Detroit....

freaking incredible!

 

[John Locke]

Very cool shots guys. I'm getting motivated to break my no flying at night rule.

 

[lookin4pain]

a little rough on the photo editing. learning one thing at a time I guess. This is a panorama of a town in Oregon using the P3P

 

[boludo]

 

[iJeff]

Some night aerial shots of Singapore skyline with P3P. Shot in manual mode (2 seconds shutter speed and ISO 200).

 

[JesseAscott]

View attachment 26384
1/2 sec 1800' out and 200' approx high- over the river from Detroit....

Awesome view. It's weird seeing it from the sky like that instead of down along the fence on the water. 'Snice