Tips For Taking Better Nighttime Laser Photos

[Gsquared18]

In full manual mode you need to also take into consideration the aperture setting.

Shutter speed is not the only factor that determines the exposure of the image.

Setting the f-stop determines how wide the aperture is - it's another way to control how much light is focused on the sensor as well as the depth of field.

When you are trying to shoot in low light, it is best to set the camera to a low f-stop (wide aperture) and a relatively short shutter speed.
This lets in more light while reducing motion blur.

Getting the correct balance between shutter speed and aperture is complicated so I won't get into that.
We have a few great photographers on this forum (Traveller and Emc2 come to mind- IIRC Emc2 shoots professionally). Maybe they will chime in and give some tips.

See? Great point I forgot to add. Tomorrow, I will add it to the initial posting (with credit to you) and a bit about ISO too.

Funny side note-I just noticed I was at f/13 for that photo so I could have shaved some time off the 59 second exposure but since I was on sticks (tripod), it really didn't matter.

 

[Benm]

I suppose the main lesson is to get a camera that has a manual option where you get to choose both aperature and exposure time - and iso value too.

Capturing a beamshot 'as your eyes see it' can take a realy long exposure time sometimes. It does vary greatly on circumstances though - sometimes i'm able to get what i see in a 1 second or less exposure, but sometimes even 30 second exposures dont do it justice.

Besides all that going for realsim or the best picture is another consideration... do you want to make a shot showing how it actually looks to the eye, or do you prefer a shot that is not natural but catches the scene best? HDR could alllow you to take pictures that show the best of both worlds, but you sacrifice reality if you go there.

 

[Gsquared18]

I suppose the main lesson is to get a camera that has a manual option where you get to choose both aperature and exposure time - and iso value too.

Capturing a beamshot 'as your eyes see it' can take a realy long exposure time sometimes. It does vary greatly on circumstances though - sometimes i'm able to get what i see in a 1 second or less exposure, but sometimes even 30 second exposures dont do it justice.

Besides all that going for realsim or the best picture is another consideration... do you want to make a shot showing how it actually looks to the eye, or do you prefer a shot that is not natural but catches the scene best? HDR could alllow you to take pictures that show the best of both worlds, but you sacrifice reality if you go there.

HDR? That'll be in phase 2:crackup: That process produces incredible better than life results but I didn't want to go there yet in fear it may cause a frustration backlash. But by all means, if you'd like to tackle that one, you have permission to hijack this thread.
:bowdown:

 

[sandidgepatrick]

plus rep!!!! tks for the tips my friend...

 

[randomlugia]

Something I'd like to share, a picture at full exposure on my camera (30 sec, f/3.5, ISO1600), taken at midnight. Well technically I have bulb but not counting that... Which reminds me, you might want to mention bulb exposure + remote shutter switch.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c235/Feb271995/IMG_4194.jpg?t=1289856899

IMO laser beam still isn't too bright.

 

[Gsquared18]

Great non-accurate picture Seriously though, it's an incredible shot.

 

[hakzaw1]

This Thread deserves a sticky and a +rep to G2ed.

 

[More Power]

Its amazing how bright it looks at midnight with the long exposure, a cool effect.

 

[randomlugia]

Great non-accurate picture Seriously though, it's an incredible shot.

Thanks! But to be honest I didn't put much thought into it, haha.

I agree that this needs to be stickied, and I really like the way it's turning out.

 

[justin lawson]

I her this alot but can someone tell me what it means to be stickied im still kinda new

to this thanks alot

 

[randomlugia]

I her this alot but can someone tell me what it means to be stickied im still kinda new

to this thanks alot

The thread title gets "stuck" to the top of of section, so it won't go down when nobody posts in it.

 

[AstroLaser]

I her this alot but can someone tell me what it means to be stickied im still kinda new

to this thanks alot

It keeps it always at the top of the threads with the other ones that were stickied so it is easy to find, great for info that would be more likely to be referenced a lot.

 

[LtKernelPanic]

:bumpit: for an excellent post!

Here's a tip that is useful anytime you're doing a long exposure. If you don't have a remote shutter release set the self timer. If you can set it for around 3-5 seconds any vibrations caused by you pressing the shutter release should have stopped by the time it actually opens. I've used this trick for taking astrophotos, laser shots, and like I said pretty much any time vibration can cause problems.

 

[DJNY]

Cause there is some good info in there.

 

[NightExplorer96]

Cause there is some good info in there.

It was last posted in 2010?

Is it really that neccesarry DJNY? There have been so many old threads being brought up today :shhh:

 

[DJNY]

Necropost to put this GOOD thread back to the top as many people haven´t seen the thread yet.

It´s obviously that too many members here don´t know how to use their cams. They take pictures with different shutter speed and say "CAN YOU SEE, THIS LASER IS BRIGHTER THAN THAT LASER".
Such pictures are completely useless for any scientific inspection. But they´re popping up more and more lately.