Night-time photography

[Kathy]

OK smartiepants: if you're taking photos at night when it's too dark to see anything through the lens without at least a ten-second exposure, how do you focus? 

Stars are easy - set the focus to infinity. My autofocus seems to require a certain amount of light to work, so I can aim it at a bright spot (a lighted window on a house), and then reframe. However, if there's no suitable bright spot to use and I don't have/can't use a torch (fr'instance, I found the cats mousing by moonlight last night. They were still as statues, but a light would have moved them), what then?

[Martin 14]

Focus manually

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gollums_photos/sets/72157630436327546/

[Wobbly John]

I used to do quite a bit on film. So long as you are not using  long lens, just use a small apeture and guess-timate using the fous ring graduations (assuming it's an SLR on a tripod you're using).

[Pickled Onion]

As the OP was wanting to photograph animals, using a small aperture (and eight minute exposure) might not be appropriate.

If you can't estimate the distance close enough, would one of those ultrasonic tape measures work? or are they only good indoors? The IR laser ones look quite expensive.

[Martin 14]

The longest exposure in the above set was 8 seconds, shot on HP5 400 and pushed processed to 3200 ISO, with a digital camera the options for upping the ISO and playing with the apeture would bring that down at the exspense of a little extra grain or noise as it is refered to now

[Jaded]

See if there is something else around you that is the same distance away, that you can focus on. Focus on that, then switch to manual.

[David Martin]

Night vision goggles

[Flynn]

Use the hyperfocal.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/hyperfocal-distance.htm

[Charlotte]

For times when I'm shooting in the dark, but I need to work fast, I use fast glass and an on-camera speedlight with the flash turned off, but the AF-assist turned *on*.

On planet Nikon (I assume that it's roughly the same for you Cannon chappies) my SB900 will project a rather useful and jolly powerful red LED crisscross pattern about 20m or so out in front of me shortly before the shutter opens and this is enough to let my AF system do what it does so well.  I last used it in anger shooting the Reclaim The Night march last month. Crisp focus at f/1.4, 1/125th and ISO 1600:


Lyope_036 by lyope, on Flickr

When I'm shooting portraits in the dark, I tend to go for the Fenix option, too - but for gawd's sake turn it off before you release the shutter because the colour temperature makes people look bloody awful.

Hyperfocal distances are all very well, but they depend on you using relatively small apertures and, crucially, having the distances marked off on a scale on your lens (okay, you can probably get an iPhone app, too).  All too often, modern glass does away with this scale and even if you do have it, if you're on a crop sensor, it wouldn't read right anyway.

[Kim]

For times when I'm shooting in the dark, but I need to work fast, I use fast glass and an on-camera speedlight with the flash turned off, but the AF-assist turned *on*.

...was the question I was going to ask.  "If at first something doesn't work, try more lasers." and all that.

[Kathy]

Moar lasers, you say?



 

[Charlotte]

You know, I've always wanted to write something obscene on the side of the Palace of Westminster 

[David Martin]

for which you want a film SLR with a suitable lens, flashgun and slide of whatever it was you want to project. Your old film SLR ideally needs a removable back and a locakble shutter and mirror (both the FE2 and F2 will do this), then it is just a case of whatever you want to project.Maybe I should try this at home, or even try it with the view camera.

[Charlotte]

I've always fancied building an image fulgurator... 

[TimO]

I've always fancied building an image fulgurator... 

That's rather cool!  With a bit of effort, you could probably slave it to an image, so that where you projected it would be automatically adjusted, compensating for fulgurator movement, or even the target moving.

[Martin 14]

You know, I've always wanted to write something obscene on the side of the Palace of Westminster 

go for it! 

[TimO]

You know, I've always wanted to write something obscene on the side of the Palace of Westminster 

Arguably not obscene, but Gail Porter was projected on the side of it (without permission) a while back.