Peace Bridge

[Rinkdaddy]

I am in the process of entering a photo contest for best night lighting photograph of the new LED lighting system on the Peace Bridge that connects Fort Erie, On, Canada to Buffalo, NY, USA. I have lots of pictures that I took but can only submit one. Your opinion on which one of the 4 shots you like the best would be appreciated.

[Rinkdaddy]

For some reason the resolution looks off when I uploaded these pics. Trust me they are a lot sharper on my monitor.

[kat]

Would love to see these the way you do!!

[Iguanasan]

Resize them to 800x600 or post them on Flickr or PicasaWeb. The one you upload here has to be less than 250K or it will be resized by the board software.

[Bambi]

okay, assuming the resolution is good, I like the third one. Otherwise I would advise you go out and reshoot to get sharper images.

[Marko]

Looks like a compression issue for sure. If the filesize is kept below 250k, the image will look great.

That said, I can still tell that I too like shot 3 best but I'd love to see some reuploads on this series and I can help if need be.

Thx - Marko

[scorpio_e]

Would love to see the sharper images:)

[casil403]

Please resize them and re-submit....I'll bet they are all quite stunning!

[Rinkdaddy]

Here are the pictures of the bridge again resized to 800X600.:fingerscr

[Rinkdaddy]

These pictures are still not as sharp as I would like. I shot these pictures using manual mode with the shutter set to bulb on my nikon D80. I tried different times for exposure any where between 5 to 10 seconds before leasing the shutter. I had the camera on a tripod but it could be the movement of my finger on the shutter button that is causing some blur. I think I will reshoot these using my remote shutter release to see if that helps. This is my first crack at night photography with out using the night mode on the camera.

[kat]

The last one I like! To me, it looks like it's in your focus??? Remote will work wonders!

[Barefoot]

If you don’t mind my asking, if your exposure times range only from 5-10 seconds why are you setting the shutter to bulb? Typically, bulb would be used for exposures of over 30 seconds with the D80.

[JAS_Photo]

If I were you I would start taking pictures right at twilight as well as full darkness. You may get something you like. After all digital is cheap. :). I do not think such long exposures are necessarry. Something like 1 sec at f4 for full night time or 1/125 at 5.6 for twilight. I do not think you have to worry about a huge depth of field for this type of photo; accurate focus is what you need to get that prize winning shot. :)

[Iguanasan]

I don't know about the Nikon but with my Canon XSi I can set a 5 or 10 second shutter to happen after a 2 second delay. That way the tripod has a chance to settle after pressing the shutter release before it takes the shot. This should remove any vibration from your hand. The remote shutter release will work as well, of course.

[AcadieLibre]

They just look out of focus, I cannot see any motion blur. And I would also use a very high f/stop an f/11 at least. Just how I shoot night though and with a long exposure.

[Mad Aussie]

They just look out of focus, I cannot see any motion blur. And I would also use a very high f/stop an f/11 at least. Just how I shoot night though and with a long exposure.
That pretty much sums up my assessment and technique also. f8 - f11 is my choice for these as well for max sharpness and also occassionally catches the odd star-burst around a bright light.

As BF says ... use a timed setting, not bulb. That way you are disturbing the image only once with your finger if it is movement.

I like the last shot but would have panned back out a little more to see more water as well.
I like Raiven's suggestion of twilight. I use that because with different settings you can make it look like the dead of night or a quite bright. You also get some purples etc in the sky sometimes as well. Also cloud formations against a dark sky. Can be quite stunning.

[Barefoot]

I think I'd be at least mid-way through the aperture range of the lens you're using, maybe even higher if you like that effect of diffraction of light off the aperture blades.

[Rinkdaddy]

You have all been so helpful. I have retaken some new pictures and think I am headed in the right direction with these night shots. I tried the twilight shot but since there was a clear blue sky it looked unappealing. More cloud cover would help. As a bonus, as I was waiting on the shoreline for the sun to set, I had a surprise visitor watching me and I was able to reposition my equipment without him moving.

[kat]

:clap::highfive:

Those are spetacular! Great job!

[JAS_Photo]

Very cool!

[Greg_Nuspel]

Excellent job this time you improved so much from the first try. :1st:

[Iguanasan]

Wonderful! I think #2 is the winner here. That's the one I'd use.

[Mad Aussie]

Wow ... you've gone from total throw aways to contest entrants in a single effort. Nice work.

What made the difference? What did you do differently that created such a drastic improvement?

[Rinkdaddy]

I took the advice of the knowledgeable members of this forum which helped me greatly. I started by using my remote shutter release to cut down on vibration with camera on tripod and used a 5.6f to 4f aperture with a 4 sec shutter speed. I concentrated on focusing on parts of the bridge with the most detail and wasn't too concerned with the depth of field at night.

[Bambi]

wonderful images!

good luck and let us know how you do
:highfive: