Roger wrote:
> Main tip for night photography is not to take photographs when
> it's totally
> dark, at least if you're going to have some sky in the shot. Very late
> twilight, especially when it's cloudy, gives you a lovely deep blue sky on
> film, which is much more interesting than featureless blank. Or, if it is
> totally dark, clouds can be a big help for interesting skies. Wayne
> Harridge has some fabulous examples, but I don't have his web address to
> hand. Wayne?
>
Web address is in my sig. Follow the links to "The night re-visited" or
"Thomastown" for a few examples. I have found my OM-2n to be ideal for
these type of shots, I generally just use it on auto. Since I tend to use
wide angle lenses, I would normally use f5.6 to f8 which gives adequate DOF.
I sometimes bracket +/- 1 stop, depending on the amount of darkness in the
frame relative to the main subject. The subjects in the examples are quite
poorly lit, with the OM-2n giving around a 2 minute exposure, city buildings
would have a *lot* more light hitting them. I have used both an OM-2SP and
OM-4 for these type of shots but the auto exposure with these bodies is not
as good as the OM-2n (I have mentioned in previous posts the non-linearity
of the auto exposure of these bodies). Don't expect to get accurate
colours, most exterior lighting is not pure tungsten or fluorescent and
often has a band spectrum rather than continuous (eg mercury vapour lights
have strong green and violet components in their spectrum), plus reciprocity
failure of the film will result in colour shifts when the exposure time is
in minutes.
My best advice would be to shoot a test transparency film, probably ISO 100
(I use Kodak Elite Extra Color), under different lighting conditions and
bracketing +/- 2 stops, make sure to take notes so that you can repeat later
on.
Good luck,
Wayne Harridge
Ivanhoe, Victoria, Australia
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~w_harridge/
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