Living & Working in Great Places

Outdoor Night Photos

Does anyone have any helpful hints for getting good photos of such night things as the Northern Lights, the moon, etc, with a point and shoot? I have a Canon S3IS right now, it has some manual settings and exposure compensation, etc.... I reallllly want to not just get photos of the Northern Lights when I'm in Alaska this season, but the BEST photos I can! Are there combos of settings that do a better job than others? Helpful on-the-fly tips? Should I use flash or not?
I know that being digital I can experiment...I'd simply like to get some new ideas to try to shorten the experimenting process and lower my odds of getting a bunch of blurry photos. Night photography is a challenge, and with a nonSLR that can't do long exposures, it's even more so. So, any help and hints y'all could share would ROCK! Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Kari Quaas on March 19, 2009 at 12:36pm: Hmmmm....That's very tricky without an (D)SLR. However, if you use a tripod, that will help. I don't think that flash will help at all. I would play with the exposure times and set your ISO to the highest your camera will allow - most likely 400, but it may have 800. Good luck!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kate on March 19, 2009 at 12:59pm: Mine does have 800... the Canon SX10 IS that I've ordered has up to 1600. (and 3200 in some cases). Hopefully that'll make the difference.... Someday I'd like a top-notch DSLR. And the necessary laptop-memory and printer to go with.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kari Quaas on March 19, 2009 at 1:02pm: True. The more the pixels, the larger the file. And the thing is that most people don't need all that capability, especially if they're just going to share them on-line. How big a print does one really need?!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kate on March 19, 2009 at 1:07pm: True that! The new Canon I've ordered has 10 mp....I'd rather it had only 6 like I've got now but this model has a 20x optical zoom, wide-angle, plus the extra ISO. I don't need 10 mp myself. I'll probably shoot in lower-MP settings.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ashley Harris on April 1, 2009 at 11:45pm: Well, you want a way way slow shutter speed. Does your camera have a bulb setting? Or what is the longest time it can be set on? Because sometimes, it can take hours to get the right exposure. And I agree with Kari on the not using the flash, and the ISO. Oh, and definitely use a tripod! I personally like some random photos where I didn't use a tripod, but that's only because I was drunk at the time. haha. They are definitely abstracts, but I love the lights in them. I uploaded one onto here.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ashley Harris on April 2, 2009 at 12:21am

oops here it is.

Attachments:

lightinga.jpg, 533 KB

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Permalink Reply by Kate on April 2, 2009 at 12:29am: Interesting effect! :) Very cool.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kate on April 2, 2009 at 12:28am: I don't have the option on my camera of doing long time exposures, unfortunately. Will have to look and see how slow a shutter speed I *am* able to get...
As for the tripod, IF I get another camera where I can do the long time exposures, then definitely I'd use it. I spent good money on it and it's a top-notch Bogen with a quick-release plate and the Clutch-and-move grip (so no nasty knobs to try and remember which one turns the tripod head which way lol). Guess for now I'll just have to go 800 ISO and etc to try and improve things.

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Permalink Reply by Ashley Harris on April 2, 2009 at 9:39am: Hahah. I was reading through one of the magazines i bought, and one was actually on how to shoot the Northern Lights. They said about 30 seconds for the exposure time, because if you do it longer, you loose the patterns the lights make. If you shoot anything longer than a 60th of a sec, you cant really hand hold the camera. I think its very odd that right after reading this, I found it in a photography magazine. lol. You are heading up to the mt Mckinley lodge, right? If you are up there, I am bringing my tripod, and i would be more than happy to share it. In fact, I am hoping that someone will be able to plan a photography trip with me.... seeing as it is my first time to be up there. lol; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kate on April 2, 2009 at 11:08am: I'm going to McKinley Lodge :) A photography trip sounds like lots of fun! Wow, 30 seconds.... dang! Guess I'll just have to watch the lights ... :)
It will be my first time to be in Alaska too!

It's all good. I've had to deal with my camera's inability to get low-light shots for a long time now, so I'll live :D; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ashley Harris on April 2, 2009 at 3:21pm: Haha. I'm sure you can do low lighting with it. I have done some with my easy share.; ▶ Reply to This