dun laoghaire night shots

thebaz

still having problems with flare on long exposures, but managed to get a few of dun laoghaire harbour , on this still and warm Sunday evening
this was my fav
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebaz/487358205/

the rest can be viewed as usual on
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebaz/

sineadw

Very Nice! How long an exposure are you going for?

dazftw

I duno? The background seems to dull and distacting.. you have nice boats in the foreground then a dirty factory background?

The 2 boats in the middle and the lights on the water to the right is nice though.

DaireQuinlan

Is there any examples of the flare you were talking about in any of those shots ?
Is it just ,for example, like this one ...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebaz/487358173/

or is it some other problem ion some shots you didn't post ? The flare in the one above just looks like general lens related problems (I suggested in a previous thread it might have been light leaking in through your viewfinder). Are you shooting with primes or zooms ?

On a side note, I cannot believe you went down to the banks of the grand canal ... at night ... with a camera ... :-)

trooney

The long exposure means you lost any sharpness in the boats as they moved on the water and the pier/s are slightly off level. But the sky has a nice colour to it.

thebaz

The exposure was 20 secs long -- one technical question ?

focussing in the dark can be quite difficult , so what i did was focus on something lit up , then with focus held, switch to target and then zoom -- this was all done using AF -- is this a bad thing to start doing , if so any tips for focusing in the dark , and how should you focus in these situations ?

Daire -- yes i fealt like a private detective , got a few nasty glances from pimpish looking characters, but in general it was pretty quiet .
I usually just scrap the photos with the flare ,or ps them with the clone tool, which i hate doing !
I have a half decent olympus p & s , which is not as sensitive as my slr for picking up flare from lights at night -- just wondered is it my camera , which i dropped a few times .

Here is an example of light flare ruining a shot
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebaz/488085785/

DaireQuinlan

Yeah, just looks like lens flare. but ... uhh, you've DROPPED your camera a couple of times ? with the same lens ? try long exposures with a different lens, or with a prime, and see if you get the same results. Also, focusing then changing the focal distance -could- have an effect. Depends on the lens. Some zooms maintain the same focal distance after a change in focal distance, some don't. Another one to experiment with briefly to see if its actually the case with whatever lens you're using.

thebaz

DaireQuinlan wrote:

Yeah, just looks like lens flare. but ... uhh, you've DROPPED your camera a couple of times ? with the same lens ? try long exposures with a different lens, or with a prime, and see if you get the same results. Also, focusing then changing the focal distance -could- have an effect. Depends on the lens. Some zooms maintain the same focal distance after a change in focal distance, some don't. Another one to experiment with briefly to see if its actually the case with whatever lens you're using.

yeah 2 spills -- checked the manual , and doesn't really say whether i can zoom in after focusing ?

took my first bird shot today -- heron in Deans Grange
he kept flying away every time i got close , maybe animal photography is not for me -- probably too impatient !
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebaz/488973848/

sineadw

Ooo more herons I was stalking one the other day up by ringsend. I just approached very very slowly, and he walked away very very slowly lol.. He came back though after I sat for a while not moving. I think its a patience game. I have the patience alright. Now if I only had the lenses...

You're a brave man Baz!