Mersey night, sunrise and sun - set pics

**Max** · 10-28-2006

Yeah, I got a proper Camera as well as my phone one that does better long exposures.

Would be great to go up those

cranes.

**Max** · 10-30-2006

Got some ones, I'll upload

later.

Want to resize them to about 800 x 600 maximum.

The Pixels show too much when there too big.

**snappel** · 10-30-2006

Yes, resizing the pictures makes them look a bit better - I go

right down to 480 x 319 as it makes them easier to see on smaller monitors.

Managed to get some photos today at Princes Dock - I'll upload them

later. Probably the first time I've ever taken any in the twilight - got some interesting effects, as it's dark with lights on, but the sky is still

prominent...

**Max** · 10-30-2006

I feel like killing when I see so many purple pixels on the pictures despite

the camera I'm using to be good one.

I did the Thistle Hotel again and get great results on taking that every

time.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/70933834@N00/283462545/[IMG]http://static.flickr.com/11

3/283462545_e8df67fe5b_o.jpg[/IMG]

**snappel** · 10-31-2006

Max, what camera have you got? Can you

alter the exposure time and ISO? Having a large ISO (800 or above) can cause 'noise' in your pictures. Not so obvious when you resize them, but it can be

annoying!

I tried some HDR manipulation yesterday. I took five shots of the same scene at five different exposures and used Photomatrix (visit

hdrsoft.com). Came out all right, but I think I need to investigate 'tone mapping' to get better

effects...

The rest are exposures of around 3 seconds,

with an aperture of about F9 - F11. They're ok, but I wanted the sky a bit lighter - I think I'm going to go back soon and try each one with the same

effects as the first pictures above, and see how they come

out.

[IMG]http://www.forties-design.co.uk/photos/princesdock

/Dsc_0082.jpg[/IMG]

**Kev** · 10-31-2006

Spot on Snappel, many thanks. I'll try night shots with my new camera

soon.

FKoE · 10-31-2006

Have youse heard yourselves ? ... You bunch of David Baileys yers

**snappel** · 10-31-2006

Kev - your camera has a noise

reduction feature. Try taking some pictures on ISO 1000. Higher ISO means the camera (or film) is more sensitive to the light, so at night this can help

produce brighter images.

I think the best thing to do is go out for an evening and play around with the camera settings - it's what I tend to do, and

then try and remember what works best.

**Kev** · 10-31-2006

Originally Posted by snappel

Kev - your camera has a noise reduction feature. Try taking some pictures on ISO 1000. Higher ISO means the camera (or film) is more

sensitive to the light, so at night this can help produce brighter images.

I think the best thing to do is go out for an evening and play around with the

camera settings - it's what I tend to do, and then try and remember what works best.

That camera is knackered, I (my son) damaged it a few weeks

ago, he dropped it onto the lens whilst he had turned it on, poor lad wants to be like his dad, he's 3.

Anyway, the focus wouldn't work, the zoom was

broke and over the weekend, it stoppped the starting up process so the lenses don't even come out of the camera body and it shuts down, so back to comet it

went.

Cheeky woman behind the service desk was like, 'oh eye, which cowboy has dropped this' and I denied I had ever dropped it. So I won't pay for it

to be fixed and it looks like they won't do it for nothing.

So a new camera should be on its way.

**snappel** · 10-31-2006

If

you're looking to buy a new camera, I rate the Fuji Finepix S5600. Has lots of good features, and allows you to play with aperture and shutter speed

settings, up to about 15 seconds which allows for good night stuff. Only £150 now at John Lewis, which is about half what I paid a couple of years ago for

the old S5000 which was far insuperior. Only downside is that it isn't a compact, and so is more cumbersome to carry about.

**Kev** · 10-31-2006

Thanks but actually gone for

this sony

one. I wanted to continue to use the 2GB memory card I had just bought for the other one.

scouserdave · 10-31-2006

Originally Posted by snappel

Max, what camera have you got? Can you alter the exposure

time and ISO? Having a large ISO (800 or above) can cause 'noise' in your pictures. Not so obvious when you resize them, but it can be annoying!

I

tried some HDR manipulation yesterday. I took five shots of the same scene at five different exposures and used Photomatrix (visit hdrsoft.com). Came out all

right, but I think I need to investigate 'tone mapping' to get better

effects...

The rest are exposures of around 3 seconds,

with an aperture of about F9 - F11. They're ok, but I wanted the sky a bit lighter - I think I'm going to go back soon and try each one with the same

effects as the first pictures above, and see how they come

out.

[IMG]http://www.forties-design.co.uk/photos/princesdock

/Dsc_0082.jpg[/IMG]

Snappel, are these pics HDR? If

so they are fantastic! Most of the HDR pics I've seen until these are crap, in my humble opinion. You've converted me!

**snappel** · 10-31-2006

Only the first one Dave - the rest my camera did the work! I just set it to a 3s/F10

and pressed the shutter button! Pete Carr is the man for HDR, his stuff is awesome. I think I need to invest in some proper software...

Kev - that

looks just as good, if not better. You've got a good range of features there, and it's not too big and bulky. Nice to see you can do 30 second exposures -

lots of fun with light trails, etc, to be had there!

scouserdave · 10-31-2006

Originally Posted by snappel

Only the first one Dave - the rest my camera did the work! I just set it to a 3s/F10 and pressed the shutter

button! Pete Carr is the man for HDR, his stuff is awesome. I think I need to invest in some proper software...

Ooops!

Sorry

**snappel** · 10-31-2006

Sometimes HDR photos don't look that strange - others are a bit bizarre. It's something I want to spend more time playing about with. None of the ones

I've tried in full daylight have worked very well.