Nkurru at night
Canon 7D 10-20mm F4.0
ISO400 Exposure of 20 Sec
Instead of going out looking for animals I went to the front of the lodge and spent a good 4 hours after dark photographing the front of Nkurru. I was quite surprised by the outcome. Even though the lights of Gaborone was to my north and I was facing South west the gloom of Gaborone still shows. What is great about Nkurru is that we are nestled in a small Tambotie forest. The 4 hours out last night was great fun except for all the mosquitos. As I was shooting and concentrating two white rhino’s crept up on for me in the dark for a quick drink, I only realized they were there when it was too late to run away, shows you how silently those animals can move around. Luckily they weren’t interested in me at all.
Canon 7D 10-20mm
F22 ISO640 Exposure of 305sec.
This shot is nice but too dark. In shots like this you want to see some outlines with a bit of a lighter back ground to enhance your subject.
What you need for long exposure shots :
- DSLR with wide angle lens
- Remote switch for camera
- Tripod
Settings I used :
- Manual so you can shoot up to 30sec. exposures
- ISO 200-2000 ( Don’t be scared of High ISO’s
) - F4,0-F29
- High F-stop gives you the starburst look of the lights
- Bulb setting if I want to do long exposures of more then 30 Sec.
Canon 7D 10-20mm
ISO 200 F 8,0 Exposure of 150sec.
In this image I tried to create some movements in the clouds above the lodge , for that effect I left my shutter open for longer at a lower ISO to create more movement in the sky.
Well from tomorrow we are getting new guests in for the week. Have a great weekend and catch up on Monday again.
Cheers
Grant
Nice post Grant.
Quick question: the middle shot says that the exposure was for 305 seconds – more than 5 minutes. What was the reason for such a long exposure?
You mention a high F-stop for the starburst. I’m still pretty new to this and can never tell if high F-stop is the small number or the bigger number. I’m assuming its closer to a F-16/22 though but just want to make sure. also do you start on 30 sec and go from there or somewhere around half that and then increase if needed. night photography is somewhat a dark art to me still.
Hi Gerry,
I was on f22 and ISO640 With the F on 22 the aperture is very small to let light thru and I wanted to create a star burst effect with the lights, that is why I left it open for so long. I reckon if I left it longer would have gotten more light at the back ground. What would you have done ?
Cheers
Grant
Hi Hilton,
This is how I remember it F2.8 -big aperture lets in a lot of light
F22 – small aperture lets in very little light ( small aperture for creating starburst )
You assumed right F16-22. I normally start at 5 sec and then work it from there, depending on my settings and light.
When I photograph stars these are normally my settings : Lens focus ring set on infinity
ISO 800-2500
F-2,8-f8,0
Exposure 30sec-2hrs
Hope that made sense
Cheers
Grant