Night shots from the porch

Started out to take some shots of the full moon last night, but that didn't work-out so well, so, I turned the camera towards the sandwich meat plant (Land 'O Frost company) that we can see from out back deck. Distance is probably about 1/8 of a mile.



https://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f296/RetNav/Outdoors 2010/nightshot1.jpg




https://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f296/RetNav/Outdoors 2010/nightshot2.jpg

Lense: Nikkor 55-200 AF, VR
Tripod: yes
Flash: no

Thats a good camera for sure.

Thank you. I recall the first shot being a 10sec exposure, and the second one about 20sec.

looks like you are stanging right next to that thing.

Very Nice! Thanks for sharing.

I love doing the night shots no flash thing. What is your body that you use? I just got a aftermarket remote for my D300 paid 1/4 of the price of the Nikon remote and it work just as good. I got it from ebay. If I was you if you don't already have one get one there really fun to use for longer exposure time then 30 sec.

Do you turn off your Vr when on a tripod. They say you should turn off your VR when on tripod.

Thanks. I have a D3000, and was using the 55-220 AF VR lens last night. My only other lens is the 18-55 AF VR that came with the camera. Last night was really the first time messing with a night shot, and I have a lot to learn. From what I've been told, after posting the shots on a photo site, I should adjust my white balance and try at least an f8 or f11 aperature. I recall these being shot at f5.6 I think. I didn't turn my VR off while on the tripod, but will in the future now that you've mentioned it. One of the shots above was a 10sec exposure, and the other one was a 20sec exposure. Thanks for looking

Its amazing how good of image quality you can get out of amature gear with practice. The dslr is making wanna-bes(Like me) into pros cause there is no fear of spending tons on developing fees. Just piddle around till it floats you boat, I would have loved having one of these in photography class in highschool. Another thing you can do when tripod shooting is make sure you cover the rear view finder, extra light can sneak in there and cause bright spots if there is a light behind the camera. Also to take pictures of the moon you have to adjust the shutter speed alot faster then you might thank to get any detail, Like real fast. Some thing I like doing when my nephews and nieces come over is to carry camera and tripod outside and set the camera to aputare priority, Turn it all the way up as high as it will go and still take a picture. Give them all flash lights and tell them to point them towards the camera and try and write their names or to run around and try and make designs together. Keeps them amused for hours.

Yep, the dslr's of today do make it a bit easier. I did a reshoot last night of the building above, making some internal adjustments before shooting. Adjusted the white light compensation for sodium-vapor lights, and changed then took some shots with the aperature at f/8 and then f/11. It made a world of difference and illiminated some of the orangish glow the build has above due to the lights they have in the parking lot. Speaking about the external lights causing problems when night shooting. Last night I left the porch light off and just used a mini-mag flashlight when I needed to adjust a camera setting, then turned it off before pressing the shutter button.