Log in

View Full Version : Night photography with an analog slr


scortcho
Nov 11, 2011, 02:51 AM
I'm back with my trusty Olympus om-1. Tonight the moon is very bright! I wanted to take some pictures of things in the moonlight with no flash. I took a few test shots by setting up my camera on my tripod and using a remote trigger to hold the shutter open. Do you have any suggestions as to how long to keep the shutter open and how I can best succeed in moonlight photography? Much appreciated.

solidzane
Nov 11, 2011, 04:49 AM
Best advice is trial and error... If you have a dSLR you can get a good idea what you would need for film... Or a point and shoot with manual controls...

Really depends what you are shooting...

Straight at the moon? Use the "Sunny 16" rule... f/16 1/160 shutter speed at 100 ISO...

200 ISO is a single f/stop brighter than 100, and 400 is 2 stops more than 100...

A picture of the moon at night is about the same settings as a landscape shot at high noon...

I hope this helps, and good luck. :)

cdad
Nov 11, 2011, 01:59 PM
What film are you going to use? What type of pictures are you looking to produce? Some cables have a manual stop built in. If yours don't then your going to have to do that part yourself.

If you do want to shoot the moon try bracketing at F/8 250. Your pictures will come out near perfect.

cmeeks
Jan 5, 2012, 03:51 PM
Shooting by moonlight is subjective do you want the photos to appear as if they are normally lt or do you want to capture the feel of night time. Shooting moon lit objects is tricky because the contrast over a scene photographs higher than the same scene during the day because of the fact the moon is a point light source and you have no fill from the sky as in daytime. Reciprocity effect failure or the fact that in long exposures film becomes less sensitive effects the exposure and contrast in night photography. With black and white film you can under expose and develop normally to cut the apparent contrast, but cate must be taken or you will cut too much contrast.
Lots of Trial and error but worth itIf using color print film Fuji 800 ASA was very forgiving and was a go to in the old film photography days