As with anything, there is a lot to learn with photography. Not only do you need to learn everything about the physical camera is but you also have to learn how all the elements in the camera work together to create a good photo.
Learning how everything works together can be quite difficult which is why most people just shoot in automatic but there are scenes that in order to get your preferred result, you can’t just shoot in automatic.
I have always been fascinated by nighttime cityscape photography. A few weeks ago, I decided to try it but surprise surprise, it wasn’t as easy as the tutorial made it look.
The video I saw made it seem pretty simple. It gave me almost the exact settings I needed. A low ISO, aperture at f/9, shutter speed at 25 (my camera couldn’t go longer than 15 seconds). It seemed really simple.
But as I tried my first shot, I found out it wasn’t as easy as it seemed. I didn’t get any good photos. I wasn’t expecting to get professional quality photos on the first try but I expected something better than what I got.
I haven’t gone out for a second attempt since then. It’s been a little hard with being quarantined until further notice. But I will try again.
My goal is to get a good shot of the cityscape at night and I won’t stop until I do. So I’ve been thinking about what went wrong with my last attempt.
First, I need to watch a lot more videos. Just watching one video won’t teach me how to do flawless nighttime, long exposure photography. For my readers who are interested in this, here’s a video I think you will find helpful!
Another thing I should do prior to my next attempt, is that I should experiment more with long exposure photography before I go out and shoot. There are a couple ways I think I could experiment. Taking a picture of the exterior of my house at night would allow me to experiment with the setting with the subject being closest to a cityscape. Another way I could set up an experiment at home is to set up string lights in a dark room. I could then photograph them from as far away as I could get.
These little at home experiments aren’t proven to work but I’d like to try them before I try to shoot the city next time. Even though they’re not the same as a city, the settings would be similar and would give me a better idea of the settings.
It’s amazing how many different aspects of photography there are. This is only one little feature in photography and I will eventually learn it. Remember, when trying something new, if you don’t at first succeed, try try again.
Pho-blog-graphy 