Alrighty... im new at taking pix at night and honestly all i do to get the pictures to where i want is allow more like into the lens. Now the question is how do i do that in a more positive way without bringing in the orange glow from lights??

Example #1: This is my picture, all i do is allow more light in. I have a Nikon D80 tons of lenses but like i said, im a day person.



Now this is what im shooting for. While i was waiting with the tripod making sure not to move the camera and get blurry pix this guy was snapping pix walking around like it was nothing. He did have a alternate flash tho. Anyways, Im new to the camera scene so is it all the flash or the settings? What do you recommend i set them at? Or do i buy a flash?

Example #2



Thanks guys, hope i can get some help. I wanna begin doing more night shots and avoide having to wait 10 seconds for the shutter to close so i can get my light.

 

did one of the legs on your tripod get shortened?

might wanna go get that fixed

All joking aside, a speedlight will definitely help.

 

First, I would suggest taking a DLSR camera class to get to know your camera and the basics of photography...just saying


I am also assuming you're shooting the D80 in it's "auto" mode correct?

You shouldn't have your shutter speed that slow that it takes 10 seconds to close, I would start at 1/80 with a lowest Fstop your lens can do and use the correct white balance. don't forget to set you ISO setting to around 400-600 for the night shot.

The great thing about digital photography is you don't have to wait too long to see your results. If you don't like the shot, change some settings and keep shooting away until you get it right, practice practice practice...but it will be wasted if you don't know what you're doing from the start.

 

You have to be careful using a speedlight at night on cars, you will more than likely get a car with a horrible flash on it...you can adjust your setting to get enough ambient light in, especially in a well lite parking lot.

 

Nope not ON Auto, i never shoot in that. I always shot manual. Someone told me to change the white balance when i edit them and it worked wonders.. Ill keep the ISO in mind. Thanks.

 

Notice I said a speedlight would help.

I didn't say however, the speedlight should be mounted on the camera. That's why I said speedlight, and not flash; because the entry level dslrs all have onboard flash.

The guy's got a D80; it's CLS capable

 

I agree with books and classes. You need to learn how a camera works, and what everything does, otherwise, you are just shooting blind.

 

To answer your question.. The orange tint or glow is from incorrect white balance. To correct this either shoot a gray card, or better yet, pick yourself up an expodisc and learn how to make a custom white balance in your camera. Also.. DON't crank up your ISO, continue to shoot as low as you are comfortable with to reduce noise in your shots. Remember, digital sensors are like amplifiers.. Increasing the sensitivity of your sensor by rasing your ISO, and it will begin to add distortio, or signal noise, to your final image.

 

.... but

Unlike amps (I'm thinking guitar here) distortion in this aspect is very rarely considered a good thing, and definitely does not increase the value of your camera.

Shoot in RAW mode if you can, this will allow you to modify the whitebalance after the fact. Otherwise either learn to use it, or put it in auto.

Also in this case you should not be using a flash unless you know how, with the orange ambient lighting you should be gelling your flash orange as well to match, not trying to over power it.

 

And in a pinch, you can also use your environment... like people with red hair and freckles, they too can throw an orange cast if you bounce the flash off their heads just right.