et tu, brute?

No Brute on me,

I use Hai Karate!

What are you shooting nubie? Sunlight provides the best light, and when it's low in the sky, early or late, in the sweet days of digital photography you don't have to wait for developing to see what you shot, so keep experimenting until you find what works for you, delete what doesn't, that will be $200.00 please, you can owe me...

ooooh! hai karate! you use the good stuff! (you stud muffin, you)

Not really Stud Muffin.

More like MUD STUFFIN'...



(y'know what i'm sayin?)

Ok here is my latest challenge...
I am shooting a tree line and skyline shorty after dusk...still some light left.
I am using a NIkon d70s. iso is set to 1600. I only have the flash on the camera not other external light source. If I let the flash fire I get darkness and loose the awsome effect of the night sky. How can I softly light the trees without loosing the sky and do it with the flash on the camera??? can it be done or am I fukalati ??? Please advise......
BTW I wasn't going to ask here after realising that maybe I should stick to my photo sites for these questions as suggested by my drinking buddyI just wasnted to do one stop shopping to keep me coming to PSC . Free time is rare when you have a 17 month old and a wife who sometimes travels for work and I have a hard time juggling both hobbbies.
I guess it would be helpful to be " in the biz" but I am an outsider looking in and trying to muddle through. I actually thought twice after posting the question.......this "is" a photoshop site and maybe photo questions shouldnt be asked here.
anyway ....anyone have an answer for my question....great ...if not ......thats fine too,
all I know is Reinman and I have a beer to drink and a hand to shake.

BTW gsaenz......love the Jack/Queen pic

will probably work best doing it manually meaning you need to meter the skyline (find out what that exposure is ) then somehow set your flash ( or a seperate flash - not the one built in ) for the same exposure on those trees.......also try a lower ISO like 400.....you tend to get more noise at 1600

SYNTH....I checked oout your web site.....unbelievable pics!

I hear you nubie


same shot with and without flash within 5-10 seconds


with


without


Sure changes everything huh? and yes faster speed creates a lot of noise

Is that were you live?
Looks like yer right on the water.
Cuban Laurels are pretty cool.
They make the most awesome bonsai.

-Use the "fill-in flash" function of your camera if there is one: it will automatically balance the flash and the ambient light.Or:
-Use a tripod and and an external flash. Set the flash and camera on "manual" and make tests to find the right balance between the sky and the trees. You can even use the flash 2 or 3 times to lighten different parts of the scene (if the exposure time is long enough, of course)

Okay - got a question to ask you about this situation.

You say "TreeLINE". Now to me that indicates a number of trees and probably some distance from the camera. Now, you need a pretty BIG HONKIN flash unit to reach out more than 20~30 feet (most on camera flashes are good for 15~20 feet). So one issue here is you need a good sized flash unit if these trees are out 30~40 feet or more from your camera.

As a couple others have mentioned here, having a tripod with a slow shutter speed also works to get the lower amient light, while hoping your flash will catch the closer trees.

And Ms.Begin's idea of multiple flashes is cool too - if you have a hand-held strobe you can move to different areas of the treeline and expose in sections. We used to call this technique "painting with flash" or "Painting with light". It works best when the ambient light is REALLY low (dusk, or early evening after sunset - also works great in an old graveyard close to midnight!)

Another PHOTOSHOP solution to this situation takes lots of work, but can be quite striking: take TWO exposures of the scene... one exposed for trees, one for background light. You HAVE to use a tripod for this! Then, in photoshop with clever masking you combine elements of the two exposures to give you what you need. These shots can look Mucho Cool.

On a side note - using 1600 ISO / ASA on a digital camera is really NOT recommended at any time unless you really like that splotchy look (which can, at times, be cool). If you use a lot of higher IOS settings (above 400) I recommend a noise reduction software like Noise Ninja or NeatNoise... I have shot at 1600+ with my 30D and got it cleaned up nicely using these softwares.

And now, its Saturday here in Canada so I must go clean off the beaver droppings from the outer layer of my igloo before it attracts polar bears drawn in by the pungent odours!

Good luck with your TreeLine!

P.S. if it appears the trees move closer to you every time you take your eyes off them, you might want to switch to something lighter than whiskey!

I dunno maybe it's just luck.
I throw it on the tripod, leave the shutter open long enough for a good exposure--
throw the shot in PS and use curves...works everytime.

Hey Reinman, what you say about the 2 exposures pictures reminds me of a pic i made once: i took a pic at 3 in the afternoon with the camera on a tripod (a street scene from my window) under exposed for about a half stop, then let the camera in place until night, and made a new pic on the same film under exposed again: the mix of day light and night light created a very strange effect! I'm not sure but i think it's a technique used by Ansel Adams.
and...hmmm...concerning the trees moving, remember of Macbeth (no! it's not beth using a Mac!), as the whitches said: there's nothing to worry about as long as the forest doesn't walk!