Just a hobby...

[Ricco]

Taken from the hobby center last night. Lovely view overall. I think I figured out my "starring" problem. I THINK it is traces of fog still on my lens. Now I need to figure out a "sweet spot" on conditioning camera before I need to shoot. When I decided where I was going to shoot, I increased the temperature in the car significantly and opened the windows a bit about 10 minutes beforehand.

At first glance, there didn't seem to be any fogging on the lens, and I followed the advice given on my last shoot, but as you can see, the starring still happened.

[craigb456]

nice

[Patti Edens]

The starbursts happen at small apertures, like f22. If you open the lens up to the widest aperture, like f2.8, if you have it, you will see either no starburst or very little. Experiment to see when the starburst disappears with your lens. I intentionally use small apertures because I like the starbursts.

[DHaass]

Patti has it right. You are seeing the blades of the aperture closed down, thereby creating the starburst effect. This has nothing to do with residual fog.

[Ricco]

Looking at my camera right now, you're right. It was at 22, I think the reasoning for me (at the time) was that I didn't want to stay up there forever. :P

I guess I better get a stopwatch and get ready for some bulb action.
But also, that pretty much blows away my ability to shoot as many pics as possible before i can move on.
Shooting at night has its own inherent risks.

[nate.smith]

I'm kinda confused by your comment about the aperture at 22 and "didn't want to stay up there forever". The smaller the aperture the longer your shutter speed will need to be. So if you open it up to F2.8 your shutter speed will be shorter... right? Now you may want a longer shutter speed so you can get the blur of the car lights. Its finding that balance.

[Melany]

Starring isn't a problem IMO. Many photographers use F22 to GET the starbursts. I know I do.

[DHaass]

Originally Posted by Ricco

Looking at my camera right now, you're right. It was at 22, I think the reasoning for me (at the time) was that I didn't want to stay up there forever. :P

I guess I better get a stopwatch and get ready for some bulb action.
But also, that pretty much blows away my ability to shoot as many pics as possible before i can move on.
Shooting at night has its own inherent risks.

Smaller aperture but larger number (F22) means less light will get through. Larger aperture but smaller number (F2.8) means more light will be available. As Nate says, a larger aperture equates to faster shutter speeds. The smaller aperture (F22) gives you more depth of field but slower shutter speeds as it lets in less light versus a larger aperture (F2.8).

If you don't like the starburst, back off to something like F8 or F11 in manual mode and try different shutter speeds to get the exposure you are looking for while reducing the starburst effect with the larger aperture.

[Ricco]

You're right, I got the numbers confused last night while I was trying to remember the threads, but I was so busy trying to get the exposures right as well as minding the time, it simply threw me off.

[Melany]

In my head, I tell myself "Big number = little hole" I know the little hole lets in less light, so the shutter would be open longer.
That's the only way I could wrap my head around it.


Or just use the aperture priority, and let the camera think it out for you :-)

[groovyone]

Cool shots!

[DiskoJoe]

starring problem, lol. usually its the other way around and people want to figure out how to get the stars and not how to get rid of them. and yes night photography involves long exposures so you will be standing there waiting quite a bit. just get used to it or take a buddy (i like to do night shots downtown). thats always cooler. I love this spot. ive been there a few times before. nice views. as far as shooting downtown at night I have never had any problems from people (vagrants). Especially not in this area. Now if your over by main and commerce at this time of night that would be a different story.