First Night Shots ~ Feedback Please!!!

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A couple weeks ago @NoX  surprised me with a new camera (My first DSLR... I've never been able to afford one on my own). Last night, after driving around aimlessly for most of the day, we ended up by Beth Steel. We took a few shots of the stacks, headed over to the casino for a bit, then went back out and shot a couple more.

As far as light is concerned, there is a lot going on there. The building in front of the stacks has big lit up windows, every tree out front has it's own spotlight, all of the arches are lit up individually, the street lights are all on and there is a giant, obnoxious light up billboard advertising the free concert series (lower right of pic 1 and lower left of pic 3), plus the lights on the stacks themselves. I have to say, while it's sad that most of the buildings are gone, what they did with the place is actually really nice and a hell of a lot better then what could have happened to it.

Anyway, these are the first night shots I've ever taken and I would really appreciate some feedback. Thanks!

I like the first one. Increase your f-stop to 18. And get it all. Turn the car off and climb up on the roof, stretch the tripod out full length. THAT. Will greatly improve your shot two folds.

Thanks. I actually cropped out part of the first shot, there was a street light on the right and it just seemed like there was too much going on. I also have other shots where I have from the front of the building all the way down, but I didn't like the way the shot itself came out.

If we could have gotten on the roof we would have. They have multiple security vehicles that patrol non-stop, plus they have cameras everywhere and a big guy watching all of the screens (we saw him through one of the windows, lol).

I've never really seriously shot at night, but these are quite the inspiration.  Personally, I like the second one best. I don't get distracted by that one source of light.  But really nice job girl.

Good stuff for a first run, I do agree with Krush about the aperture. The second one I like a lot because of how it's relatively free of visible unnatural light sources, which granted isn't something you have much control over, but the the beams that are coming up in it are a great touch.

They're lovely. And for some of your first night shots, they're a damned fine start. Keep at it.

Wow, thanks everyone!!  :punk:

I've been listening to other people talk about what they do when shooting at night for so many years I guess some of it stuck, so I had a general idea of what I was doing. Thanks for the advice on the aperture, I'm definitely going to try it next time.

Great shots, the shots colors look very vibrant and I like. Whenever I shoot at night, I generally shoot with a remote, most DSLR remotes are cheep. A good little tool to have so theres no camera noise going on. Also with the remote, when a shot requires more then the max factory 30sec set time for exposure. The remote will allow u to go as long as u want but beware, it will suck the life of the battery charge.

Keep rocking/playing with the new camera.

Thanks Steaze. I don't have a remote, but I did use the timer on my camera to avoid the camera shaking when I take the shot.

I agree with everyone else. 1 and 3 are nice but the blowouts can be a bit distracting because of that billboard light. 2 is by far the best out of the set. it is well composed and the lighting is perfect. I also agree with Krush that if you increase the f-stop it would help. I'd go as far as 22 and close it all the way. And I also agree with getting up higher to completely eliminate the billboard light etc. You will still have the light coming in, but at least the camera won't be pointed directly at it and cause the little blow outs.

 also you can try investing in  a shutter release cable if you don't have one instead of a remote. I find them more useful in that you can create your own times with the use of the BULB option just like a remote does but I find them to be much more reliable and tend to be a bit more sturdy than the remote. Remotes are great but you have to be a certain distance from the camera and sometimes don't always pick up when you aim it at the camera so you have to walk towards the camera or aim at awkward angles to make it shoot. I have both, a shutter release and a remote, but I tend to end up using the shutter release more than anything else. just my opinion on the tools

now you can do some light painting!! yay

@LBNF the colors are awesome

I agree the colors of these are amazing