Noctilucent Clouds

[Petrah]

There's probably not many here that would be interested in this, but it was so beautiful that I wanted to share it anyway. These clouds are very rare, and I was lucky enough to witness them the other evening. Unfortunately, I'm still a major newb with my recently acquired camera, and have not learned how to take night shots that well.

Noctilucent Clouds Over Western Washington

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctilucent_cloud

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xF2vSKINK0 (Edit: turn down the volume unless you want your ears to bleed!)


Any budding photographers here wish to share their nature photo's?

[Cralor]

I've never heard of these before. It would be a great sight to see. Where are your pictures?

[Horrid]

wow thats awsome ty for sharing it with the rest of us

[Petrah]

Originally Posted by Cralor I've never heard of these before. It would be a great sight to see. Where are your pictures?

They are stunningly beautiful to see!

Those turned out all black lol. I need to learn how to use my camera for night time shots. I signed up for Digital Photography School (it's free), but do not have much time to devote to it right now. Maybe once my kids go back to school I will have more time.

[MidgetMage55]

For night shooting you want to use a tripod and long exposure times as the rough idea of it. All depends on how dark we are talking about as well as the camera and lens (assuming its an SLR). Id be happy to nerd out with you on the subject in PM's if you like.

[Petrah]

No need for PM's... here is ok, since its kinda still on topic hehe.

My X-Husband gifted me with his old Kodak DX7590 and an Albinar tripod when he found a Cannon Rebel XT with a 75 to 200 mm zoom/macro lens for $400.00 (I so remember that day.. he called from his cell all excited about the price. What was I s'posed to say? Told him to snatch that baby up lol). At any rate, I don't have any extra lenses, but I've seen some good deals for them on Amazon. I'm a grinch with my cash, so I haven't forked over the money for it yet lol. It's a nice little camera to learn with though.

[MidgetMage55]

There are adapter lenses for your kodak but they arent swappable like the Canon rebel.

Based on the kodak you'll want to use the camera in manual mode. For rough settings try not to use an ISO (exposure rate) over about 400 on that Camera.
800 is its max setting and thats only at 1.8mp so you wont get very detailed pictures at that setting. The sensor cant handle higher ISO settings and youll get uber grainy pictures. Use a slow shutter speed with your tripod. Im not sure if the camera can do it but if possible try setting a timer on the shutter. Shooting at slow shutter speeds its very easy to blur the images so having it fire off on a timer means you wont be touching the camer when it shoots and it significantly lowers the chance of image blur. We've all either taken or seen birthday party pictures of the candles being blown out that were all swirly with blur. Using the timer can prevent that.

I dont recall off-hand but the camera should have a long exposure setting (some older cameras can be set to expose a picture for up to 15 seconds). You'll have to experiment with the settings a little. I'd start at a shutter speed of 1/8 and see if the results are decent. If its totally black or very dark you want to use a faster shutter. Too light use a slower speed. The F stop should be set as open as you can get it to let the max amount of light in. The lower the number the wider it is.
Example: F/2.4 is a wider aperture than F/6

Using a camera of that age is going to be a challenge getting night time/low light. Also make sure to disable the flash when shooting. Just press the little lightning bolt symbol on the camera and options for the flash should appear on screen.

[Petrah]

w00t, thank you! Maybe there will be some nice clouds in the sky at dusk. If so, I will try my hand at a few pics and post them for you to see.

[Petrah]

Ok. I have nothing but dark clouds this evening. Nothing to take a decent picture of. Could I experiment with those settings in a room without windows... like with a Candle in front of a mirror?

[MidgetMage55]

Originally Posted by Silenia Ok. I have nothing but dark clouds this evening. Nothing to take a decent picture of. Could I experiment with those settings in a room without windows... like with a Candle in front of a mirror?

Basically any dark area. The candle would be a fairly straight forward shot since its a rather bright point of light. Though if you were say trying to take a picture of your self taking a picture with a candle between you and a mirror it would certainly give you a challenge hehe. Maybe take a picture of something in the room with the candle behind you off to the side as not to cause too many shadows. Even step out in to the yard. if there is enough ambient light you should still be able to test the settings.