Digital Capture After Dark

181 Pages·2013·148.15 MB·english

by  Amanda Quintenz-Fiedler

Digital Capture After Dark

Amanda Quintenz-Fiedler
Philipp Scholz Rittermann
Digital Capture
After Dark
Amanda Quintenz-Fiedler, Philipp Scholz Rittermann
Editor: Joan Dixon
Copyeditor: Aimee Baldridge
Layout: Petra Strauch
Cover Design: Helmut Kraus, www.exclam.de
Printer: Tara TPS through Four Colour Print Group, Louisville, Kentucky
Printed in Korea
ISBN 978-1-933952-66-6
1st Edition 2013
© 2013 Amanda Quintenz-Fiedler, Philipp Scholz Rittermann
Rocky Nook, Inc.
802 E. Cota Street, 3rd Floor
Santa Barbara, CA 93103
www.rockynook.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Quintenz-Fiedler, Amanda.
Digital capture after dark / Amanda Quintenz-Fiedler, Philipp Scholz Rittermann.
-- 1st edition.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-933952-66-6 (pbk.)
1. Night photography. 2. Photography--Digital techniques. I. Rittermann, Philipp
Scholz. II. Title.
TR610.Q56 2012
778.7’19--dc23
2012026409
Distributed by O‘Reilly Media
1005 Gravenstein Highway North
Sebastopol, CA 95472
All product names and services identified throughout this book are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective companies. They are used throughout this
book in editorial fashion only. No such uses, or the use of any trade name, are intended
to convey endorsement or other affiliation with the book. No part of the material
protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission of the copyright owner. While reasonable
care has been exercised in the preparation of this book, the publisher and authors
assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use
of the information contained herein.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
v
Table of Contents
Authors and Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii Chapter 2: Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Foreword by Philipp Scholz Rittermann . . . . . . . . . 1
2.2 Picking a Spot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
About This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.3 Setting Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
RAW Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Part I: Preparations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
ISO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
In-Camera Noise Reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Chapter 1: Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Manual Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 White Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Histograms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1.2 Choosing a Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Preventing Flare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Handling and Ergonomics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Setting Your Exposures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Viewfinders/Live View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Manual Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.4 A Checklist for Night Photography . . . . . . . . . . 34
Lens Interchangeability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Sensor Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Chapter 3: Caveats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Sensor Signal-to-Noise Ratio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Good Battery Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Mirror Lock-Up Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 3.2 Gauging Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Don’t Trust Your LCD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Histograms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
1.3 Choosing Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Controlling Flare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Lens Speed (Light-Gathering Power) . . . . . . . . . 14
Auto Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Flare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Tripod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
1.4 Other Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Cable Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Tripod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Inclement Weather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Cable Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Lens Hood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Part II: Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Extra Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Car Charger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Chapter 4: What to Photograph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Flashlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.1 Finding Your Way in the Dark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Clothing, Footwear, Food, and Drink . . . . . . . . . 18
Urban Landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
A Buddy and Mobile Phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Wide-Open Landscapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Atmosphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Night Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
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v TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 5: From Dusk ’Til Dawn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Chapter 8: Light Painting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
5.2 Dusk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 8.2 Clean Graffiti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Start When You Can See . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Your Paintbrushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Meter and Bracket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Your Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Magic Hour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
8.3 The Basics of Light Painting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Color We Can’t See . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Darkness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Atmosphere at Dusk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
5.3 Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Positioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Pocket Your Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Light Stability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Part III: After Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Capturing Images for Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Elusive Dark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Chapter 9: Basic File Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Night for Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
9.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Disadvantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
9.2 Image Extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
5.4 Dawn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
9.3 Processing Your RAW Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Chapter 6: Atmospheric Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Fog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Rain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Rain and Fog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 9.4 Processing Your Individual Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Snow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
9.5 Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Low Cloud Ceiling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Moonlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Chapter 10: Increasing Dynamic Range . . . . . . . . . . 133
Other Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
10.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Chapter 7: Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
10.2 Capturing Images for Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
10.3 Importing Images for Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Why We Use Long Exposures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
10.4 Layering Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
7.2 Blurring Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Layering Your Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
7.3 Distinguishing Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Adding Highlight Information to Your
Main Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
7.4 Blurry and Sharp Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Adding Shadow Information to Your
Dragging the Shutter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Main Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Flash Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Final Adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Multiplying Your Subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
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TABLE OF CONTENTS i
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Chapter 11: Selective Smart Sharpening . . . . . . . . . 143
11.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
11.2 Proper Workflow Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
11.3 Create an Edge Mask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Creating a Summary Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
11.4 Smart Sharpening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
11.5 Applying the Mask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Chapter 12: Black-and-White, Color,
or Somewhere in Between? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
12.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
12.2 Black-and-White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Adobe Lightroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Adobe Photoshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Nik Software Silver Efex Pro 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
12.3 Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Adobe Lightroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Adobe Photoshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Nik Software Color Efex Pro 3.0 Complete
and Viveza 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
12.4 Somewhere in Between . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Adobe Lightroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Adobe Photoshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Chapter 13: Panoramic HDR Imaging at Night . . . 169
13.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
13.2 Panoramic Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
The Possibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
The Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
13.3 Panoramic HDR Imaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
The Possibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
The Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
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i AUTHORS AND CONTRIBUTORS
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Authors
Amanda Quintenz-Fiedler is a writer, photog- Philipp Scholz Rittermann’s work spans op-
rapher, and educator. She is a regular contribu- posite ends of our environment, from nocturnal
tor to such publications as Rangefinder, Digital scenes of industry to views of pristine land-
Photo Pro, and Photographer‘s Forum. She is the scape. His work is held in over one hundred
author of Ten Photo Assignments and co-author public, private, and corporate collections, includ-
of Capture: Digital Photography Essentials, both ing MoMA, New York, and the Bibliotheque
published by Rocky Nook. She has shown her Nationale in Paris, France. Scholz Rittermann
photographs at group exhibitions around the exhibits in national and international venues,
country and continues to create work in both and was honored with a mid-career survey at
digital and analog media, focusing on concepts the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego,
such as modern attitudes, personal demons, and which published the monograph Navigating
stunted dreams. by Light. He has been teaching photography for
Quintenz-Fiedler teaches in several colleges over thirty years in the U.S. and abroad.
in the San Diego area, holds workshops, and In 2011, the Museum of Contemporary Art
lectures on the arts of photography and writ- San Diego exhibited large-scale photographs
ing. She lives in Carlsbad, CA with her beloved from Emperor’s River, a new multi-year project
husband, Steve, and cherished son, Connor. Her he has been conducting in China.
photographic work can be viewed at amanda- Scholz Rittermann is represented by Scott
quintenz.com Nichols Gallery, San Francisco, CA, and can be
contacted at [email protected]. His work
can be viewed at rittermann.com
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Contributors
Kevin McCollister was raised in Cleveland, Michael Penn is a self-taught photographer
Ohio, and worked for several years as a who focuses his lens on Philadelphia and New
deckhand on the Mississippi River. He later York City. Preferring to photograph at night, he
lived in Boston, Massachusetts where he feels the senses come alive when the sun goes
studied film and drama at Harvard Extension. down. Using compact cameras, he can go unde-
Employed by the Writers Guild of America, tected when capturing the city streets. His work
he has lived in Los Angeles for more than two can be viewed at michaelpennphotography.com
decades. McCollister’s book of photographs,
East of West LA, is available through IFSF pub-
lishing, and his continuing work can be viewed
at eastofwestla.com