How to get good nite photos with a Kodak EasyShare?

Does anyone have some tips on how to get good night photos with a Kodak EasyShare? I took some pics earlier, and they look really f***ed up... take a look.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v647/ ... 0_0135.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v647/ ... 0_0136.jpg

I used the night shot feature on it, where you turn the dial to "SCN", and do a little flipping thru the menu, and selected "Night Portrait". I think using a tripod may have helped the most, but I didn't have it with me... btw my camera is a Z760. I also shot some more night pictures, just go to my website to see them!

emd_SD_60 wrote:I think using a tripod may have helped the most, but I didn't have it with me

A tripod is an absolute necessity for night photography, but it won't do you any good if you don't have it with you.

Looks like you used the flash in the first shot. Turn it off; it's not bright enough to illuminate the whole scene and that's probably not the effect you're going for anyway.

It's hard to tell from the shots whether the trains were moving, but if they were, be aware that moving objects will be blurred in night photographs due to the long exposure. If that's not the look you want, shoot trains that aren't moving.

The train was moving, about 40. If you look at my site, I shot probably 1 with the flash off... looked at the result and was dissatisfied. Although seeing it on a computer monitor is better than a 3 inch screen! Maybe I ought to do some night photography here around the house as practice.

It's very difficult, if not impossible, to get decent shots of moving trains at night. As Mike said, you'll need a long exposure time to be able to see anything, and since the train will be moving while the shutter's open, it'll be blurred in the photo. There are some very nice night photos of trains out there, but they usually just have streaks of light from the passing train.

I haven't seen or used a Kodak EasyShare, so I don't know what options are available, but you'll definitely need to be able to set the exposure time. Make sure the flash is off (if the camera doesn't automatically turn it off), as it's useless for distances of more than a few feet and exposures slower than about 1/60 of a second.

Whether you use film or digital the technique is the same for night shots, long exposure, fast iso setting. If you look at some of the better railroad books where there are night shots you will notice that they were taken with the train standing still at a station or, if it's freight, laying up in a yard overnight. You will need that tripod. If you go to a passenger station set up in a position where you can shoot the train as it loads or discharges passengers. You should be able to make a thirty second or one minute exposure. Some of the older film cameras (I'm thinking Olympus, here) were great for taking long exposures automatically. You may need to experiment with your digital camera. I am now using the Nikon D50 SLR and am still getting use to its capabilities but if you can try several shots at exposures of 15, 30, 45 seconds at iso's of 200. 400 ,800 you should get decent results. If you can access a freight yard you will have even more time to experiment. Taking shots of moving equipment at night requires the kind of artificial and professinal lighting that is difficult to set up and in this day and age would attract a great deal of unwanted attention. Some of those famous night shots, especially those of the last days of steam for the Norfolk and Western, required a considereable lighting set up of many flashbulbs timed to go off in sequence as the train moved past the photographer, and pretty slowly too as these N&W coal drags were not express trains. Good luck and let us know how you fared.

kevikens wrote:Whether you use film or digital the technique is the same for night shots, long exposure, fast iso setting.

You'll get better quality if you use a slower film or slower ISO setting. Since you're going to have a long exposure no matter what speed film/sensitivity you use, you might as well use the slowest film/sensitivity and get less grain/noise.

I don't think I can fart (haha) around with the exposure setting, I tried going thru the menu to look. I did try again this evening, it's already up on my site, look in the "Night Shots" album, it's the last picture. At least I had my tripod with me... I took some more, expect me to post them later. Enjoy!

emd_SD_60 wrote:Does anyone have some tips on how to get good night photos with a Kodak EasyShare?

Here's a trick I learned last year, and it made me wonder why I didn't think of it previously. If your camera is equipped with a timer, use it for night photography. This will help you avoid shaking the camera the moment you press the button. It's the next best thing if you don't have a remote. I've used an EasyShare for several night photos and have been pleased with the overall results.

i use a kodak easy share z740 as my primary camera nowadays...the thing with ALL night photography is you need to USE THE MANUAL SETTINGS... depending on what ur goin for whether it be that classic time exposure like in this shot :

http://community.webshots.com/photo/532 ... 5253JNlAcu

that was shot for.... i believe 2 second at f-2.7 and 400 speed film no flash..
if your going for stop action... use THE HIGHEST iso available and the smallest time available.. 1/10th or shorter i try to keep it too.. even then its hard..1/100th or less is best....also.. with the easy share's... dont use the flash if your shootin outside, the back grounds will become very very very dark( i never use it.... found i get better shots w/o it)