Night time photography help

[stxhunter]

A few days ago I purchased a new camera, sony DSC H20. I used it last night at the port isabel boat parade and was a little dissapointed with the pics. At first it took me a while to find a setting where the boats would even come out, after that I had trouble getting clear pictures. What settings would you all recommend for night time shooting? I don't know much about ISO, shutter speed etc. I have included a few decent pics and bad pics for criticism.

[Clayton]

I think what you're probably most disappointed in is a little blurriness.... for those night shots you need a tripod, and you could bump your ISO up a little

[stxhunter]

ok, sounds good. What settings for shutter speed etc. would you recommend?

[Reaper33]

man night shots are hard if you are taking them from a boat its so hard to keep them still even if you do have a tripod.

[justhrowit]

Like others have said, a tripod would have helped with the clarity. The first two, and the last two shots, looks like you had the camera dialed in ok, as far as shutter speed, but with it being hand held, it's just impossible to get the clarity, I think, you are looking for. You can play with the ISO a bit by raising it, but I think a tripod would be the first thing you needed.

J

[jerp]

Does your camera have a "night" setting? (one of the icons will have stars or a moon) Try setting to that mode, set up your shot then look and see what apeture, shutter speed and ISO the camera automatically set itself to. That will give you a good starting point.

[Hillary]

Night time can get tricky.
If your subject is stationary and you have a tripod you can almost make the shot look like it was taken while very well lit.

As far as a parade, or moving objects at night, it is a little trickier.
You have to sacrifice something in the wonderful world of the exposure triangle; bump your ISO higher and get a grainy picture with less "light fuzz", lower your shutter speed with a less grainy picture but will potentially blur the lights, etc.

Those pictures are not bad considering the shooting conditions.
Night time is tricky

[GUER03]

Also try using the instead of pushing the button. That way you don't move the camera at all when you trip the shutter, it will go off on it's own and there's no movement of the camera. I like to use that technique or a remote as well. Good luck.