Pictures at night in a cemetery

Lord_Tuetanus

Ok, yes, just like I said, I'm going to a tour to a cemetery at night any suggestions in settings? The Cheat cards do not have that config.

Moose

Hey @Lord_Tuetanus - Sounds like a good time ;). So in this particular situation, really the only thing you can do is use a tripod. If you hand hold the camera, you'll have to resort to the built in flash which is just harsh and produces bad skin tones. So with the camera mounted to a tripod, you can then capture some moody, natural light shots of the cemetery. I would just follow the Landscape cheat card as it will give you the best results in this instance. All the best!

bruto

Depending on the light level, one thing you might try (tripod essential) is to use an automatic exposure with a mode such as A which will not activate the flash. The camera's meter will probably expose the scene brighter than you like.

If you shoot in Raw mode, and use Nikon View NX2 or Capture NXD, you can lower the exposure by two stops afterwards to darken it.

This is one instance where exposure compensation works better in post than in the camera, because when you lower it in post it turns down both exposure value and noise.

Depending on the circumstances, if a full sized tripod is not feasible, try to get your hands on one of the larger Gorillapods. You can perch it on top of a stone, attach it to a tree or a post, or even get low shots from the ground.

An infrared remote makes this easiest, but otherwise, set the shutter for 2 second self timer to reduce vibration.

Ramona

What settings could I use to take pictures in a theater?

bruto

That will depend greatly on how the subject is lit, whether you need to stop motion, and whether your view is very narrow or wide.

Here are my suggestions (subject to other opinions).

In general, a theater will be rather dim, and the subjects may be poorly lit. You will have to hand hold. If you need to stop motion, you will need a fairly fast shutter speed. Your best bet is probably to use shutter priority, set the speed at something around 1/250, and use Auto ISO. Auto white balance will probably suffice, but shoot in Raw mode so that you can compensate later. If the subjects are not moving around a lot, you can use single point focusing. It will probably work pretty well to set the focus for A mode and dynamic area. Make sure your focus point is centered on your subject (hit the OK button to reset it to the viewfinder center). If your action is off center and you need to focus and recompose, put the focus mode to S. A mode may work but cannot be depended on every time.

For metering, if you are zoomed in pretty tightly on your subject, you're probably all right with matrix. If there's a lot of very dark stage surrounding the subject in your picture, switch to center weighted. If you're very far with your subject occupying only a small portion of the picture, switch to spot metering and make sure your focus point is set on the subject you want to meter.

Lord_Tuetanus

@BRUTO and @MOOSE these are the pictures I took. The album is public. It was a very cold and rainy night but a lot of fun. I did some editing in lightroom. What do you think? Thanks for the tips! =)

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153061439611201.1073741832.740571200&type=1&l=afc47436de

Moose

@Lord_Tuetanus - Those are great, thanks for sharing. I like the first shot of the steeple with the shadow of a cross the best. Very moody!

bruto

Nice. I've always quite liked the sculptures in a cemetery. I hope one day you'll be able to get out there on a night with moonlight, too.