How to shoot night photos with a dslr?
I just bought a Nikon d3100 and I wanna know the best settings and f stop for shooing night photos at a carnival and how to shoot good photos of people riding on rides so good moving photo shots too!
Have you tried reading your camera's manual?
Tripod. Very important tool in low light photography. Very important tool in any type of photography if you ask me but we're just going to deal with what you're asking about.
If you want to focus on one subject on a moving ride, you're going to want an aperture as wide open as possible, moderately high ISO and as fast a shutter speed as you can get. Which will be difficult. For moving photographs, anything slower than 1/30 second will give you a nice blurry look. You can afford a smaller aperture with longer exposures.
A word on ISO's. Unless you're using really high end DSLR's, which you're not right now, any ISO higher than 400 and you're really looking at grainy, noisy photographs. Now, with an evening at the carnival, that could be used as an artistic flare but if you want crisp, clear photographs, keep the ISO as low as you can. I seldom go over 200 when using my little Canon Rebel.
Use an ISO about 800-1600 not to get so much noise, wide aperture and usually auto wb would work; if you don't have a tripod or speed is relatively high hold your camera steady with your hands or on any corner
Digital SLR cameras capture images because they have a light sensitive electronic sensor, which replaces photographic film. Night photography can be a challenge even for experienced photographers. However, DSLRs are equipped with special settings that make good quality night photography possible. Use high ISO values, appropriate flash settings and slower shutter speeds if you want to take good night photographs.
High ISO Values
If taking night pictures without a tripod, set the ISO value in the camera beforehand so the camera sensor becomes more sensitive to the available light. A ISO setting of up to 1, 600, for instance, is available in most DSLRs, and it can produce good night shots. However, high ISO values produce "noise" or grainy pictures. The ideal is to use a tripod, avoid noise by keeping ISO values low, such as 100, and use a much slower shutter speed.
Slow Shutter Speed
The shutter speed is related to the time that the electronic sensor is exposed to light, during the process of taking a picture. The slower the shutter speed is, the more light the sensor gets. Although there's no standard shutter speed to suit every situation, values from 10 seconds to 30 seconds offer a good choice for night photography, but can only be used to shoot still scenes and with a tripod, according to SLR Photography Guide.
Right Flash Light Setting
Most DSLRs come with a built-in flash, which can be efficient when photographing at night. Built-in flash lights offer different intensities and speeds, which you can manually regulate. Always consider the amount of natural light available and the distance from the photographed subject. For moving subjects use flash shutter speeds of 1/60 of a second or faster. Ideally, use a external flash unit, which allows you to set much faster speeds, reports Simon Stafford in Nikon D80 Magic Lantern Guide. However, choosing the automatic TTL (Through-The-Lens) flash option you are less likely to overexpose or underexpose your pictures, because the camera adjusts the flash intensity, while you focus.