How to take night photos on nikon d3000?

How to take night photos on nikon d3000?

In manual mode you can set shutter time up to 30 seconds. If you don't have an infrared remote, set the self timer to 5 seconds to allow vibrations to settle down after you hit the shutter button. To take photos up to 30 minutes exposure, set speed to bulb. Get a Nikon ML-L3 Wireless Remote.

Focusing in very low light can be tricky. Some AF-D prime lenses (which don't autofocus with the D3000) can be easily dialed to infinity. With your AF-S lenses, try to find a bright object on the horizon to autofocus on. Then switch focus on the lens to manual. Compose without changing your zoom or focus setting.

First, you will definitely need a good sturdy tripod - night exposures are far too long to even think about hand-holding the camera.

I use and recommend this site for low-light exposures: http://www.calculator.org/...osure.aspx

I used the Scene 'Distant view of city skyline or floodlit buildings' and ISO 200 for these pictures of the Louisville, Kentucky skyline as seen from the Indiana shore across the Ohio River:

100mm @ f11, exposure of 30 seconds.

200mm @ f11, exposure of 30 seconds.

In my (admittedly biased) opinion I think they turned out rather well.

As stated a tripod or other solid support is a necessity. If you are looking for good portraits or Candids at night you will need good Flash preferably multiple off camera flash units.

you can Meter a scene with your Fastest Lens [ wide open aperture] using the highest ISO setting available to get an indication of appropriate exposure in Low Light levels. Then extrapolate for normal ISO settings and Appropriate aperture for the DOF you want to achieve. For example you meter the scene in Aperture Priority with apertture of F4 at ISO of 6400 and get Shutter speed of 1/15 sec

you want to shoot at F11 for DOF and normal ISO 200
so you have to use a shutter speed 3 stops slower to correct for the Aperture setting and 5 stops slower to compensate for the ISO setting for a total correction of 8 stops. As a result you would achieve the same exposure at F11, ISO200 and 15 seconds Shutter speed

you should use long exposure Noise reduction for best results
you probably have to focus manually as AF in low light is very unreliable Hyperfocal distance is a good choice
you will likely need a Flash light to get setting correct in the Dark
if exposure goes beyond 30 seconds the camera can only handle this in Manual Exposure Mode with the Shutter speed set to B

use a remote release[ cable or IR depending on camera] to prevent vibration when you push the button best if you can push once to start the shot and a second time to stop it holding down the release for 40 seconds will cause Camera movement blurring your shot

hope it helps
Mike