Re: too much light

ASAAR wrote:
On Fri, 20 Jul 2007 19:57:52 -0700, Desert Dweller wrote:

I've always heard photographers like taking photos at dawn and dusk because that is the "best light." I never understood until now.

Is moonlight also "good lighting?"

All light can be "good lighting", but I rarely get out to where
it's dark enough so that the moon provides most of the nighttime
light, so I don't know whether it's good enough or not. Being
reflected sunlight it won't even require an extreme change to the
color balance, but it might be too dim for digital cameras. This is
one area where film cameras may have an advantage. Digital doesn't
suffer from film's 'reciprocity', but film doesn't suffer from the
'noise' that digital sensors produce with very long exposures (more
than several minutes long).

Digital cameras (DSLRs with their large pixels) have far
surpassed any film for low light photography. See:
http://www.clarkvision.com/photoinfo/night.and.low.light.photography
and note the 623 second exposure at ISO 1600 (pretty low
noise). Noise from long exposures (thermal dark current noise)
is simply beat by taking multiple shorter exposures and
adding them together. Thus with no reciprocity failure,
much higher quantum efficiency, and higher spatial resolution
than high speed (35mm) film, DSLRs are now the preferred
camera over film for amateur astrophotography (cooled CCDs
do better but at a cost of many times more).

For the OP: best light is the light that shows the subject best.
When the sun is high, for example, people's eyes often show
in photos as dark caverns due to the shadows. At sunset
or sunrise, the light is from the side, illuminating people's
faces nicely, plus the color of the light is redder, and is
often more diffuse making shadows softer.

Moonlight would make "nice light" if the moon were
low, casting shadows like the sun when it is low.

I suggest picking up any and all photography books by
John Shaw. Then study the contents.

Roger
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: dynamic range and thermal noise
    ... by the noise which is produced in the various stages. ... in calculating dynamic range? ... I believe you are really talking about dark current, ... exposures dark current can become an issue. ...
    (rec.photo.digital)
  • Re: dynamic range and thermal noise
    ... by the noise which is produced in the various stages. ... in calculating dynamic range? ... I believe you are really talking about dark current, ... exposures dark current can become an issue. ...
    (rec.photo.digital)
  • Re: dynamic range and thermal noise
    ... Effectively, with this technique, dark current is not an issue. ... Combining several exposures reduces the noise according to the square root of the number of images. ...
    (rec.photo.digital)
  • Re: Canon Digital Rebel Questions
    ... The camera has read noise and dark current noise. ... the total number of exposures, and therefore the total read noise). ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Canon G9
    ... And obsessive about keeping camera gear dry. ... Three preset exposures would cover that range. ... a good scan of a so-called "fine grain" film like Velvia or Provia F? ... Even though I've got dust on my sensor ...
    (uk.rec.walking)