2 replies to this topic

[manchesterbazza]

I have used my D3200 on auto most of the time, however over the weekend I decided to use Manual to take night time photos of scenes capturing only lights from some multi coloured illuminations displays, so picture it being totally dark with just the lights in focus.

I set the camera to the following:

No Flash
ISO set to f9 hopefully capturing only the light I needed

On taking the photo through the viewfinder it looked ok on the display but when I transferred the file to my PC it began to be blurry after a few stretches.

Is this normal when taking night photos?

As mentioned it is the first time I have used manual, do I need to set any other setting?

Any advice welcome

[Fletch]

Night time photos vary from location to location depending on what if any available or annoying light is nearby. When I shoot stars I try to find a place that has no moon light and as little annoying nearby light as possible.  The F-Stop on my lens only goes to 3.5 at widest so I use that as it collects the most light from the subject source, (stars) the ISO is the one setting that you will be changing as an ISO of 100 at night will in most cases give you a very dark photo and an ISO if 5000 could give you the perfect image or be so blown out as to render your photo white.  You have to test the setting out and find the correct ones for each shoot.  Also the time you keep the shutter open also plays in to the equation. Go out have fun and play with the settings, you will learn and enjoy it more having the satisfaction of knowing you did it on your own instead of it being given to you.

[TBonz]

I don't see the mention of a tripod or any setting other than the aperture (I assume the aperture was set to f9).  All settings are important.  What were your ISO settings and your shutter speed?  I am guessing that your shutter speed was long enough that the blurry that you are seeing came from camera movement.  Feel free to post an example and your other settings and we will do what we can to assist.  But the experimentation is part of the fun.  About all we can do is give you a starting point to work from or suggestions on things to do / avoid to help you get the best images.