Photo Contest - Things That Go Bump In The Night (5/16-5/24)

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Discussion Overview

The thread discusses a photo contest themed "Things That Go Bump In The Night," focusing on night photography. Participants share their entries, ask questions about contest rules, and seek advice on techniques for capturing night images.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • Contest rules specify that photos must be taken at night and can be digital or digitally-scanned.
  • Some participants inquire about the use of flash, with one confirming that it is permitted.
  • Questions arise regarding whether twilight counts as night, with mixed responses suggesting it may depend on the lighting conditions.
  • Participants share links to their entries, with some expressing humor about their attempts to impress the contest organizer.
  • Technical challenges are discussed, such as difficulties with camera settings for night photography, including issues with blurriness and exposure times.
  • One participant seeks clarification on whether scanned images are acceptable, which is confirmed by another participant referencing the contest rules.
  • Advice is offered on stabilizing cameras for long exposures, including using tripods and timer delays to reduce vibrations.
  • Participants express enthusiasm for each other's photos, with some noting the challenges of capturing good night shots.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the contest rules and the theme, but there are differing opinions on specific aspects such as the definition of night and the use of flash. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the best techniques for night photography.

Contextual Notes

Some participants express uncertainty about camera settings and techniques for night photography, indicating a lack of consensus on the best practices for achieving clear images.

Who May Find This Useful

Photography enthusiasts, particularly those interested in night photography techniques and contest participation, may find this discussion valuable.

ZapperZ
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Please read our Contest Rules before submitting. Our theme this time is:

Things That Go Bump In the Night.

We want night shots pictures! These are pictures, taken by you, at night, utilizing your skill to take night shots. The pictures can be of any subject, but must be taken at night (however, not indoors with full lighting).

Contest Rules:

1. Any digital photo or digitally-scanned photo relevant to the theme will be accepted within the contest period. In case there's a grey area, or you're not sure if the picture is suitable, check with me first.

2. Please resize your digital photo to no more than 650 x 490 pixels. You may also crop your picture if you wish. But other than that, any form of picture editing or modification is not allowed. This is a photo contest, not a picture editing/special effect contest. You may add a watermark or your name/nickname to the photo for identification purposes.

3. Upload your photos to any of the photo servers such as imageshack. Then post it the relevant contest thread and link your picture using the img command. PM me if you do not know how.

4. Only ONE picture per member per contest.

5. At the end of the contest period, I will open a poll and every PF member can vote for the picture they like best.

6. Note that in case we have a large number of entries, I will do the polling in more than one threads. If that's the case, you can vote in each of the polling threads. The photos will be assigned in the the polling threads in the order they were submitted.

7. These pictures must be something that YOU TOOK, not something taken off someone else's photo albums or taken by someone else. I have no way of checking if you did this, so we'll go by the honor system.

New contest rule
8. You can use a picture only once. Once it is used in a contest, it cannot be reused in another contest.

Zz.
 
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Is it ok to use a flash?
 
http://personalpages.manchester.ac.uk/student/E.Smith-2/PICT0040_1.JPG

Will this do for starters?

[ZapperZ: I corrected your IMG tag]

Edit: Thanks Zz! Had forgotten how to do that!
 
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larkspur said:
Is it ok to use a flash?

Yes, use of flash is permitted.

Zz.
 
Does twilight (dusk/dawn) count as night ?
 
Alien cat lands at Christmas

This is the only nighttime pictue I have.

george26rl.jpg


"look mom, someone plugged the cat in too"
 
Gokul43201 said:
Does twilight (dusk/dawn) count as night ?

Sure, why not. But if it is not that different than daylight, then the voting members might turn on you!

:)

Zz.
 
http://img479.imageshack.us/img479/4058/motel8dm.jpg
 
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You can tell I'm trying to get Zz's vote on this one. :biggrin:

http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/9461/pfbumpinthenight2rg.jpg

(And this one was taken without a tripod! :biggrin: Does that get me any special points?)
 
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  • #10
That is an awesome pic Moonbear! I tried to take a pic but it didnt work out. My camera has a nightscene function but whenever I try to use it the pic ends up to blurry to see, and without it the picture is way to dark. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I'll try again tomorrow night.
 
  • #11
Hm, I'm going to have to enter this one. Does a scanned version of an actual picture count, or does it have to be digital...?
 
  • #12
ZapperZ said:
1. Any digital photo or digitally-scanned photo relevant to the theme will be accepted within the contest period. In case there's a grey area, or you're not sure if the picture is suitable, check with me first.
message message
 
  • #13
ToxicBug said:
message message

Got to love the way I read it but don't pay attention.

Sorry.
 
  • #14
Evo, is that Foofer?

My mom's neighbors puts those same reindeer out on their lawn at Christmas time. The neighbors get irritated because Mom's cat attacks them and knocks them over. I think he gets delusional and thinks he is a wild cat stalking caribou.
 
  • #15
Moonbear's is the awesome1!

I took this picture while exploring the nuclear fallout shelters of Guam last spring. Complete darkness, I had to use the camera's "night vision" to walk around through the caves.
http://www.mwnx.net/users/mac/PF%20photo%20contest/Fallout.jpg
 
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  • #16
New Years Eve - Dam

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/3795/flare0hf.jpg
 
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  • #17
Moonbear said:
You can tell I'm trying to get Zz's vote on this one. :biggrin:

http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/9461/pfbumpinthenight2rg.jpg

(And this one was taken without a tripod! :biggrin: Does that get me any special points?)

Drat! You beat me to it! I was going to enter my own picture on the same thing! Now I have to find something else.

:)

Zz.
 
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  • #18
ZapperZ said:
Drat! You beat me to it! I was going to enter my own picture on the same thing! Now I have to find something else.
Have you got one with the castle on fire?

:-p :biggrin: :wink:
 
  • #19
J77 said:
Have you got one with the castle on fire?

:-p :biggrin: :wink:

I might... but I'm not going with the castle route anymore.

Zz.
 
  • #20
moon2.jpg

The rising moon. I didn't have a tripod for this shot, and it was bloody hard to keep the camera still enough for a long exposure.
 
  • #21
Math Is Hard said:
Evo, is that Foofer?

My mom's neighbors puts those same reindeer out on their lawn at Christmas time. The neighbors get irritated because Mom's cat attacks them and knocks them over. I think he gets delusional and thinks he is a wild cat stalking caribou.
No, that's a stray cat named George.
 
  • #22
matthyaouw said:
moon2.jpg

The rising moon. I didn't have a tripod for this shot, and it was bloody hard to keep the camera still enough for a long exposure.
Ooooh, I like that. :approve:
 
  • #23
scorpa said:
That is an awesome pic Moonbear! I tried to take a pic but it didnt work out. My camera has a nightscene function but whenever I try to use it the pic ends up to blurry to see, and without it the picture is way to dark. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I'll try again tomorrow night.

Typically, the "night" function on most automatic camera means that it has a longer exposure. It means that the camera must be very steady when you're using such a function. Our hands are not that good (some people even try to hold their breath when they snap such pictures).

My advice would be to use a tripod or place your camera on a solid object. You still need to touch the camera to snap the picture and this can still cause some movement. However, you can overcome that by putting your camera on a slight timer delay (such as 2 or 3 seconds). Then your camera won't have such vibrations by the time it is actually snapping the picture.

On most camera, to get the best nighshot picture that has some lighting, use the manual exposure with ISO 50 or 100, and no flash. Those tend to work well for most simple automatic camera.

Zz.
 
  • #24
ZapperZ said:
Typically, the "night" function on most automatic camera means that it has a longer exposure. It means that the camera must be very steady when you're using such a function. Our hands are not that good (some people even try to hold their breath when they snap such pictures).

My advice would be to use a tripod or place your camera on a solid object. You still need to touch the camera to snap the picture and this can still cause some movement. However, you can overcome that by putting your camera on a slight timer delay (such as 2 or 3 seconds). Then your camera won't have such vibrations by the time it is actually snapping the picture.

On most camera, to get the best nighshot picture that has some lighting, use the manual exposure with ISO 50 or 100, and no flash. Those tend to work well for most simple automatic camera.

Zz.

Thanks I'll try that. When I took the picture above I set the camera on the rail of the bridge and tried to keep it steady on the rail and it worked better than my other attempts but still obviously not that well. I'll try the delay timer thing if I can figure it out haha.

If I manage to get a better pic can I delete the one from my above post and replace it with the better version?
 
  • #25
scorpa said:
If I manage to get a better pic can I delete the one from my above post and replace it with the better version?

Sure, we'll allow that for now. But if everyone starts doing that, we may have to modify our rules to not allow that. We're still trying to work out any kink out of this contest.

Zz.
 
  • #26
I made a query about a certain photo that was taken by "swerve" (?) a couple of days ago, and I'm not able to find the location or the picture, nor can I remember the theme, it was a pic of a river upon sunset. If someone could help me to find the pic and perhaps tell me of the location on which it was taken, I would appreciate it.
 
  • #27
GCT said:
I made a query about a certain photo that was taken by "swerve" (?) a couple of days ago, and I'm not able to find the location or the picture, nor can I remember the theme, it was a pic of a river upon sunset. If someone could help me to find the pic and perhaps tell me of the location on which it was taken, I would appreciate it.

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=120605&highlight=Photo+Contest", perhaps?
 
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  • #28
Yeah, that's it, thanks. What's the location of each of these places, is there list of locations to associate the pictures with?
 
  • #29
Alright, I'll play:

http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/5033/sleepscreen19uq.jpg
 
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  • #30
ToxicBug, great pic :approve:
 

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