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Photography Question 

Brooke Mills 		 

Aperture in relation to bulb setting


I would like to try my hand at using the "bulb" shutter speed on my camera for a sunset/evening shot. The automatic aperture setting on my camera can't be used on "b" setting. Any suggestions for an aperture setting?? Still pretty new to this!


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June 18, 2006

 

Bob Chance 		  Hi Brooke:

As you know, in the 'BULB' mode, the shutter will remain open for as long as the shutter button is depressed. Given that fact that most exposures occur within a fraction of a second, I can't understand why you would want to use a bulb exposure for a sunset? You couldn't possibly be fast enough with your finger to obtain the correct exposure under those conditions.
Most people would use bulb under extreme conditions, or for an intended special effect, such as motion blur with a flash firing off the second shutter curtain. Or other reasons.
For your evening/sunset pictures, I would simply let the camera meter the scene and then underexpose the shot by one to two stops. The more you underexpose, the more dramatic the sunset will appear.
If you do wish to try BULB, I would stop the lens down as far as it will go.
I don't know what method you would use to time your exposures in that way, but even with the best of stop watches and a cable or remote release, no two exposures are going to be exactly the same. No ones reflexes are that good.
Anyhow, that's the best advice I can give. Hopefully someone else will respond who has actually had experience in using BULB for this type of situation. Good luck.


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June 18, 2006

 

BetterPhoto Member 		 
 
 
I usually only use the bulb setting for night photography and some special effects shots. To use the bulb setting, you need a tripod and cable release or remote trigger. I use a spot meter when using bulb in an unfamiliar setting. For lightnening and fireworks, I use apertures of f-8-f-11 and capture a few bursts before closing the shutter.


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June 18, 2006

 

Bob Chance 		 
 
 
An excellent example Mark. Both fireworks and lightning. However, bulb isn't neccessary for either. And neither is a tripod as the included shot shows.


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June 18, 2006

 

Brooke Mills 		  Many thanks for your responses gentlemen. I guess I was trying to achieve was something I heard of ong ago of a man leaving his lense open long enough to catch the lingering colours of sunset in addition to the the city lights ( which was at alater time)...Maybe he used two exposures?? Maybe I misunderstood ( the more likely of the two!).
Anyhoo, might try for a nice sunset shot tonight....And then later a shot of the city lights. Thanks heaps for your answers, as you can probably tell I am still a newcomer to the world of photography.
Cheers!


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June 18, 2006

 

Andrew Laverghetta 		  possibly the sun had already set? But a big portion of it could depend on what kind of camera you're using. If you're using an electronic slr then your shutter speed can probably go up to 30 seconds or so. If you're using a mechanical slr like the canon AE-1 or similar, the camera itself MIGHT only go up to 2 seconds. In that case you would need to use bulb if you stopped down far enough, I assume, for more depth of field or light trails from cars or such.


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June 19, 2006

 

BetterPhoto Member 		  Minolta X700. Thank you Andrew. As for 1?6 second on a lightening shot, it's luck on the capture.


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June 19, 2006

 

BetterPhoto Member 		 
 
 
I've worked many lightening shots. My SLR is manual with a max shutter speed of one sec.


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June 19, 2006

 

Bob Chance 		  You're absolutely right Mark.

And I was lucky several times that night. All shots were hand held and the longest exposure was 1/4 sec.


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June 20, 2006

 
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