Michael_Orme
newbie
Reged: 18/07/2006
Posts: 5
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I like taking photos at night, using long exposures 30seconds to 30 mins. My high street developer's machine simply reject all my photos as duds, I have used York Photo years ago, and they were very good with my "difficult", prints. Any idea where I can get my photos developed? I cannot do colour myself, and I prefer matt finish.
Mike. Rhyl UK.
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Fen
BAD WOLF
Reged: 12/03/2002
Posts: 21375
Loc: London'ish
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Would help if you said what part of the country/world you're in!
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Fen .......... My Galleries - My Blog - My Flickr
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Woolliscroft
veteran
Reged: 23/08/2005
Posts: 1253
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I do most of my night stuff on B&W and process them myself, but I did a load of colour pictures of our town's Christmas lights in December and our local Boots did a perfectly good job with them.
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David.
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Mojo_66
Rain Kat
Reged: 25/05/2006
Posts: 3423
Loc: Lancs
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Quote:
Would help if you said what part of the country/world you're in!
Despite the best efforts of Scouse colonialists I believe Rhyl's still part of North Wales. 
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/mojo_black/
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Mojo_66
Rain Kat
Reged: 25/05/2006
Posts: 3423
Loc: Lancs
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If you're doing lots of long exposures you might be better off using slide film, which isn't at the mercy of High Street lab's "standardised" set ups. Incidently, is there detail in the negs? It may be that they're underexposed.
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/mojo_black/
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Alex1994
addict
Reged: 17/10/2006
Posts: 448
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This has some basic settings for low-light photography and may be of help:
http://uk.geocities.com/the_charnwood_imaging_group/night_exposure_guide.html
So far as processing is concerned, I would agree that slide film is better. Otherwise I would check through the processors in AP and elsewhere, and ask them how they handle non-standard exposures.
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hhmr
Reged: 21/04/2005
Posts: 311
Loc: London
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Quote:
........I like taking photos at night, using long exposures 30seconds to 30 mins. My high street developer's machine simply reject all my photos as duds, I have used York Photo years ago, and they were very good with my "difficult", prints. Any idea where I can get my photos developed? I cannot do colour myself, and I prefer matt finish.........
Hello Mike,
You don't say what sort of film you have been using (or even whether it's colour or monochrome), what sort of apertures you decided on, what sort of metering you use and whether you are interested in well lit town centres or darker scenes elsewhere. While I'm sure the people advocating colour reversal material are getting the results they want with it, you might well find both colour and monochrome negative film is easier to use because it has a greater latitude. It will probably be cheaper too.
If you look in my galleries below you will find a fair number of night time images in London and elsewhere. I didn't need more than three or four seconds for any of the shots, but you'll be able to see whether the sort of subjects that interest me are at all like those you are attempting. I've found high street processing facilities a bit variable in performance but had no difficulty finding ones that suited me. As I scan my negatives and slides at home then edit them on the computer before printing, I normally go to a high street mini-lab or my local Tesco with my C41 films for deveoping only. Why not experiment with exposures, then just get the film or films developed (99p for C41 at Tesco) and have a good look before deciding what to do next?
Henry
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Woolliscroft
veteran
Reged: 23/08/2005
Posts: 1253
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Quote:
While I'm sure the people advocating colour reversal material are getting the results they want with it, you might well find both colour and monochrome negative film is easier to use because it has a greater latitude.
I agree. Neg film is a lot more forgiving and you need that with this sort of photography where you might face reciprocity failure mixed with very start contrasts, so that exposure tends to be distictly hit and miss. Slide film has to be bang on. Neg can be at least a stop under to 2+ stops over exposed and still be usable. With slide you will need to bracket like crazy.
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David.
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Alex1994
addict
Reged: 17/10/2006
Posts: 448
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Ah yes, reciprocity failure!
There was a very good cut-out 'nighttime exposure calculator' printed many years ago in the long-defunct magazine SLR Camera. Basically you dialled in the ISO (or ASA as it was then), and then turned it to whatever type of scene you were photographing, and it would give you combinations of shutter speed & aperture. For long exposures, it also had suggested increases to compensate for reciprocity failure.
It worked really well, as I used to shoot all colour on slide film, and hardly any bracketing was required.
I'm sure there must be similar information on the web... 
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hhmr
Reged: 21/04/2005
Posts: 311
Loc: London
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Quote:
Ah yes, reciprocity failure!.....There was a very good cut-out 'nighttime exposure calculator' printed many years ago...............It worked really well, as I used to shoot all colour on slide film, and hardly any bracketing was required..........I'm sure there must be similar information on the web... )
Films differ a bit. The first place to look is each manufacturer's website, though some are more helpful than others. Enjoyable night time pictures aren't necessarily all that 'realistic', so scientific accuracy is only part of the story. Doing lots of night photography and looking carefully at the results seems to me to be the best way of improving.
Henry
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Simon E.
Reged: 16/01/2001
Posts: 718
Loc: Shropshire, England
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Try to get hold of Lee Frost's book (I think it's called Night and Low Light Photography). My library had a copy that was most informative.
Cambrian Photgraphic in Colwyn Bay do d&p, their E-6 slide processing is apparently very good. Wherever you get it done, make sure your exposures are right first, that you are sure you are producing good negatives to print from.
Simon.
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Abiphoto
newbie
Reged: 27/02/2007
Posts: 9
Loc: Cornwall, UK
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simple, just TELL the people to print ALL images. it is what works for me. i work with night time alot, and have not had much problem when i tell them to print them all even if they THINK they are crap.
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www.abigailchilton.co.uk
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Per
old hand
Reged: 28/11/2005
Posts: 720
Loc: UK Berkshire
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Well, I tried star trails recently (when I was on the Gower) and got an excellent 1 hour exposure on Negative film.
In fact I was amazed by how well the slow (Reala) film captured star colour, from Red through Yellow to pale and deep blue, allowing an amateur astronomer friend to name Rigel, Betelgeuse etc immediately by colour.
The 12x8 prints were done by DLAB7, and they offer to redo any prints that you're not happy with.
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There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and after
that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second.
Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946)
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Matt_Hunt
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 07/11/2005
Posts: 2297
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Quote:
simple, just TELL the people to print ALL images. it is what works for me. i work with night time alot, and have not had much problem when i tell them to print them all even if they THINK they are crap.
I had some night pictures developed at Snappy Snaps, I just asked them process and print 'as is' and not to correct anything. that worked OK.
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/reactivefilm/
My Blog
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AJUK
Reged: 22/03/2005
Posts: 2698
Loc: UK
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I never had a problem getting photos printed my lab (ASDA). They will only not print a neg if it is truly unprintable, are you sure that your not somehow producing unprintable negs?
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Al
[Insert clever comment here]
Edited by ajuk (22/03/2007 00:51)
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