How to Shoot night scenes or decorative lighting with Cyber-shot?

This introduces techniques for taking beautiful shots of night scenes. Night scenes may include streets light by streetlamps and gorgeous bright lighting. Follow the hints below to capture photographs of beautiful night scenes and gorgeous decorative lighting.

Have you had problems like these before?

Some common problems in using auto mode for photographing night scenes and decorative lighting are lots of noise in photographs and camera shake due to slow shutter speeds. The photographs below illustrate those problems.

[1] Lots of noise
[2] Camera shake

Superior Auto

Cyber-shot cameras feature the Image (Superior Auto) shooting mode to minimize such problems. With this mode, the camera automatically recognizes low-light situations such as night scenes and decorative lighting and combines up to six continuous shots to create a single clear photograph.

Setting of SCN (Scene Selection)

Another way to shoot night scenes and decorative lighting in addition to with Superior Auto is to use "Hand-held Twilight," "Night Portrait," or "Night Scene" modes in SCN (Scene Selection).

Select this to shoot night scenes without using a tripod.

With this setting, the camera takes up to six continuous shots each time the shutter button is pressed. The shots are combined to create a single photograph.

Taking continuous shots reduces camera shake, and combining the shots allows for a clear photograph with less noise.

When shooting, keep the camera pointed at the subject unit "Processing..." is displayed.

Hand-held Twilight

Select this to shoot photographs of people with scenery in the background using a tripod.

This makes everything from the person's expression to the night scene in the background come out clear.

NOTE: Camera shake may occur when pressing the shutter button, even when using a tripod. Set Self-Timer to 2sec to shoot without blurring.

Night Portrait

Select this to shoot clear night scenes using a tripod.

This sets a low ISO sensitivity to reduce noise, and it uses a slow shutter speed to brighten the image.

NOTE: Camera shake may occur when pressing the shutter button, even when using a tripod. Set Self-Timer to 2sec to shoot without blurring.

Night Scene

How to Shoot landscapes and flowers with Cyber-shot ?

This introduces techniques for taking shots of nature scenes such as spring greenery, autumn leaves, and flowers.

Camera settings:
Switch the SteadyShot setting to On.

NOTE:

Shooting modes to use:

Choosing the composition:

Lighting direction:

Be aware of the position of the sun when shooting landscapes (scenery). The impression the photograph portrays will differ depending on how light strikes the subject (direct light, side light, backlight).

[1] Shooting with direct light
[2] Shooting with side light
[3] Shooting with backlight

NOTE:

Photographing from a different viewpoint:

When photographing flowers by the roadside, do you often end up shooting from above like when trying to capture the place in the red box below?

Photos from above are not bad, but trying something new such as shooting close up or changing the angle you shoot from will give you shots like never before.

Photographing with different camera settings:

Blurring the background:

Using the Background Defocus function adds more blur to the background.

NOTE: Some models are not equipped with the Background Defocus function.

Changing the white balance lets you shoot with different color tones. You cannot change the white balance in shooting modes such as Scene Selection or Intelligent Auto, so switch the shooting mode to P (Program Auto).