Going to Vegas Strip to shoot in Black and White (monochrome), need tips please

[ilzho]

Hello:

I am heading to Vegas for work for a few days (yes, I know, terrible right?, haha)

Even though I have been to Vegas before this will be my first time with my camera equipment as I have only been taking pictures for a year.

Someone suggested that at night I take black and white photos.

I have never done this and am seeking some tips.

I will have my 7d mark II and 2 lenses.

I always shoot in RAW, day or night, doesn't matter, I have lightroom to adjust things later.

I noticed on my camera I have under picture style monochrome. I have never used this before.

So should I use this feature for black and white photography or just continue to shoot in standard picture mode and RAW and then convert the color picture to Black and white later in lightroom?

I have seen Vegas strip pictures of casinos and fountains in blk and white at night and they look fantastic.

I will also take any advice as to where to go to take pictures on the strip.

I plan to go to the Eiffel tower before sunset to try to capture some nice pictures, but again never have been up there.

I am a morning person so I will be up before sunrise and wander around as well.

I will take pictures of the venetian interior (not casino area) and some others as they have some cool interiors.

So any advice or tips is always appreciated.

Thank you,

David

[ilzho]

Thanks everyone.

I went into venetian, caesars, etc... nice things to take pics of, security didn't seem to mind as long as you stay away from the customers and casino area.

I do shoot in RAW and I will attempt to correct each one before merging into a pano.

[Waddizzle]

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@ilzho wrote:

Here's a pano I took this morning. 

Here's a good illustration on when doing pano's to make sure your camera is not in auto white balance. I shot it in M, but I left my WB to AUTO, hence the difference in the sky colors. I've tried brushes, gradient filters, can't get it right, haha....

Tomorrow morning, I'll do better.

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Number One rule when shooting panoramas, most especially those with the sky in them, is to set everything manually, including WB.  You want every shot to have the identical exposure.  

You can always adjust WB on every frame in post with RAW files.  But, I still wonder if WB affects exposure metering.  

TIP:  The next time you capture a series of shots for a pano, try rolling the camera to portrait mode.  Let the shots overlap by 1/3.

[ilzho]

Yeah, I must be doing something wrong. I did everything you mentioned.
I took 7 pics for this pano, overlapped and used a gradient filter with identical specs and still the same.
This is really my first pano, so I shouldn't get my hopes up.
Just continue to shoot and learn.
Thanks everyone. I'm back home now, time to go through the pictures and process the cool ones. I'll post a few when I'm done.
If you've been told Vegas, my oicscare probably the same as other beginners.

[Waddizzle]

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@ilzho wrote:
Yeah, I must be doing something wrong. I did everything you mentioned.
I took 7 pics for this pano, overlapped and used a gradient filter with identical specs and still the same.
This is really my first pano, so I shouldn't get my hopes up.
Just continue to shoot and learn.
Thanks everyone. I'm back home now, time to go through the pictures and process the cool ones. I'll post a few when I'm done.
If you've been told Vegas, my oicscare probably the same as other beginners.

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I don't see anything that in your pano photo that jumps out at me as "wrong".  The sky is typically a gradient, which is why you need to use identical exposure settings for all of the shots.  Using identical exposures for night shots will show you why this is the correct approach.  You do not want any setting to be set for "AUTO" setting by the camera.

Even thought WB can be adjusted in post for RAW files, some pano software converts the individual shots to JPEGs, and processes JPEGs, not RAW files, to produce the JPEG output file.  This is why WB can become critical to panos with a lot of sky in them.  Canon's DPP software is a textbook example of using JPEGs to produce panos.

[TTMartin]

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@ilzho wrote:
Yeah, I must be doing something wrong. I did everything you mentioned.
I took 7 pics for this pano, overlapped and used a gradient filter with identical specs and still the same.
This is really my first pano, so I shouldn't get my hopes up.
Just continue to shoot and learn.
Thanks everyone. I'm back home now, time to go through the pictures and process the cool ones. I'll post a few when I'm done.
If you've been told Vegas, my oicscare probably the same as other beginners.

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Are you shooting with a circular polarizing filter on the camera? 

You should not be.

[ilzho]

no, just a canon uv filter.

[ilzho]

https://flic.kr/s/aHskWUzDiW

Here is a link to my pictures I took in Vegas.

When I get more time I will process some more in Black/White.

I played with lens flare and reflections. Took early morning and late at night pictures.

Thank you/Cheers,

David

[RobertTheFat]

I knew there was a reason I chose not to live in Las Vegas.

[pris796]

David,

You got some great shots, good job.

pris796

[RobertTheFat]

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@pris796 wrote:

David,

You got some great shots, good job.

pris796

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Yes. Whether you like Las Vegas or you don't (I don't), a photographer's responsibility is to show us what's there. And David did that with technical skill and artistic insight. A good job indeed.