Night time photos----why do mine suck?

[Chern_889]

Washed the car up all nicely, but didnt get to snap any pics before dark, and its supposed rain for the next 3 days. So i went out and tried to take some night pics.
Ive seen some really nice nightime pictures here on stangnet, and i was hoping mine would be half assed, but didnt turn out the way i wanted. Highly possible that my camera sucks ass for nightime, and i realize now i could have pulled under the light more, but way to lazy to go out an try again. Anyone have any tips for future?
I used a run-of-the-mill panasonic 6.0megapixel digi cam

Here are the best ones, still really dark though

 

[Adam95GT]

Crap camera probably thats y mine suck:

 

[Killercanary]

What settings does the camera have and which one did you use?

 

[Chern_889]

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-TZ2
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ2 & DMC-TZ3: Digital Photography Review

EDIT: I didnt even try the damn Night mode, so dumb

 

[94gtfreak]

Sometimes it depends on the area lighting. For example if you have a high quality camera you can take pix in a darker area. A lower quality camera, you may need a lil brighter setting, such as a parking lot or garage.

But still those pix weren't bad. Car looks good!

 

[Killercanary]

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-TZ2
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ2 & DMC-TZ3: Digital Photography Review

EDIT: I didnt even try the damn Night mode, so dumb

LOL! That will help a lot! Just make sure the camera is on a tripod or you have some other method of ensuring that it doesn't move at all when taking the picture. Even just pushing the shutter button can cause shake and "ghosting" so its sometimes better to use the timer delay if the camera has one to ensure you don't move the camera when pushing the button.

 

[ProKiller]

listen to paul, he's the camera nut around here!

 

[Killercanary]

Thanks!

 

[HankyGT]

Yeah, using the night mode on a tripod, with the flash off, and using the timer gives decent results even on my 'crappy' camera.

...these are hellaciously old pics btw haha

 

[Adam95GT]

Didnt think to use the timer! good call!

 

[Chern_889]

Thanks for the tips guys. There wasnt very much light to work with at the spot i took those pics, just one wall mounted orange dim light. I need to find myself a big overhead lamp in a parking lot somewhere and try again

 

[Zero Signal]

Yeah by the time you get the exposure right with that dim light, you're going to get a noisy shot. Besides, you want multiple points of light anyway, or at least a second light source from the rear somewhere. Otherwise you lose the shape of the car into the background.