Beauty of Light

Night photography can produce some really fantastic images. But at the same time can be very challenging to a photographer without a lot of experience. Here I wanted to discuss a few tips that can make your night photography exploration a little more successful.

What you will need for Night Photography:

1. Camera with manual shooting mode
2. Tripod or sturdy surface to support the camera
3. Remote or wired shutter release (optional but not required)

Technical Knowledge Required for Night Photography:

• Working knowledge of manual shooting modes
• Understanding of camera aperture (f-stop)
• Understanding of shutter speed (exposure time)
• Understanding of in-camera light metering

Getting Started

To get started you need to pre-determine the shot you want to take and figure out how much motion is in the shot. I point this out because night photography requires a longer exposure, which results in blurs in the image from subject movement and/or camera movement.

This motion blur is very common in photos of traffic, which are seen all over the place. This is caused by the camera’s shutter opening when a car is in one place, and remaining open while the car moves many feet down the road before the shutter closes. The camera sensor captured the lights from the vehicle, or vehicles, the entire time the shutter was open therefore creating a stream of light in the path of the car. This result can be very interesting when executed properly, and can be a lot of fun for photographers to experiment with.

Setting Up for Night Photography

Once you have decided on the shot you want, set up the tripod in a sturdy place to assure that the camera can finish the exposure without shifting or being bumped accidentally. If you don’t have a tripod yet you can use a table, or any flat sturdy surface to set the camera for the shot.

Now, with the shot set up you will need to find the right exposure for the shot. Since we are doing a long exposure, we know we would like to shoot for at least a full second (I prefer to shoot between 5 and 30 seconds). Using the in camera light meter, do a few readings to determine an exposure zone. The key is to expose long enough to make the dark areas slightly visible without completely blowing out the brighter lights in the photograph.

Experimenting with the Long Exposure Night Shot

When you have an exposure setting in mind go ahead and shoot a few shots. Digital cameras come in handy with long exposure night photography because we can cheat with the image review before moving on. So take a look at the image preview and adjust the exposure up or down accordingly until you know you have a few images to choose from during post processing. Don’t be afraid to take 20-30 shots with different exposures/f-stops to compare later. You’re already out there late at night, in the cold, so you better make the best of it.

I always find it interesting to adjust the f-stop (aperture) because you can really get a different feel in the depth of the photo. You can also use the aperture to allow for longer or shorter exposure to fit the photo you are looking for.

Things to remember when shooting night photography:

• Remember that as the f-stop number goes up, the shutter speed has to come down to compensate
• Remember that in-camera metering is not 100% accurate; you will need to make educated adjustments based on the setting and experiment with the exposure until you are happy
• Focus is difficult at night; you may have to manual focus on an object in the shot if lighting is too low for the autofocus to work properly
• Any camera movement will cause fuzziness in the image; be sure the camera is secured to the tripod and that no contact is made until the exposure is completed

jeff@beauty-of-light.com