So after tonight, I definitely need help/advice for taking night photos. My Halloween pictures were all failures!! We are going to our local fair this weekend and I'd like to be able to take some decent shots of the lights and all. I don't like to shoot in the "night time" mode. I usually just flip between av/tv/manual, change up a few settings and hope for the best. That's why my pictures don't turn out. I know a tripod is good, I have one but don't want to lug it around for hours!! Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated!!!!
Oh no. Sorry your shots didn't work out. If you don't want to haul your tripod around, your other option is to boost up your ISO and shoot wide open. Google "night photography tips." There is lots of helpful information out there.
Amanda, I do a bit of night photography, so I understand the struggle. There are some steps I'd suggest trying. If you can, try these tonight before going to your fair!
1. Set your ISO to 3200. You're going to get more noise out of it, but unfortunately, that's the price for hand-held nite. (I do street photography, so a tripod for me is out of the question.) Of course, the extra noise can add to the ambiance!
2. Set your camera to Aperture preferred mode. Night lighting in a fair or other dynamic scene like that is highly variable, so unless you're really fantastic with exposures, you don't want to play around with manual here.
3. Set your aperture to the widest available on your lens. I'm not sure what lens you're using, but you want it wide open. If it goes as low as f/2.8, great. If not, set the ratio to the smallest number your lens can handle.
4. The challenge if you plan to shoot in color is setting the white balance. While Auto White Balance *may* get lucky, it typically does not for night time street shooting. Personally, I shoot RAW so I can adjust it manually after the fact. That's always my recommendation, but if you're not comfortable shooting RAW then it's likely your setting will be either Tungsten or Fluorescent. Unfortunately, it's hard to know ahead of time! Take a test photo when you get there, look at the results, and adjust it appropriately. It's the white balance that's going to hurt most color photos at night.
5. The next little secret is "exposure compensation." The chances of your light meter getting the exposure spot-on are pretty slim, mainly because of how light meter's work. You typically have to adjust the exposure your meter wants to use by as much as 2 stops in either direction. Now, this may be counter-intuitive, but remember, your meter is being fooled and it overcompensates. If the area being photographed is very dark, your meter will overexpose the image - you need to adjust the exposure by up to 2 stops to make it DARKER, not lighter! Conversely, if the area is very bright, your meter will underexpose it, so you need to adjust by 2 stops to make it LIGHTER! If you're familiar with the little exposure bar you see at the bottom of your viewscreen when composing a shot, you want to move the arrow to the left to make it darker; move the arrow to the right to make it lighter. Again, shooting in RAW helps since you can make a lot of exposure adjustments after the fact.
Ron is right. I also do night photography and have found what he says to be true.
If you don't want to use a tripod, you need to establish what your personal limit is for "camera shake" - how long you can hold the camera still at a low exposure/wide aperture before your photos go blurred. I've found that if I go below 1/4, to, say 0.2", this is where it kicks in for me and where a tripod needs to be used to get a clear picture, but everybody is different.
I usually shoot in manual and I agree that tungsten and fluorescent are the best WB options. I also recommend a low-light lens if you're going to get into this area: the standard kit lens of 18-55 can sometimes be persuaded to go as low as a 3.5 aperture but not always. I tend to stick at an ISO of 1600 as 3200 will do the job, but can produce too much noise. I've never found it necessary to use a flash yet - it just bleaches photos and can strip them of the atmosphere you're trying to capture.
Night photography is actually one of my favourites - it can be very rewarding. Don't give up. Go out and practise, get used to what your camera will (and won't) do, and have fun.
I take loads of night photos and have learned I really love them because they are much more dramatic than day photos. I use a bridge camera, which is a step up from a point-and-shoot.
Some settings work better than others depending on what light is available. Shooting the moon is different than shooting Christmas lights. I use a tripod when I'm shooting the moon but not for most other photos. Holding the camera without a tripod when it is zoomed in is virtually impossible. I do hold myself as steady as possible otherwise. I take a breath and then shoot to eliminate as much movement as possible. Sometimes it doesn't work but then I try to use the movement to my advantage. Never, never, never use the flash. It only brightens the foreground and does nothing good for night photos.
I suggest you just play with your camera at night or in the dark. Try the different settings and don't forget the exposure compensation can really make a huge difference.
Another thing to consider is post editing. Working with the contrast and color saturation can eliminate the ambient light around the light source. Again, just play around with editing to see what it can do.
Overall, taking night photos anytime from twilight to sunrise opens opportunities for some beautiful images. It's just a matter of learning what your camera can do in the different light and what you can do with post editing.
Best to set your ISO up. 1600 or so. That's four stops up from the "standard" 100, so should give you a lot more options for shutter and aperture. Your Canon should handle the digital noise fine, but always consider some noise mitigation in Photoshop, ACR, Nik or something similar. Go for a wide aperture and don't be lazy and "AUTO" expose. If you must, the "scene" night mode might be OK, but you will have no control over any significant parameter.
Image Stabilized lenses should help you shoot at slower shutter speeds than "normal." 1/20 sec would work fine with modern lenses so equipped. Tripods are fine for static shots, but for moving subjects you would need to hand hold. Try to avoid flashes (another problem completely) unless you have something more sophisticated than the on-camera flash especially if shooting people. Lots of good detailed advice above.
@frankhymus There is a very good - but sadly, not free - noise reduction application called "Neat Image" that works both as a plug-in and as a stand-alone product. It does a great job with high ISO shots.
@kannafoot Yes, I have heard about it, thanks! I find Camera Raw 8.1 from Adobe is excellent as well, improvements all the time with each release, and convenient with all the noise reduction and sharpening parameters on one slider panel. The selective reduction tools in the adjustment brush and graduated filter tools work nicely too.
@froggie0628 Be sure to post your results, especially if you're not happy with them. Being able to see the image (and the EXIF) really helps improve the recommendations being offered.
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1. Set your ISO to 3200. You're going to get more noise out of it, but unfortunately, that's the price for hand-held nite. (I do street photography, so a tripod for me is out of the question.) Of course, the extra noise can add to the ambiance!
2. Set your camera to Aperture preferred mode. Night lighting in a fair or other dynamic scene like that is highly variable, so unless you're really fantastic with exposures, you don't want to play around with manual here.
3. Set your aperture to the widest available on your lens. I'm not sure what lens you're using, but you want it wide open. If it goes as low as f/2.8, great. If not, set the ratio to the smallest number your lens can handle.
4. The challenge if you plan to shoot in color is setting the white balance. While Auto White Balance *may* get lucky, it typically does not for night time street shooting. Personally, I shoot RAW so I can adjust it manually after the fact. That's always my recommendation, but if you're not comfortable shooting RAW then it's likely your setting will be either Tungsten or Fluorescent. Unfortunately, it's hard to know ahead of time! Take a test photo when you get there, look at the results, and adjust it appropriately. It's the white balance that's going to hurt most color photos at night.
5. The next little secret is "exposure compensation." The chances of your light meter getting the exposure spot-on are pretty slim, mainly because of how light meter's work. You typically have to adjust the exposure your meter wants to use by as much as 2 stops in either direction. Now, this may be counter-intuitive, but remember, your meter is being fooled and it overcompensates. If the area being photographed is very dark, your meter will overexpose the image - you need to adjust the exposure by up to 2 stops to make it DARKER, not lighter! Conversely, if the area is very bright, your meter will underexpose it, so you need to adjust by 2 stops to make it LIGHTER! If you're familiar with the little exposure bar you see at the bottom of your viewscreen when composing a shot, you want to move the arrow to the left to make it darker; move the arrow to the right to make it lighter. Again, shooting in RAW helps since you can make a lot of exposure adjustments after the fact.
Here are some night photos as examples. One's in color, and the others are in b&w. (Personally, I prefer b&w for most subjects, so I typically shoot with that in mind.) These were all shot in RAW using ISO 3200, f/2.2, white balance adjusted in post processing, and the shutter varied from 1/500 to 1/1000 depending on the scene.
http://kannafoot.smugmug.com/Miscellaneous/Street-Photography/i-77rK5WL/0/XL/2013%2010%2026_0075%20copy-XL.jpg
http://kannafoot.smugmug.com/Miscellaneous/Street-Photography/i-Mq3LL36/0/XL/2013%2010%2026_0062%20copy-XL.jpg
http://kannafoot.smugmug.com/Miscellaneous/Street-Photography/i-FB7CVMh/0/XL/2013%2010%2026_0039%20copy-XL.jpg
http://kannafoot.smugmug.com/Miscellaneous/Street-Photography/i-w8Zb8Mk/0/XL/2013%2010%2026_0029%202%20copy-XL.jpg
Hope this helps! Definitely give it a try before you go to the fair, though.
If you don't want to use a tripod, you need to establish what your personal limit is for "camera shake" - how long you can hold the camera still at a low exposure/wide aperture before your photos go blurred. I've found that if I go below 1/4, to, say 0.2", this is where it kicks in for me and where a tripod needs to be used to get a clear picture, but everybody is different.
I usually shoot in manual and I agree that tungsten and fluorescent are the best WB options. I also recommend a low-light lens if you're going to get into this area: the standard kit lens of 18-55 can sometimes be persuaded to go as low as a 3.5 aperture but not always. I tend to stick at an ISO of 1600 as 3200 will do the job, but can produce too much noise. I've never found it necessary to use a flash yet - it just bleaches photos and can strip them of the atmosphere you're trying to capture.
Night photography is actually one of my favourites - it can be very rewarding. Don't give up. Go out and practise, get used to what your camera will (and won't) do, and have fun.
Some settings work better than others depending on what light is available. Shooting the moon is different than shooting Christmas lights. I use a tripod when I'm shooting the moon but not for most other photos. Holding the camera without a tripod when it is zoomed in is virtually impossible. I do hold myself as steady as possible otherwise. I take a breath and then shoot to eliminate as much movement as possible. Sometimes it doesn't work but then I try to use the movement to my advantage. Never, never, never use the flash. It only brightens the foreground and does nothing good for night photos.
I suggest you just play with your camera at night or in the dark. Try the different settings and don't forget the exposure compensation can really make a huge difference.
Another thing to consider is post editing. Working with the contrast and color saturation can eliminate the ambient light around the light source. Again, just play around with editing to see what it can do.
Overall, taking night photos anytime from twilight to sunrise opens opportunities for some beautiful images. It's just a matter of learning what your camera can do in the different light and what you can do with post editing.
Image Stabilized lenses should help you shoot at slower shutter speeds than "normal." 1/20 sec would work fine with modern lenses so equipped. Tripods are fine for static shots, but for moving subjects you would need to hand hold. Try to avoid flashes (another problem completely) unless you have something more sophisticated than the on-camera flash especially if shooting people. Lots of good detailed advice above.
Good luck!