I'm venturing into the darkness with my big brother tonight, to shoot night photography. Being a rookie, I've read a book on night photography but it's not the same as asking companions for assistance. I'm hopin' for some tips. Anything will help!
Take a tripod or ensure there is lots of solid places to sit your camera. I prefer an aperture of between f14 to f22 and go with the long exposures. Don't be afraid of movement in the long exposures, you'll be surprised how good they'll look. And if you are using a tripod and doing long exposures, don't take your ISO above 400 to 800 and you'll get clearer shots with no noise. Most of all, experiment.
STREET AND ARCHITECTURE
If you want to shoot architecture and traffic, bring a tripod.
Set your ISO to 100, your Aperture to at least 8 (preferably use the highest value you can (ie. f22).
And set your shutter to 20-30s. You don't need to trust the camera light metering in night photography. Do several exposure tests to see what fits best.
But most of all, make sure the tripod is very stable and the Image Stabilization of your lens are not ON.
Shot in RAW, to be able to extract more color later in processing.
PARTIES/CREATIVE SHOTS
For night parties and shows, bring a flash on top of the camera. Better if it has a diffuser on too. Shot people with flash, but set a longer exposure time (from 1/6 to 1/20) and after the flash fires, move the camera towards the ambient lights, to draw light lines and convey movement.
Like what i did here:
CONCERTS/CANDID SHOTS
Bring on a 50mm ens or an equivalent with the lowest f possible (ie. f1.8).
Bump up the ISO to 1600 or 3200 and f1.8 and try shooting people and trafffic, indoors and dark places. Be aware of the limited depth of field though. It's hard to focus!
PANNING/TRAFFIC HANDHELD
Shot with shutter ranging from 1/20 to 1/60, depends of the speed the cars are coming. Try to follow them with your camera while the shutter is open. Also try to zoom while the shutter is open You will get cool effects this way.
THANK YOU! I dumped a bunch of money into a tripod, for this very purpose. I don't want to be afraid to shoot at night... Not like afraid of the boogie man afraid, more like afraid of not getting what I'm seeing afraid. YO, mama's junpin' in, feet first! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! x Betsie
@38mm Great advice from Jase. Nothing worse than not being able to see anything on the camera. I've learned my lesson. LOL I want to try more with night shots, too. Great topic, Betsies.
- learn about aperture and Depth of Field (DOF) of the lenses you will take with you, and how to adjust them to get the DOF you want in the images to cover actual distances
- do some test shots on Aperture setting for the DOF you want, shutter speed suitable to the lights (or light trail) and ISO setting because you will very likely do everything manually
- use RAW (or RAW + jpeg) if possible so you have more flexibility to adjust white balance afterward, You can also play with color of lights coming from light sources of different color temperatures in post processing
- yes, tripod. (I don't - prefer to use something I can find around the place or simple things like cans and bottles for support because it attracts less attention especially for people shots or places that you aren't allowed to take photos)
- experiment with shallow DOF also, you can get wonderful bokeh in the background by focusing on very close subjects. Also, see if your lenses have odd or even number of blades - odd number of blades give you 2xblade star spikes (like 9 blades give you 18), while even number of blades give you only that amount (8 blades give 8 spikes). Photos taken by lenses with odd number of blades look nicer IMO
- experiment with the time/movement of people walking, car moving, etc. Sometimes, night photos look very interesting with shutter speed of 1/4 - 1/6 sec because you can freeze people' feet "in focus" while there bodies are blur
- do a lot of test shots
I think I have written too much already!! Also panning and zooming are fun.
@eyesofbetsie do you have a remote shutter release? Bring it if you do... It's not essential, and you can just use the times release instead... I just find it helps keep everything rock steady... Have fun and can't wait to see the results!
Good people... THANK YOU! Nod, you are lovely! You didn't write too much, as any information is completely appreciated! Big, fat thanks!
Northy, darlin'... My brother bought me one as a gift. Coincidentally, it arrived today! The one I purchased for myself was poverty, so I'm lookin' forward to using one that functions well! Hey, you get what you pay for, right?!
All you all... The detailed information you've offered is GREATLY appreciated. I'm hoping others can also benefit from the offering of your experiences. DANKE SEHR! x Betsie
tripod. coffee. more coffee. also a flashlight. shoot lots of shots. as stated by Gabriel Siqueira the light meter is not always trustworthy with long exposures. you might try having a small penlight to check camera settings and such, and also play with a flashlight / off camera flash for interesting light angles. lots of patience is another good thing. long exposure is a blast, but tricky. a friend and i went out for night shooting and he was disappointed that not all his shots came out, don't sweat it, just shoot more. a word of caution though, it can get addictive, next thing ya know ya will be out all night and using the excuse "i was trying to get that one shot"
@cchambers CLASSIC! Love the truth, my friend! Thanks. I'm wiped but stoked to kick it with my brother. If anything, we'll have some good 'crack' (as the Brits say). In American English... It means good synthetic drugs. I'm goin' with the Brits on this one! x Betsie
one thing no one mentioned and its important after all...
get to know your camera. I mean really well. You have to operate it in the dark without thinking much. Learn to set it in complete darkness.
@gabrielklee YUP! Just learned that one! And I think I'm gonna' get me a headlamp... Hands free is a bonus! I HAD A BLAST SHOOTING TONIGHT! Thank you for all the great advise!
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STREET AND ARCHITECTURE
If you want to shoot architecture and traffic, bring a tripod.
Set your ISO to 100, your Aperture to at least 8 (preferably use the highest value you can (ie. f22).
And set your shutter to 20-30s. You don't need to trust the camera light metering in night photography. Do several exposure tests to see what fits best.
But most of all, make sure the tripod is very stable and the Image Stabilization of your lens are not ON.
Shot in RAW, to be able to extract more color later in processing.
PARTIES/CREATIVE SHOTS
For night parties and shows, bring a flash on top of the camera. Better if it has a diffuser on too. Shot people with flash, but set a longer exposure time (from 1/6 to 1/20) and after the flash fires, move the camera towards the ambient lights, to draw light lines and convey movement.
Like what i did here:
CONCERTS/CANDID SHOTS
Bring on a 50mm ens or an equivalent with the lowest f possible (ie. f1.8).
Bump up the ISO to 1600 or 3200 and f1.8 and try shooting people and trafffic, indoors and dark places. Be aware of the limited depth of field though. It's hard to focus!
PANNING/TRAFFIC HANDHELD
Shot with shutter ranging from 1/20 to 1/60, depends of the speed the cars are coming. Try to follow them with your camera while the shutter is open. Also try to zoom while the shutter is open You will get cool effects this way.
Panning:
Zoomed:
THANK YOU! I dumped a bunch of money into a tripod, for this very purpose. I don't want to be afraid to shoot at night... Not like afraid of the boogie man afraid, more like afraid of not getting what I'm seeing afraid. YO, mama's junpin' in, feet first! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! x Betsie
- learn about aperture and Depth of Field (DOF) of the lenses you will take with you, and how to adjust them to get the DOF you want in the images to cover actual distances
- do some test shots on Aperture setting for the DOF you want, shutter speed suitable to the lights (or light trail) and ISO setting because you will very likely do everything manually
- use RAW (or RAW + jpeg) if possible so you have more flexibility to adjust white balance afterward, You can also play with color of lights coming from light sources of different color temperatures in post processing
- yes, tripod. (I don't - prefer to use something I can find around the place or simple things like cans and bottles for support because it attracts less attention especially for people shots or places that you aren't allowed to take photos)
- experiment with shallow DOF also, you can get wonderful bokeh in the background by focusing on very close subjects. Also, see if your lenses have odd or even number of blades - odd number of blades give you 2xblade star spikes (like 9 blades give you 18), while even number of blades give you only that amount (8 blades give 8 spikes). Photos taken by lenses with odd number of blades look nicer IMO
- experiment with the time/movement of people walking, car moving, etc. Sometimes, night photos look very interesting with shutter speed of 1/4 - 1/6 sec because you can freeze people' feet "in focus" while there bodies are blur
- do a lot of test shots
I think I have written too much already!! Also panning and zooming are fun.
@38mm Yep - learnt that lesson the hard way!
@eyesofbetsie do you have a remote shutter release? Bring it if you do... It's not essential, and you can just use the times release instead... I just find it helps keep everything rock steady... Have fun and can't wait to see the results!
Good people... THANK YOU! Nod, you are lovely! You didn't write too much, as any information is completely appreciated! Big, fat thanks!
Northy, darlin'... My brother bought me one as a gift. Coincidentally, it arrived today! The one I purchased for myself was poverty, so I'm lookin' forward to using one that functions well! Hey, you get what you pay for, right?!
All you all... The detailed information you've offered is GREATLY appreciated. I'm hoping others can also benefit from the offering of your experiences. DANKE SEHR! x Betsie
one thing no one mentioned and its important after all...
get to know your camera. I mean really well. You have to operate it in the dark without thinking much. Learn to set it in complete darkness.