Tips For Night Photography
Tips for Night Photography
Night photography is all about preparing and experimenting with different camera settings. Here are a few things to keep in mind to get the most out of your night shots:
Explore your location. Since you'll be working in the dark, figure out your location to plan your footage before shooting. Be aware of potential challenges or obstacles. Is the construction site illuminated with artificial light? Is the light changing colour? Which angle is best? What's the best way to maximize the light you have?
Prepare for long hours outside. If you take pictures at night, be prepared to be outside for a long time. From setting up the tripod and camera to adjusting camera settings to get the right exposure time, getting great night shots takes time and effort. Note that changing camera settings can be difficult if you have cold hands. So keep a hand warmer or gloves with you.
bring a flashlight. Manual camera controls or tripod screws can be difficult to see, even in urban light. A small flashlight is a useful source of light when you go out for the night. You can also use it to brighten up part of your image.
Shoot in manual mode. Recording Manual gives you complete control over your camera settings. When shooting at night, you need to work slowly, methodically, and take the time to fine-tune the settings.
Decrease your openness. The exact value of this level will depend on your camera and lens, but you should get as much light out of your bezel as possible.
Keep your camera's ISO as low as possible. You might think that working in low light would require a higher ISO setting, but that could be a mistake. The higher your ISO, the more grit will become a problem, so you should go down as low as possible. Take a few test photos with different ISO settings.
Use a tripod for long exposures. Night shots typically require a slower shutter speed of 10 seconds or more to absorb as much light from their surroundings as possible. How do you keep your photo in focus for 10 seconds or more? You will need a sturdy tripod for this.
Shoot in bulb mode for longer exposures. If you're working with very long exposure times (more than 30 seconds), you'll need to set your DSLR to bulb mode. It's the perfect setting for light painting and other experimental styles, but to keep the camera steady, invest in a remote shutter release.
Make sure you are shooting in RAW. The quality degradation caused by JPEG can erase your night photos, so stick to RAW. You have fun working with raw images if you want to play with your colors in post-processing.