How to Take Better Night Shots

Towns often come alive at night, as the lights go on inside buildings, their exteriors are floodlit, and street lights get  switched on. If you’re going to a public display, arrive as early as possible, so you can check out the location and find the best  vantage point. If you’re not sure where to stand, ask where the fireworks are expected to explode, so you can position  yourself to get a clear view.

While it’s tempting to go really close to the display, you’ll get a much better perspective by staying well back. You’re  also less likely to have people getting in front of the camera or knocking into your tripod. It’s a waste of time and effort  trying to hand-hold for aerial displays, so remember to take a tripod, because it takes a few seconds for each volley of  fireworks to fill the sky.

One burst of fireworks isn’t really enough to produce an interesting picture, you need several to produce more impact, so  take lots of different shots that you can combine on your computer when you get home. The key to being able to do that  easily is to set an exposure that results in a black 0r very dark blue sky. Typically, this means aperture of  f/11 or f/16  at an ISO rating of 100 for around four to eight seconds (but do make sure you review your first couple of images to avoid  overexposure). The focal length of lens depends on the situation. Wide-angles enable you to Include people, water or buildings at the  bottom of the frame, giving a sense of scale and adding interest. However, it’s also worth doing some shots at telephoto  settings in order to concentrate attention on the colour of the fireworks.

Once the display begins, don’t be too hasty taking pictures – check through the viewfinder or on the LCD panel to make sure  the fireworks are exploding in the right place and, if necessary, adjust the composition. When you see some rockets go up,  keep your eyes peeled on the area where they’re lighting them and watch for the tell-tale streaks – that’s the time to open  the shutter, if you wait until you see them in the sky, you’ll be too late.

Shooting Bonfires

Wherever you are, there’s likely to be a bonfire, and this can be a great source of interesting images, providing you don’t  allow the digital camera’s white balance to remove the orange glow of the flames. Don’t just take shots of the bonfire -  particularly atmospheric are pictures of people silhouetted against the flames. Often there’s enough light coming from the  bonfire to take the shots hand-held at a high ISO setting, and if you follow the meter without correction you should get the  result you want. Whatever you do, don’t use flash when you’re photographing fireworks and bonfires- it will completely ruin  the mood. You’ll need a burst of flash, however, when taking pictures of people waving sparklers, since they don’t give off  enough light on their own. If this happens, feel free to give it a try on auto flash, but you may find the output is too  great, and the movement of the sparklers doesn’t register. If so, switch to slow synch, which will let more ambient light  register, giving a balanced exposure.

If you live in a built-up area you’ll have plenty of things you can photograph when it gets dark. Towns often come alive at  night, as the lights go on inside buildings. However, don’t wait until it actually gets dark to take your shots because  you’ll be too late – the sky wiil come out a solid black and the picture will look dead. In fact, the best time to snap your  ‘night’ shots is at dusk, just after the sun has set, when there’s still some colour in the sky.

Getting a balanced exposure is easier at twilight. If you wait untii it’s totally dark the contrast range is too great to be  captured successfully, and there’s the constant risk of overexposure if you leave the digital camera to its own devices.

You’ll also need to watch the white balance. Part of the charm of night shots is the vibrancy and excitement of the many  different coloured lights, but auto WB systems can easily compensate for the variety of sources, leaving you with images  that are rather bland. Most of the time you’ll find it best to set the white balance to daylight, so that floodlit buildings  have the warm, orange glow we expect them to have.

Shooting Neon Signs

On a dark, autumn evening nothing catches the eye more than a neon sign, and they make excellent photographs. In cities you  see them everywhere, advertising bars, restaurants and clubs, and capturing them successfully is easy if you crop in tight,  to exclude as much of the dark background as possible, and keep your ISO setting low to maximise the colours and minimise  noise.

As with fireworks, ISO 100 is ideal and if you use this setting, you should use a tripod. If you really can’t face dragging  your three-legged friend around with you, cranking the ISO up to 400 or 500 might give you hand-holdable shutter speeds -  but be aware that if you don’t use a trip, your photographs will exhibit iots of noise and will nave inferior colours.

If you want to capture a city at its best, try photographing the skyline as twilight descends. An elevated vantage point  away from the centre will often give you the best view. You’ll also get a more natural perspective, using a telephoto lens  rather than a wide-angle. Alternatively, find a spot in the heart of the action and capture all the hustle and bustle from close quarters. One of the most exciting ways to capture the excitement of the city is by photographing motion trails of  vehicles using a long shutter speed to convert them into a river of light.

With an ISO 100  sensitivity, you set an aperture of  f/11 and then vary the shutter speed from a few seconds to up to a  minute, depending upon how busy the traffic is. Choose a location where there’s a steady succession of cars going both ways,  so you have both red and white streaks in the picture, and interest in the surrounding buildings. Alternatively (and  provided you can do so safely), set up your tripod on a flyover that looks down upon a busy dual carriageway.

Tagged with: Aerial Displays • Aperture • Burst • camera • Composition • Fireworks • Focal Length • Lcd Panel • Night Shots • Shutter Speed • Tripod • Viewfinder • Wide Angles

Filed under: Photography Tips

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!

Possibly related posts