Night Photography Tips

You have a digital camera. After years of worrying about film processing (and paying for it) you are finally free to release your inner shutterbug. Your home, backyard, children, pets, neighbors, automobiles, etc. have all been glassed by your lens and your new-found freedom.

Why limit yourself to the 15 hours of hours of daylight? The nighttime hours offer a considerable amount of camera fodder.

Shooting at night has always held a special mystique for me. Street scenes with streaking automotive headlamps and tail-lights, the full moon in a cloudy sky, ghostly images of people going about their after-dusk business, captivate me. With a film camera night photography was hit or miss. It took a lot of experimentation to find the correct exposure. With a digital camera, a tripod, and a little patience, you can take your artistic vision into the hours of blackness.

Night photography requires a tripod, a digital camera, and the zeal to experiment. Many cameras offer a night mode as one of their mode settings. This is a great aid in taking stunning photographs. Find your subject, securely mount your camera to the tripod, aim, and snap away. You will have a take a great many photos to hit the nail on the head, exposure-wise.

Depending on the amount of available light shutter speeds at night can range from 1/10 of a second to five or more seconds. Using your camera's self timer is a great way to eliminate inadvertently shaking or nudging the camera when you press the shutter release. The timer used to give you time to get into family photos has another use. Line up your shot, press the shutter release, and wait the five to 10 seconds until the self timer triggers the shutter. On more expensive cameras you may be able to purchase a remote that will trigger the shutter release, also very helpful.

Place the ISO setting on your camera at its highest level. On most consumer models the maximum ISO is 400. If your camera allows you to shoot at ISO 800 or 1600 don't be afraid to experiment. A high ISO setting will allow you to use fast shutter speeds and play with your depth of field settings.

Don't fear the manual mode on your camera. Most family photographers leave their camera set to automatic to take the best photos. At night this may not always work. If your camera has a night mode try it out, but don't be afraid to "go manual." If need be, dig out that user's manual that came with your camera and read up on how to set shutter speeds and f-stops. Experiment and have fun. Many once-in-a-lifetime photos have been captured by accident.

Other tips to keep in mind:

Try not to use the optical zoom setting on your camera. This can increase visible camera shake in your images when you're using a long shutter speed.
Try to shoot at dusk to have more available light combined with night-like images.
If your camera has a "remove noise" setting use it. Long shutter speeds can lead to digital noise in night shots.
Put blur to good use. Long shutter speeds to lead to blurred, ghost-like people, a very dramatic special effect.
Shoot, shoot, and shoot some more. Take many photographs at different settings and learn from your mistakes. Keep a journal of your settings and refer to it when shooting addition night scenes.

Don't limit yourself to the daylight hours. Try a little vampire photography, after dark. You never know what you are going to capture on your memory card.