Night Time Photography Tips

One of the most classic and trending photography types is nighttime photography. As the day comes to an end and the nighttime landscapes reveal a starlit sky and twinkling city lights, night photography tips can be the ultimate opportunity for enhancing the portfolio of expert photographers as well as beginners. From some of the best photography practices when it comes to night exposure techniques to some of the tricks you can do with your camera settings and equipment, be prepared to create stunning shots every time you take your camera out on an adventure when the night befalls. Night-time photography tips can be a great opportunity for you to capture star trails as well as the trails left by moving cars and blinking LED boards and marquee lights. As you prepare for your photographer’s off-season to-do list, you can add these amazing night photography techniques to plan better and understand your camera inside out before preparing for your photography assignment.

Amazing Nighttime Photography Tips:

Explore the unknown 

What’s my exposure time? This is the most common question asked by a beginner night photographer when setting up his or her camera for the first time. At night, when stopping down your aperture can turn street lights into starbursts, and setting your shutter speed to bulb allows you to capture the unseen, a basic understanding of aperture and shutter speed takes on mind-blowing dimensions. In contrast to the perception of photography as an exact science, nighttime photos allow for experimentation, exploration, play, and enjoyment. So, instead of freezing and blindly following someone else’s exposure suggestions, experiment with all the variables at your disposal with your own camera. Then, turn this into a learning experience by writing down your exposure settings or recording them, so you can study the results after downloading your files. Keep things simple and keep a small waterproof notepad and pen in your camera bag or coat pocket to save energy when taking notes.

Invest in a sturdy tripod 

A sturdy tripod is required before venturing into night photography. Long exposures are required for photographing in low-light conditions, which means your camera must be steady at all times. Choose one that can support a heavy camera and is preferably made of aluminum or carbon fiber if you have a high budget because it is both light and durable. To determine whether your tripod is straight, use the bubble spirit level that came with it. You can also use your camera’s virtual horizon to ensure that your equipment is leveled. Consider purchasing a mini tripod for difficult angles. The best vantage points for your night shots may be in places where standard tripods cannot fit. You can shoot beautiful night shots from the ground or even a tabletop using a mini tripod.

Use manual focus 

Autofocus in modern cameras is highly reliable, but it is not perfect. Its flaw is most noticeable when photographing at night when your camera struggles to adjust due to the darkness. Photography lighting is everything! Using manual focus ensures your camera doesn’t randomly focus on any part of the scene you are photographing. Set your manual focus to infinity. Turn on Live View Mode and press the Zoom-in button to ensure that the scene you are photographing is crisp. Magnify the subject you want to focus on, then adjust the focus until it’s pin sharp. During the photo shoot, do not use the autofocus function. Otherwise, it will override any manual changes you made. This technique may take some practice, but it is more reliable than autofocus in low-light situations.

Scout the best night locations 

Given that you will be working in the dark, scout your photography locations before going out with your camera. Make a list of any potential challenges or obstacles. Is the location lit artificially? Does the color of the lights change? Which angle looks the best? How can you make the most of the light you have? One difficult side effect of low-light photography is that everything in sight appears otherworldly, which can make it difficult to focus on a single composition or picture subject. To avoid this dilemma and to prepare for unexpected surprises, you should become acquainted with your photography location ideally by scouting the site ahead of time. Arrive at your location before sunset and take your time setting up, while also taking advantage of the magical golden hour lighting. This will help you understand how changing lighting conditions can affect a scene.

Get comfortable with bulb mode 

Manual mode is only available for exposures of up to 30 seconds. If you require a shutter speed greater than 30 seconds, the only option is Bulb mode. As a result, while you should generally shoot in Manual mode, you should also become acquainted with Bulb mode. In Bulb mode, the shutter remains open as long as the shutter button is pressed. The shutter opens when you press the button and the shutter closes when you release the button. When working in Bulb mode, you must, of course, use a remote shutter release to avoid introducing any shake or movement into the exposure. Bulb mode allows you to set your exposure time to several minutes. If your remote shutter release lacks a built-in timer, keep another timer on hand. Also, if your remote lacks a timer, make sure it has a locking feature so you don’t have to hold the shutter button down for the duration of the exposure.

Memorize gear functions beforehand

Finding that elusive button or changing camera settings or bringing up a menu is much more difficult at night, let alone finding the accessories buried in your camera bag! Low-light shooting requires even more study of your camera manual in order to remember how your gear works and locate access points for important buttons and menu options before venturing out into the darkness. When photographing at night, you should use manual mode on your camera and lens. If you are going to be breaking new ground with this, get familiar with your gear’s manual functions under low light conditions so you can act calmly and efficiently when conditions are less than ideal.

Use low ISO

When shooting at night, using a high ISO seems to make sense, but it also increases the noise in your images. The latest high-end cameras are so advanced that they can take noiseless photos at ridiculously high ISO settings. However, because most common professional cameras have a limited range of light sensitivity, sticking to a lower ISO is the most practical approach. Discover the limits of your camera’s ISO settings. Take some low-light test shots with various ISO settings to accomplish this. Examine the photos to determine which ISO level becomes too noisy.

Prepare yourself for long outdoor periods 

Prepare to be outside for extended periods of time when shooting at night. Getting great night photography shots takes time and effort, from setting up the tripod and camera to adjusting the camera settings for proper exposure time. Keep in mind that it can be difficult to change camera settings when your hands are cold, so bring some hand warmers or gloves with you.

Shoot in RAW 

JPEG files are ideal for most photographers because they don’t take up much space on your memory card. JPEG files can also be uploaded without first being converted to another format. However, this file format severely compresses your image files, which can be problematic when shooting scenes with a high dynamic range. When shooting at night, set your camera’s image file format to RAW. RAW files take up a lot of memory card space, and your images must be edited afterward, but the quality of each image is preserved. RAW is the best option for avoiding grainy images caused by low lighting and post-processing. RAW files, unlike JPEGs, retain their quality even after post-processing. You can always convert a RAW file to any format you want after editing it, including JPEG or PNG.

Take a flashlight with you 

Knowing how to use your camera’s controls comes in handy at night. You can make changes to the settings even when you can’t see anything at night. But even in such scenarios, a small flashlight can be extremely useful. Keep one on hand to ensure that everything on your camera and tripod is visible and accessible to you.

Experiment with different shutter speeds 

If you want to capture moving objects, such as moving cars and vehicles, use Shutter Priority. Simply select the shutter speed, and the camera will choose the aperture for you. This mode allows you to create stunning light streaks and dreamy landscapes at night. Test shots, once again, are required to achieve the desired effect. Set your camera to a low shutter speed to capture colorful trails. Just keep in mind that the longer the light trails, the slower the shutter speed. It is not necessary to use the widest aperture setting for long exposures. A combination of extremely slow shutter speeds and a wide aperture can sometimes overexpose an image. You would be surprised how much light your camera collects even in low-light situations. When in Shutter Priority Mode, simply look at your camera’s selected aperture, which can be as small as f/22 for a few seconds of exposure. Shutter Priority is also ideal for capturing night sky portraits. Typical exposure times for photographing starlit skies and start trails range from 10 to 30 seconds. Remember that the stars move across the sky, so if you expose your shot for a long enough period of time, you will begin to see star trails.

Meter for the highlights 

Determining the proper exposure level at night can be difficult, and each metering mode presents its own set of challenges. The camera is likely to be confused if you use evaluative metering. When using spot or partial metering, the meter will jump around depending on whether you are aiming at a bright light or a dark background. One solution is to use spot metering and expose for the highlights. So, meter off the highlights, then set your exposure to +1 to +2. The +1 or +2 setting will keep your highlights looking bright while keeping them within your camera’s dynamic range. Don’t be concerned about the dark areas of your image. If the dark areas turn black, it is because of nighttime, and some kind of darkness is expected. However, you can always take test shots and make adjustments as needed.

Bracket your shots

Night photography is one area where you should bracket your images. It can be difficult to achieve the ideal exposure when photographing at night. By bracketing your shots, you can reduce the amount of guesswork in your settings. This method entails taking a series of photographs with varying exposure settings. Each picture you take gradually becomes brighter or darker. Ideally, one of those photos will provide you with the exposure you seek. Apart from giving you a variety of exposures in-camera, bracketed images can also be used to create High Dynamic Range (HDR) images. This technique recreates the exposure range and details that a regular camera is unable to capture by combining several images in an editing tool. Blending and HDR can work wonders at night but bracket your photos anyway if you don’t like to use those processes. Consider it exposure insurance. After all, having a bracket on hand will mean the difference between a failed and a successful photoshoot if you overexpose or underexpose your file.

Taking stunning pictures at night is a skill that can be challenging for beginner photographers. From adjusting your ISO, aperture, and shutter speed to adjusting the night exposure mode to scouting the best photography locations which will look amazing during the night, night photography is a passion and a curious practice. It is a deep-seated passion and a never-ending quest for photographers as they learn so many new things on this journey. Some of the most well-known photography rules to some of the most common daytime photography techniques might not apply when you are technically and creatively advancing in nighttime photography. Even the latest and best camera lenses might fail you during night photography assignments. But that shouldn’t stop you from experimenting and creating stunning night portraits by following the above photography tips. After all, creating incredible images during nighttime can enhance your photographer’s portfolio and make you a pro nighttime photographer!