Use Night Time Photography Tips in the World of Light & Silhouette
"Your night time photography tips are awesome. My friends still don't believe I took the pictures I showed them."
When looking to improve areas of photography, the last area anyone thinks of needing help with is during the night time. "After all, you need light to take photographs, right?"
Probably the most popular subject for night time photography is fireworks, although in fact most night time photographs are NOT of fireworks.
If you are like most people, you have either never tried photographing night scenes, tried it once with disastrous results, or you had no idea how tricky it was.
However, we'll use some night time photography tips to reduce the learning curve.
Let's begin with how to take night time pictures of everyday subjects, like structures and scenery, and then we'll move over to fireworks.
Night time photography tips are valid for "low-light" photography conditions.
This one area of photography is considered by many as truly special and a "cut above" any normal daytime photographs.
Why would this be? Here is my theory...
There's something inherently beautiful about a picture containing numerous points of light
The general public believes that night time shots are much more difficult to take, thus making them more prone to receive the occasional "ooohs" and "ahhs." (In my humble opinion, this alone is reason to learn night time photography tips.)
This is one of the lesser known night time photography tips... it deals with cows. Did you think all the night time photography tips dealt with horses?
If you've ever heard the expression "till the cows come home," you will never think about it the same after today.
Why? Because I'm going to use a farm analogy to describe the relationship between shutter speed, aperture, and proper exposure.
During the day, with 1,000 cows in the field, you only have to leave the barn door (aperture) open a short time before 50 cows wander in and fill up the feeding station (equivalent of enough light to take a picture). Stay with me, here.
At night time, with only 85 cows remaining scattered about in the field, you need to leave the barn door open a much longer time before 50 cows wander in and fill up the feeding station.
Photography works the same way. During the day, since there is so much light available, the aperture (barn door) only needs to be open say, 1/500th of a second to accumulate all the light your camera needs to produce a high quality photograph.
However, at night time, with much less light available, the aperture needs to remain open a much longer time period (from 1/2 to 30 seconds) to accumulate the amount of light needed for a good photograph. The night time photography tip summary is:
Slow shutter speed = Aperture remaining open longer = Long Exposure
The only reason the photo above is more difficult to take at night than it would be during the day is that you need a tripod. Really, that's about it!
OK, that's really not all of "it," but having a tripod is a significant step. As an alternative, you could try sitting the camera on a sturdy support (if you can find one), but it would have to be free from all vibrations.
See if your camera has a "night time" or "night scene" mode that implies using it during low-light situations. If it does, it will make things easier for you, but not necessarily provide a higher quality photograph.
As a personal note, I prefer making the following types of adjustments myself rather than use the "Night time" setting on my camera. The reason being: the "night time" settings are locked in by the manufacturer and may not be ideal for each situation.
Therefore, if you have a unique situation, using the "automatically programmed" night setting may not generate the best photograph. Some night time photography tip, huh? On the other hand, you can always make Photoshop adjustments the next day to produce the perfect photo.
OK, end of my personal note and back to the non-cow night time photography tips. Without a night time scene mode, you need to get involved with a few settings. Let's first cover the...
Ideal Night Time Scenario
The sky is clear with at least a 3/4 moon
Temperature is between 45 - 80 degrees, and the weather is calm
You can position the camera the perfect distance from your subject
Your camera is on the tripod and ready for the shot
With the small flashlight you always have in your camera bag, switch the camera mode to the equivalent of "Night Scene" mode
Set the focus to "Manual," and set it to infinity.
You trip the shutter with a remote shutter release or self-timer
That's all there is to it. But to truly understand these night time photography tips, let's quickly review what really happened...
The only thing you did differently than for a typical daytime photograph was securing the camera to the tripod.
Here's a "sort-of" night time photography tip: If your camera can use an external shutter release, consider getting one, especially if you plan on taking long-exposure shots.
Since camera shake is the greatest cause of ruined night time photographs, not touching your camera when you press the shutter is your best strategy.
To avoid camera shake if you don't have an external shutter release, use the self-timer. Pressing the shutter button will usually cause small vibrations, but by the time the the self-timer runs down and the picture gets taken, all vibrations should have passed.
Technically, that doesn't fall under "night time photography tips" because it applies whenever you want to insure against camera shake, not just at night.
If your camera is capable of more control during long exposure situations,
Set the ISO between 100 and 400
Set the F-stop to around F/5.6
Press the shutter
"Most photographers think that night time photos are beyond their capabilities. THEY'RE WRONG."
If you have always wanted to take Incredible Nighttime Pictures, but didn't know how, this eBook could be your answer...
We've created 2 QuickTips® eBooks that provide tons of night time photography tips:
A 32 page Handbook that provides answers to these basic questions:"What do I need?" "What do I do?" and "How do I do it?"
A one-page "What to Do" Summary Sheet (to carry with as your "To Do" list when photographing at night)
Sunrise...Sunset...
If you're going to try taking some night time photographs, I urge you to have your camera handy at sunrise and/or sunset.
These particular times offer up to a 90 minute window for some truly spectacular photo opportunities.
During these times, we need to be aware of the following night time photography tips.
For best results, still use your tripod and remote shutter release
There might be a chance that you can take this photo hand held, if you increase the ISO setting to at least 400 (assuming no excess digital noise will result) and your shutter speed is no slower than one divided by the focal length of your lens
Decide what type of photograph you want to end up with (this night time photography tip is covered in the next few points)
Here's where the night time photography tips are going to sound like they are getting very complex, but it's not as difficult as it sounds. If your camera has different metering modes, this is the point we're going to use them
If you want to end up with a photograph similar to the one above where the direct and reflected sky are properly exposed while the land and trees are in silhouette, use evaluative or matrix metering and include everything you see in the sample photo, within your viewfinder.
If you want the trees and ground to be properly exposed, use either Partial (a.k.a. "spot") or Center Weighted Average as your metering mode.
Focus only on the trees and ground, use your "exposure lock" setting to tell the camera that "this is what should be properly exposed," and then recompose your photograph by including everything you see in the sample photo to be in your viewfinder. Then take the picture.
To see many more tips on taking this type of photo, go to
Sunset Pictures.
And, to master the many mysteries of working with different types of photography lighting, find out how to work with the 4 types of Photography Lighting.
You will then be able to create artistic silhouette photos like this as well as other stunning effects.
Before we move on to night time photography tips for FIREWORKS, did I happen to mention that...
Of all the night time photography tips... the most important one is this... USE A TRIPOD!
Your Night Time Picture Can Be Here...
Here's An Opportunity...
Find your best night time picture, and get ready to submit it to this site. Why? Because after it's approved, it will be featured on YOUR OWN WEB PAGE.
Over the years, I've come to believe in these two photographic truisms:
Most photographers are way too critical of their own pictures
One of the very best sources for getting photographic ideas is by seeing what other photographers have done
So, here's your chance to do both; PLUS supply helpful critiques for others. For EACH AND EVERY approved submission, you will get your own web page. In addition, every month...
One night time picture will be featured as the "Best of the Month" on this web page!
Bottom line... you can view the night time picture of other visitors; get ideas to use for your own future photos, and supply comments and helpful tips. And what does it cost? Zip. Nada. Not a cent.
Why? Because I'm convinced our visitors have considerably more talent than they have the opportunity to showcase, and doing it this way helps everyone. So, what are you waiting for? Get ready to...
Submitting your Night Time Pictures is free and easy. Just fill in the form below, upload your picture, and hit the submit button.
After your photograph is accepted, your picture will become a "live" page on this site. You may upload as many pictures as you want, using a new submission page for each one.
And don't forget to tell us the story BEHIND THE PICTURE.
The best Night Time Photo every month (judged by our staff) will be featured on this page, along with your name.
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FIREWORKS
Fireworks are the visual rulers of the night time universe. No matter how many times we see and experience their bombastic splendor, we always return to see what new designs will be exploded onto the darkened sky.
Although individual fireworks only last for seconds, we can make them last for years. Learn the night time photography tips specifically geared for capturing fireworks.
Taking good fireworks photos is more challenging than the other types we have covered. Remember, I said "challenging," not "impossible."
By adhering to the following fireworks night time photography tips, you will take years off the learning curve. And, by your fourth excursion, you will be very pleasantly surprised with your results.
There are three steps for capturing explosive fireworks pictures...