There’s something about night photography that captivates us. There’s a mystical feel that a photographer gets when shooting after dark. The shadows and the selective lighting give your creativity the outlet it was seeking. Alas, what you see with your eyes is never what you capture with your camera. And the solution? Turn off that flash!

Keep it Stable
Do your pictures look like you shot them while travelling on a bus on some of the worst roads in world ? Were you actually trying as hard as possible to remain motionless when clicking? Chances are you’ve been cursed with the worst possible combination in photography a digital camera and shaky hands. This problem is only made worse at night, and if you want to be able to shoot better photographs, get a tripod or place your camera on a sturdy, stationary surface when clicking. You can also use the self-timer function on your camera to completely avoid blurry images position the shot, set the timer and gently click, so that when the camera actually clicks the photograph, you are not touching it, causing it to shake.

Higher Exposure
If you’re shooting at night, chances are that you want every hint of available light captured. For example, when shooting a cityscape from the top of the building, you would want to
Capture the light on the streets as well as the light coming from the windows of the buildings, to give your photograph a full effect. If you click with automatic settings, you will only get the street lights the surrounding buildings will be black. To start with, change your exposure settings to ISO 400-or even ISO 800 in case you do not get the desired effect at first. This setting will allow you to capture light at a faster rate, which is a necessity for low lighting at high shutter speeds. If you have the option of keeping the shutter open for a longer period,  try setting this between three and five seconds to allow the light to settle. Remember, if you keep the shutter open for too long there may be some multicolor artifacts it’s best to stick to fast shutter speeds at higher ISO levels.

Tags: flash, flash mode, iso levels, light, night, night photography

This entry was posted on Monday, March 24th, 2008 at 3:15 pm and is filed under Photography Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.