Night Photography Class

If you’ve never done any night photography you may be wondering just where to begin. Your exposure settings will vary greatly depending on your subject and available light but here’s an easy way to get started.

Selecting a well lit scene like a cityscape to practice with will make it easier to judge your results while experimenting with different exposure settings. Also, starting just before dusk will give you time to set up the camera and provide you with an opportunity to see how the look of your images and your exposure settings change as the light fades.

Begin by setting your camera to aperture priority mode and placing it on a tripod. Start off with an aperture setting of 5.6 and ISO 100.  Press the shutter button half way down to set the focus and allow the camera to determine the shutter speed. If you’re shooting early in the evening there should be enough ambient light so that the shutter speed doesn’t exceed your camera’s capabilities. However, if this happens, you can increase the ISO until the shutter speed falls back into range.

If your camera supports a shutter release, now is the time to use it. If not, or if you don’t have a shutter release, set the camera to timer mode so you don’t have to touch the camera during the exposure. Take a picture and review it on the LCD screen. How does it look? Is it too bright or not bright enough? Also, check for overexposed areas or areas that seem too dark.

However, keep in mind that a properly exposed image may not provide the “look” you’re after. I usually judge my night shots more on aesthetics than technical considerations. Sometimes when shooting at dusk the image may appear brighter than I want it to so I’ll purposefully underexpose the image a little. Also, you may find it necessary to overexpose the highlights a little bit to get more detail in the shadow areas.

If the image appears over or under exposed you’ll need to make adjustments to your exposure settings. Unfortunately, changing the aperture or ISO won’t help because, while in aperture priority mode, the camera will automatically compensate for those changes by adjusting the shutter speed accordingly and you’ll just end up with the same exposure. To perform the necessary adjustments you’ll need to switch to manual mode. Before you do this make sure you take note of your current aperture, ISO, and shutter speed and use the same settings in manual mode.

While in manual mode, the camera won’t automatically determine any of your exposure settings so you can change them independently of each other. Changing any of the settings will affect the exposure so if your image was over exposed you can reduce the size of the aperture (larger f number), decrease the ISO, or use a faster shutter speed. If it was underexposed you can increase the size of the aperture (smaller f number), increase the ISO, or use a slower shutter speed.

I would encourage you to experiment with changing all three settings, although not at the same time just yet. As you gain more experience you’ll be able make adjustments to all three settings simultaneously but for now adjusting one at a time is probably your best bet. If you want to keep things really simple, only adjust the shutter speed to see what effect it has on your image. Of course, as the light fades, you may reach the longest shutter speed your camera is capable of handling. If this happens, you’ll need to begin increasing the ISO or using a wider aperture unless your camera has a bulb mode.

Continue shooting the same scene all the way into darkness. Afterward, you can review all of your images to see which ones you like best. This can help you determine what time of evening works best for shooting a particular scene. You can also see what effect the various exposure settings have on how your images look.

Focusing at Night

Focusing at night can often be tricky. Even the best automatic focusing systems have trouble in low light and you can forget about it in complete darkness. However there are some simple tricks that can help you find your focus.

Focus to Infinity

If you have a digital SLR, your lens probably has an “infinity” mark that looks like a figure eight. With the focus set to infinity, anything farther away than a few yards will be in focus. If you’re photographing objects in the distance, such as a cityscape or fireworks, simply set the lens to manual focus and rotate the focusing ring until the distance marker lines up with the infinity mark.

Look For Lit Areas

Look for areas that are lit, such as the side of a building illuminated by a light, to focus on. If your camera offers multiple focus points, use the one in the center as it’s usually better at achieving focus. If there aren’t any lit areas near the center of your composition, move the camera until a lit area is in the center and focus on it. Once you’ve achieved focus, set the lens to manual focus and move the camera back to your original composition. If you have to use the menu system on your camera to set the focus to manual then do it immediately after you’ve achieved focus on a lit area so the camera doesn’t try to refocus on the scene.

Use the Stars

If you’re photographing in an area that doesn’t have any artificial light sources, try focusing on the stars. You’ll most likely have to do this manually so point the camera at the sky and manually focus until the stars look like sharp pinpoints of light. You can also use lights that are far in the distance such as street or porch light. With this method, focus will be set to infinity so it’s not a good one to use if there are foreground objects close to you that you want to be in focus.

Use a Flashlight

If you’re photographing an object that’s close to you (within a few feet or yards) you can use a flashlight to obtain focus. Shine the light on the object while focusing the camera. If the light is bright enough you should be able to achieve focus without any problems.

Focus Before it Gets Dark

If you have your scene composed and don’t plan on changing it, you can focus on the scene while it’s still light and lock it in by switching to manual focus. The obvious disadvantage to this technique is the fact that you won’t be able to use your camera while you’re waiting for nightfall.

Low Light or No Light?

Although the subject of this site is night photography, I prefer to shoot at dusk in most cases – especially when photographing scenes that include the sky. This period of time, often referred to as the “blue hour” occurs after sunset and just before complete darkness. During this time, the sky takes on a beautiful deep blue color that really comes out during a long exposure.

The duration of the blue hour varies by location and time of year. In the summer it may last 15 to 20 minutes or longer. In the winter, it may last only 10 minutes so preparation is vital. You want to be on location and have your equipment set up beforehand.

One of the advantages to shooting at dusk is that it helps balance out the exposure. This is especially helpful when photographing scenes that include bright lights, such as a cityscape. You’ll probably want to have some amount of detail in the buildings and other objects in the foreground and background.  The small amount of ambient light available at dusk provides enough light to illuminate those objects while at the same time allowing you to use a faster shutter speed so you can avoid overexposing the lit areas.

If you wait to shoot until after dark, you’ll need to use a much longer shutter speed if you want the unlit areas to show up in the photo. However, using a longer shutter speed will most likely overexpose the city lights and leave you with a very high contrast image with overexposed highlights and many shadow areas will still probably be underexposed.

Written by Andy on October 18, 2009 under Photography 101.

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