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Night photography is considered a challenging type of photography, which has always attracted a great number of photo enthusiasts. Photographing at night is traditionally regarded as a complicated practice for the reason of some technical limitations as reciprocity failure, which is typical of film cameras.

Fortunately, modern digital cameras make the process much easier. Although there are still some difficulties – photos are unavoidably limited by the trade-off between depth of field, exposure time and image noise – night photography now is available to more photo amateurs and enthusiasts.

Night City with thousands of lights is an attractive subject for a photographer. Here come some useful tips on photographing city at night.

1. Cambridgeincolor.com says that proper focusing is critical at night. ‘Night scenes rarely have enough light or contrast to perform auto focus, nor enough viewfinder brightness to manually focus. Fortunately there are several solutions to this focusing dilemma.  One can try focusing on any point light sources which are at similar distance to the subject of interest.  Alternatively, bring a small flashlight since this can be set on the subject, focused on, and then removed before the exposure begins.’

2. Malektips.com offers using Long Exposure Time. ‘One of the main tricks to taking good photos at night with your digital camera is taking long exposures of a subject. The long exposure time is needed to compensate for the low light; the longer the exposure, the longer your camera absorbs the scarcely available light. Low-light conditions may require decreased shutter speeds of 1/15th of a second or longer.’

3. Photoxels recommends using a tripod. ‘A mandatory accessory that you need is a sturdy tripod. When you let the shutter stay open for a long time, the camera needs to be kept rock steady, otherwise you end up with blurred images.’

4.  Adobe.com has a tip on using a self-timer or a remote control to improve your night images. ‘This isn’t mandatory, but it sure helps. Using the self-timer to activate the shutter release means that you won’t accidentally shake the camera as you press down on the shutter.’

5. Blacksphoto.com recommends bracketing  your shots. ‘Professional photographers use a technique called bracketing to improve their chances of getting the perfect shot. Bracketing means shooting a picture at the recommended exposure then taking the same shot at the next highest and next lowest exposure in the hopes that one of the three will work well. It’s a technique that is especially useful when there is too little or too much light available.’

6. Malektips.com suggests using Increase Your ISO. ‘With a higher ISO setting, you could get away in the same situation with perhaps a 1/30th of a second exposure or faster. The higher the ISO number, the faster you can take the photo, but more grain (noise) will be introduced. You should be able to get by with an ISO of 200 with medium and high-end prosumer cameras. With a digital SLR you might be able to get away with an ISO of 400 or 800.’

7. Malektips.com has a great advice on using Noise Reduction Mode. ‘When you have to increase your ISO settings to compensate for long shutter speeds, noise will be introduced in the photo. Rather that trying to remove it with digital photo editing software, if your digital camera has a noise reduction feature, you can help eliminate this post-processing step.’

8. Popphoto.com suggests using smaller f-stops. ‘Setting smaller apertures will create and exaggerate the star-like radiating shafts of light that can appear to emanate from small points of light in a scene.’

9. Megapixel.net suggests controlling colour. ‘At night, the primary source of light is usually the surrounding incandescent lighting. Setting the camera’s white balance to that particular setting (also called Tungsten on some cameras), tends to reproduce the colours of the lights more accurately. The Auto white balance will normally produce warmer colours, and incandescent, cooler colours. It remains however, a matter of personal taste.’ the Auto white balance will normally produce warmer colours, and incandescent, cooler colours. It remains however, a matter of personal taste.  

10. The Nocturnes Resources offer to consider taking photos at dusk. ‘While a “true” night photograph would be taken an hour or so after dark, excellent results can be obtained at dusk or shortly after. The overall light is a more even balance of artificial and natural light and the mood is definitely of the night. Thus, exposures for night photographs range from a few seconds to ones that are 5 to 8 hours in length. The latter exposure time would generally take place in a traditional landscape setting, far from urban areas (and any ambient light).’

11. Blacksphoto.com has a good tip on using reflections. ‘Some of the most spectacular night photography involves the use of reflections. Reflections not only give you more light to work with, but they also add visual interest to your photographs. Look for reflections on bodies of water, snow banks, windows, mirrors, cars, etc.’

12. Photoxels has some very helpful tips on aperture, shutter speed, exposure mode and more for better fireworks photographs.

Among the most famous night photographers are Steve Harper, Richard Misrach, Arthur Ollman, Michael Kenna.

Read also Night photography: general tips.

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