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9 Night Photography Tips for Nailing Your Exposure (Every Time)

06 Apr

The post 9 Night Photography Tips for Nailing Your Exposure (Every Time) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jim Hamel.

In this article, I’m going to tell you everything you need to know about getting beautiful night photography exposures.

As a longtime night photographer, I’m well-equipped to share with you the best night exposure techniques – so that you can create stunning shots every time you take out your camera.

Specifically, I’m going to discuss:

the best exposure mode for night photography
the best night photography shutter speed, aperture, and ISO settings
a quick way to check your night exposures
much, much more!

So if you’re ready to become a night photography master, then let’s get started!

Note: If you’re serious about night photography and want to really take your night photos to the next level, check out my night photography course. It offers easy-to-follow night photography tutorials with hours of helpful videos and case studies.

1. Work in Manual mode

Here’s your first night photography tip, and it’s a big one:

Make sure you’re shooting in Manual mode.

In Manual mode, you will set the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. This gives you complete control over your camera.

When shooting at night, your camera will be on a tripod, and you will be working slowly. So there is no need to use any automatic mode; even if you’re not totally comfortable with camera settings, you can take your time, carefully dialing in your aperture and shutter speed and checking your exposure.

Further, there might be a little trial and error with the exposure settings (the camera can be fooled by the large differences in bright and dark areas of the picture), and you want to make sure you have plenty of control over this process.

Manual mode gives you that control.

night photography tips exposure - Millenium Bridge example — 4s | f/5.6 | ISO 400

2. Make sure you are comfortable with Bulb mode

Manual mode only works for exposures up to 30 seconds.

So if you need a shutter speed that is longer than 30 seconds, the only option is Bulb mode. Therefore, while you should generally shoot in Manual, you should also get comfortable with Bulb.

In Bulb mode, the shutter stays open as long as you hold down the shutter button. When you hit the button, the shutter opens. When you release the button, the shutter closes.

(Of course, to avoid introducing any shake or movement into the exposure, you must use a remote shutter release when working in Bulb mode.)

With Bulb mode, you can make your exposure several minutes long. If your remote shutter release doesn’t have a built-in timer, make sure you keep another timer handy (e.g., on your phone).

Also, if your remote does not have a timer, make sure it has a locking feature, so you don’t have to hold the shutter button during the entire exposure.

Proper Exposure at Night - Pigeon Point example — 6s | f/5.6 | ISO 1600

3. Shoot in RAW

When shooting at night, it is particularly important to make sure you are shooting in RAW format.

RAW files coming out of most cameras are 14 bits, whereas JPEGS are only 8-bit files. The more bits, the higher the range of available colors and the smoother the transitions between them.

(In other words: RAW files look better.)

Plus, most of the colors a camera can capture are at the top (bright) end of the scale. The range of available colors at the low (dark) end of the scale is extremely limited. At night, your pictures will almost always include a large dark portion. A JPEG file, with its reduced color options, will likely display (very ugly) banding.

So always, always, always shoot in RAW.

4. Bring a flashlight

Knowing your camera controls pays off at night. You can make changes to the settings without being able to see everything.

Nevertheless, a small flashlight is tremendously useful. Keep one handy to make sure you can see everything on your camera and tripod.

(It occasionally comes in handy for lighting areas of your picture, as well!)

5. Choose proper settings

Proper settings will always depend on the situation. Nevertheless, there are some helpful guidelines for choosing settings at night:

Aperture: Open up your aperture more at night than you would during the day (i.e., use a lower f-number). Most night photographs tend to require less depth of field than shots during the day. Plus, the background and sky will be black. The larger aperture also has the benefit of letting more light into your camera.
ISO: Keep your ISO setting as low as you can. Night photography always has dark areas, and these dark areas inevitably lead to digital noise. Raising the ISO will compound the problem.
Shutter speed: Whereas shutter speed might be the first exposure setting you worry about during the day, it should generally be the last one you think about at night. Since you will be shooting from a tripod, you can let the shutter stay open as long as you need. If you have traffic (streaking lights), a fountain, or running water in your picture, the longer shutter speed will create a very cool effect. (Note, however, that if you’re shooting in high winds or if the ground is unstable, you’ll need to boost your shutter speed to prevent blur.)

One other setting to check is Long Exposure Noise Reduction, which will be in your camera’s menu. If you enable this option, the camera will take two exposures, one normal and one with the shutter closed. Your camera will then use the second image to filter out noise from the normal picture.

Of course, photos shot with this option enabled will take twice as long to expose, but they’ll also be less noisy.

6. Meter for the highlights

Determining the proper exposure level can be tricky at night, and each metering mode presents its own challenges.

If you use evaluative metering, the camera is likely to be confused. If you use spot or partial metering, the meter will jump around, depending on whether you’ve aimed at a bright light or a dark background.

One answer to this problem is to use spot metering and expose for the highlights. So meter off the highlights, then set your exposure between +1 and +2. The +1/+2 setting will keep your highlights looking bright but will also keep the highlights within the dynamic range of your camera.

Do not worry as much about the dark portions of your picture. If the dark areas happen to turn black, it is nighttime, so there is supposed to be some black. But you can always take test shots and adjust as necessary.

Dallas night photography — 5s | f/16 | ISO 400

7. Take a test shot at a high ISO

You should make liberal use of test shots when shooting at night.

However, you generally don’t want to sit around for 30 seconds, a minute, or even longer, just waiting to see if the test shot is going to work out.

So the best way to create a test file without wasting a lot of time is to take a shot at a much higher ISO than you would ordinarily use.

Let’s say you think the proper exposure settings for a given shot are 30 seconds at f/5.6 with an ISO of 400. Rather than taking that shot and waiting around 30 seconds for the exposure, just crank up the ISO, then boost the shutter speed by the same number of stops. The exposure will stay the same, but it will take much less time to capture the test picture.

For the above example, I would raise the ISO to 6400. Why? Well, raising the ISO by one stop takes it to ISO 800, two stops increases it to ISO 1600, three stops to ISO 3200, and four stops gets you to ISO 6400.

Once you’ve set your ISO to 6400, you can reduce your shutter speed by four stops to 2 seconds. After all, reducing the shutter speed by one stop shortens it to 15 seconds, two stops shortens it to 8 seconds, three stops to 4 seconds, and four stops takes the shutter speed down to 2 seconds.

Then, when you are satisfied with your exposure, just decrease the ISO and lengthen the shutter speed by a comparable amount to get back to the final settings.

8. Bracket your photos

Night photography is one area where you will want to bracket your photos. Blending and HDR can work wonders at night, but even if you don’t like to use those processes, bracket your photos anyway. Think of it as exposure insurance.

After all, if you overexpose or underexpose your file, having a bracket on hand will be the difference between a failed and a successful photoshoot.

San Antonio riverwalk night photography tips exposure — 30s | f/11 | ISO 200

9. Verify the exposure with the histogram

After you have taken your exposures, you should always check them on your camera’s rear LCD.

However, while the picture on the LCD will show you if the exposure is close to correct, you should also check the histogram.

Why?

Because a histogram is more accurate than your camera’s LCD. You can use it to carefully determine whether the exposure is within your camera’s dynamic range.

Specifically, make sure to keep the highlights on the right side of the histogram, but avoid a spike on the far right. If the dark areas spike on the left side of the histogram, that’s okay; parts of your picture are supposed to be black.

In general, however, keep as much of the image as possible within the range of the histogram, though err on the side of keeping the highlights from blowing out.

night photography tips exposure - Louvre example — 4s | f/11 | ISO 400

Night photography exposure: final words

When you follow the night photography exposure tips I’ve given above, you are likely to get some great shots. Every city lights up its major attractions, bridges, and museums – often in colorful ways. So a scene that might be boring during the day can offer great photos at night.

Because of the effects of the lights, you’ll often be surprised by what you end up with (in a good way!). Taking your time and applying these tips to nail the exposure will help you maximize the experience.

And remember:

If you want to improve your night photography skills fast, then check out my night photography course. It’ll teach you everything you need to know about night photography through hours of helpful videos and case studies!

The post 9 Night Photography Tips for Nailing Your Exposure (Every Time) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jim Hamel.

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12 Tips for Beautiful Long Exposure Night Photography

25 Feb

The post 12 Tips for Beautiful Long Exposure Night Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Matt Murray.

Long exposure night photography can seem tough.

But it doesn’t have to be.

Because there are a few simple tricks you can use…

…that’ll ensure you get great long exposures, consistently.

And that’s what this article is all about. I’m going to give you 12 easy tips for long exposure night photos. Specifically, I’ll tell you:

Every piece of gear you need for pro-level night photography
The simple secrets for keeping your long exposure shots sharp
The best time of day to capture long exposure night photos (hint: It’s not at all what you’d expect!)

Plus a whole lot more.

Are you’re ready to become a master of long exposure night photography?

Let’s get started.

Long exposure night photography city from above

1. Scout your location ahead of time

Most photographers think that scouting is overkill.

But here’s the thing:

Knowing where the best locations are for night photography ahead of time can pay huge dividends.

It means you won’t have to work out where to set up when you arrive.

(And setting up is very stressful if you can’t find a spot and the sun is sinking rapidly!)

If you can, scout your location at the same time of day you plan on shooting. This will give you a good idea of what lighting to expect.

Have a good look around the area. And ask yourself:

Will there be any trees or obstacles blocking my view? Are there any lights in the vicinity – such as streetlights or floodlights – that will affect my images?

When choosing your location, also look for sources of movement, including:

Crowds of people
Cars that create dramatic light trails
Boats skimming across the water

Why?

Because movement is great for long exposure photos!

Long exposure night photography fair at night — In this photo of the Royal Queensland Show, both lights and people are creating a sense of movement.

If you’re not able to scout a location beforehand, consider your options.

For instance, you can turn up an hour or two before sunset to find the best location.

Or you can research the location by looking through social media. This will give you ideas for potential locations – including what they look like at night.

To learn more about the virtual scouting process, check out this article: Top Tips for Photographing the Best a City has to Offer in 48 Hours.

2. Consider taking multiple shots

Once you’ve determined your shooting location, here’s what to think about next:

Whether you will move your camera and tripod around on the shoot (changing locations, capturing different compositions, and/or using different focal lengths), or whether you will take a series of images that are exactly the same (perhaps for blending in Photoshop).

If you’ve decided on the latter, it can be worth taking a second camera and tripod with you; that way, you can take additional shots and make the most of your trip.

3. Use a checklist to pack your gear

Night photography requires a lot of equipment.

So before you go out to shoot, I highly recommend you create a checklist for packing your kit.

This is a great memory aid and will ensure that you don’t forget anything. Here are some of the things I have on my gear checklist:

Cameras and lenses
Fully-charged camera battery. If you’re capturing multiple images of the same scene to blend in Photoshop, you will have a very hard time lining them all up later on if you have to move your camera to change batteries.
Spare batteries
One or two tripods
Tripod base plates (these small rectangular bits of kit can be the difference between a successful shoot and a disaster!)
SD cards. Make sure you have a formatted card in your camera ready to go, as well as spares.
Water and snacks
Wireless headphones. Often, I’ll be in the same location taking images for several hours. If there’s not a fellow photographer to chat with, I listen to podcasts or music.

4. Set up early and be mindful of others

Try to arrive early so you can set up and be prepared at your preferred location.

When you set up your camera and tripod, be mindful of pedestrians, cyclists, and traffic in the area. Don’t place your gear where it will obstruct paths or where people could trip over it.

street corner with light trails — Always make sure your gear is not in the way of others during a night shoot in a busy area.

5. Shoot during blue hour for the best skies

If you want to create the most striking long exposure night photography, then I highly recommend you shoot during blue hour.

Specifically, start capturing images as the sun is setting, and keep photographing until all the color has drained from the sky.

That’s how you’ll get images with drama, like the one below:

blue hour photo of cityscape — The best time to take night photos is when there is still color in the sky!

6. Use a tripod

You must use a tripod for sharp long exposure night photography.

Otherwise, your photos will be full of blur.

I bought a Manfrotto tripod in 2005, and it’s still going strong! I also have a smaller, lighter MeFoto tripod for travel.

Owning several tripod quick release plates is also a good idea. That way, you can detach your camera from the tripod whenever you need (and stick it back on quickly, as well!).

tripod head — A good-quality tripod is a solid investment for long exposure night photographers.

7. Turn on your camera’s electronic level

Most cameras have a built-in guide or electronic level.

If your camera has one, then turn it on.

Why is an electronic level useful?

It’ll let you know if your camera is crooked, just like an old-fashioned spirit level. And you can adjust your camera so that every single image comes back straight.

(On my Fujifilm X cameras, this is a horizontal line across the screen that turns green when the camera is level.)

Of course, you can always straighten the horizon in a program such as Lightroom or Photoshop.

But this can get annoying, especially if it’s a frequent problem.

So find the electronic level, and make sure it’s active before you start shooting.

8. Use a remote release

When taking long exposures, you must minimize any movement of the camera during an exposure.

Which means that you cannot press the shutter button.

Why?

No matter how careful you are, when you tap the shutter, you may create camera shake. And end up with blurry images.

One way to avoid camera shake is to use a remote release. These are small accessories that plug into a socket on the side of your camera, allowing you to trigger the shutter without pressing the shutter button.

Many camera companies also have a smartphone app you can use to activate the shutter of your camera.

Long exposure night photography with a remote — You can trigger many cameras via an app.

9. Use the self-timer feature

Here’s a second way for you to minimize camera movement during an exposure:

Use your camera’s self-timer feature. I actually prefer this method of hitting the shutter button for two reasons:

I usually take two cameras on shoots, so using a smartphone app is not an option since it can only connect to one camera at a time.
The two cameras I take use different types of remote releases, and I’d rather not have to remember to bring both of those accessories.

Instead, I recommend you set up a two-second self-timer delay in advance. That way, you can hit the shutter button, wait for any vibrations to fade, then get a tack-sharp shot.

(Just remember to deactivate the self-timer feature after the shoot is over!)

Long exposure night photography with water — The self-timer feature is a great way to minimize camera shake.

10. Try interval shooting for great results

Do you want to capture the beauty of a scene over a long period of time?

Try interval shooting.

With interval shooting, you can fire off photos with a set time interval (so you capture one photo every two minutes, for example).

I set my camera to take a photo every two minutes during the early part of my shoots, then – when the light starts to get interesting and the city lights come on – I set my camera to take a photo ever 20 or 30 seconds.

You can also set this feature to stop after a certain number of exposures.

Handy, right?

Interval shooting essentially sets your camera on autopilot, leaving you free to take images with a second camera.

Just be careful not to bump or move your main camera when adjusting settings during your shoot.

11. Turn off image stabilization

If you want sharp long exposure photos, you must turn off camera and lens image stabilization.

Now, you’re probably thinking:

What? Image stabilization makes photos sharper, not blurry!

And you’re right…

…mostly.

But remember:

You should always use a tripod for long exposure night photography.

And when image stabilization meets a tripod, it causes problems. You see, your tripod should be completely still, yet your image stabilization technology will often move your camera and/or lens slightly – resulting in unwanted blur.

Some newer lenses can sense when a camera is mounted on a tripod and turn off image stabilization automatically.

But I recommend you check, just to be sure.

12. Always stay safe!

This is of paramount importance when taking photos at night.

Always be aware of your surroundings and pay attention to who is nearby. I usually have my bag zipped up and next to me at all times.

Often, I put one of my bag straps around my leg so no one can try to run off with my kit.

And while I take wireless headphones, I would only ever use them in busy locations where I feel safe.

lighthouse at night — Always be aware of your surroundings when shooting in remote places or late at night.

Long exposure night photography: Final words

I hope you’ve enjoyed this guide to long exposure night photography.

While shooting at night may seem difficult, with some extra thought and planning, you’ll capture some stunning images!

Of course, the best way to improve your photography is to get out there and practice as much as you can.

Now over to you:

Which of these long exposure night photography tips is your favorite? Which one do you plan to use the next time you’re out shooting? Let me know in the comments below!

The post 12 Tips for Beautiful Long Exposure Night Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Matt Murray.

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In the Dark: 10 Tips for Street Night Photography

20 Dec

The post In the Dark: 10 Tips for Street Night Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by James Maher.

Much is spoken about photographing during the twilight hour, but what about after that?

Night is my favorite time for street photography. Cityscapes are lit with a myriad of interesting and colorful light sources, such as lampposts, neon signs, store windows, car lights, and bare bulbs. People dress in their favorite outfits to go out. Bland scenes by day can suddenly turn ominous and fascinating at night.

street night photography diner — 1/80s | f/2.8 | ISO 1600

Here are 10 tips for street night photography – so you’ll think about starting your next street photography session at twilight!

1. Use the ideal camera settings for sharpness at night

To freeze motion during the day, I prefer to use a shutter speed of 1/320s, with 1/160s as my lower threshold.

At night, this changes. In the brightest areas, you will be able to photograph at 1/250s, but most of the time it will be best to use a shutter speed somewhere between 1/160s and 1/60s.

You need to have steady hands and a wide-angle focal length. In fact, to photograph handheld at 1/60s, you need to stop your own motion completely. Fortunately, with some practice, it can be done.

street night photography person in the snow — 1/125s | f/2.5 | ISO 6400

A wide-angle lens is necessary for this type of photography because the longer the focal length, the faster the shutter speed you need to keep an image sharp. With a 28mm or 35mm lens, it becomes much easier to handhold the camera at slower shutter speeds.

It will also help to use a fast prime lens, such as a 35mm f/2. It is possible to shoot at f/4 in brighter areas, but being able to shoot at f/2.8, f/2, or even f/1.8 will greatly expand your opportunities.

Finally, you will need to raise your ISO significantly. With modern digital cameras, you can photograph anywhere from ISO 1600 to ISO 6400 and get decent or good image quality. It’s just not possible to photograph handheld at night otherwise. I prefer to shoot at ISO 3200, and I sometimes go to ISO 6400 if needed.

To learn more about photographing with a high ISO, you can read this article, called “Reasons to Shoot High ISO Images.”

2. Seek out the light sources first

on the streets at night — 1/60s | f/2.8 | ISO 3200

You should always pay attention to the main light sources in a scene. This is true no matter where or when you are photographing, but it becomes even more important at night. Start by finding a beautiful light source or an area with good lighting, then wait around for something to happen.

Focus on how these light sources hit your subjects. If you are leaning against a shop with a lit sign behind you, like the man in the photograph above, then as subjects pass you they will be lit with a strong light that has a gorgeous color to it. If your lens’s aperture doesn’t go wider than f/4, this is a fantastic way to boost your shutter speed.

On the other hand, if you stand in the street and aim the camera at the light source, as I did for the photo above, then the light will be less pronounced on the subjects, but you will get the beautiful sign in the scene. Notice the difference between the light on the left and right side of the man’s face in the photo.

3. Photograph nightlife

photographing the nightlife — 1/125s | f/2 | ISO 6400

Some of the most interesting night street photography occurs where the most people are, and that is often where the nightlife is.

So seek out the night life and shoot it!

A fantastic project to look at for inspiration is Maciej Dakowicz’s “Cardiff After Dark” series.

4. Alternate between getting close and stepping back

I’m a proponent of Robert Capa’s advice: “If your photos aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” However, I often alter this strategy at night.

I try to get close to many of my subjects, but I will also try to create compositions where the subjects are small aspects of the overall scene. At night, backgrounds can be much more beautiful than during the day, so it often works to have people become the secondary element in the scene, rather than the primary focus.

The technical advantage here is that you do not need to use a fast shutter speed to capture the motion of subjects when you are farther away. You can freeze a moving subject at 1/60s from farther away, whereas you will need to use at least 1/125s when close.

5. Tripod and crowd blur

motion blur night street photography — 1/8s | f/4 | ISO 800 | Tripod

For night street photography, it’s usually best to go handheld, since you never know what interesting thing is going to happen and where it’s going to happen. However, one of the times to use a tripod is when you want to capture a busy scene with lots of people and motion.

Experiment with slower shutter speeds, such as 1/8s, and shoot a lot of photos. It took me a long time to capture the image above, because I wanted the people spread out evenly throughout the entire scene, and I also wanted something interesting in the foreground (ultimately, this was the pose of the woman in the street and the man looking at her).

It took some waiting and a lot of captures for this to happen.

6. Use a flash

Whether you want to try flash on the street is up to you, but keep in mind that it can easily lead to a confrontation. I prefer to work with the constraints of the natural light on the street, and I also get uncomfortable flashing strangers in the face in dark settings, but many prefer to photograph this way. It creates a fantastic look when done well.

Using a flash frees you from a lot of the constraints of photographing at night. You can use a faster shutter speed, include more depth of field in the photo, and reduce graininess (noise).

You can have the flash do all of the work lighting the scene, where the foreground area is lit and everything else is dark.

Alternatively, you can set the camera to expose for the scene, similar to what you would do without the flash, and then use the flash to add some fill light to your main subjects in the foreground.

7. Noise and the dreaded underexposed image

people sitting on bench at night — 1/250s | f/2 | ISO 3200

You should always expose correctly when photographing with a high ISO.

That being said, even with the best settings, some of your images will be taken in areas that are too dark to be exposed correctly. It’s impossible to photograph this way and expose every image perfectly in-camera. For the occasional shots with excellent content that you want to save, you will have no choice but to raise the exposure when editing.

For that type of photo, I first ignore the noise and get the exposure and look correct in Lightroom. After I do this, if I’ve had to raise the exposure a significant amount, the grain will look terrible. Luckily, there are some ways to save an image like that as long as you’re photographing in RAW.

What I do is first remove the grain – then I add it back. I want the image to look grainy, but I want the grain to look pleasing. There are many noise reduction programs, such as Photo Ninja, Topaz’s DeNoise, and DxO. Personally, I like Lightroom’s built-in noise reduction. If the noise is still bad after noise reduction, I will sometimes bring the image into Photoshop and add a very slight Gaussian blur.

Then I will use Lightroom’s grain settings to add grain back into the photo. This grain looks much more pleasing to the eye than brightened, extreme digital noise, and it can further hide some of the technical deficiencies of underexposed images. The result will not be a perfectly sharp image, but it will still be pleasing and beautiful.

8. Blur and imperfection

Aim to get your photos as sharp as possible when you want sharpness, but know that a photo can still look fantastic even if it’s not tack sharp.

You don’t need to freeze motion perfectly when photographing at night for the image to still look great. I hold my day images to a higher standard than my night images when it comes to sharpness. They need to be interesting and look good, and that’s what counts.

Also, at shutter speeds around 1/60s to 1/30s, you can experiment shooting handheld with a slight blur, where your subjects are somewhat sharp but have a little motion to them. It’s a great way to add an energetic feeling of movement to an image.

9. Night images should be dark

a dark shot at night — 1/250s | f/2 | ISO 3200

This is an overly general statement, so feel free to disagree, but I want to make a point here.

I believe that night shots should look like they were taken at night. They should be dark, with deep shadows and areas that are hard to see and make out. When you look at the histogram of a night image, it should be further toward the dark side (the far left) than a day image.

When you expose a night shot, especially with automatic settings, the camera will often misread the scene and overexpose the image. The photo will be bright and you will be able to see everything as you would during the day, but it will not feel like a realistic night scene. In such cases, you’ll want to lower the exposure compensation on your camera slightly.

There are many situations where bright night images are a good thing, but don’t be afraid to make your night images dark and realistic.

10. Be careful

Depending on where you live, going out at night with a camera is not always the safest idea. Travel light, keep your equipment to a minimum, and be careful about where you go.

Use your best judgment regarding who to photograph and think about bringing a friend along. You don’t want to suddenly find yourself in a bad situation.

Tips for street night photography: conclusion

Getting beautiful street photos at night isn’t always easy.

But if you remember these tips and you practice frequently, you’re bound to get some great shots!

Do you have any street night photography tips you’d like to add? Please share them in the comments below!

The post In the Dark: 10 Tips for Street Night Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by James Maher.

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How to do Long Exposure Photography and Light Trails at Night

16 Aug

The post How to do Long Exposure Photography and Light Trails at Night appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Barry J Brady.

Gastown light trails, Vancouver, Canada

Before I understood how photography worked, I was always intrigued by light trails in images. I never understood how that happened. When I began to study photography, one of the first assignments I did was an advanced course on night photography. I decided I would try and capture some light trails.

I set up my camera, made sure the settings were correct and waited. A few cars went past, but my timing was off and the shots were not great. I continued to wait. After about an hour of trying and experimenting, I got the shot I was looking for. It was like magic to me.

The car was not in the shot but the lights seemed to float in mid-air. I was hooked. This was something that had mystified me for a long time, yet I had managed to get it right. What was so mesmerizing for me was that the image I saw on my LCD screen was not what I saw in real life. The camera had managed to capture a scene that my eyes could not capture in the same way. This seemed amazing to me.

I soon realized that the camera was able to “see” things differently compared to the way my eyes saw them. I spent many nights trying to capture light trails in various locations. I was also doing lots of reading and research and came across a technique called long exposure.

This too was amazing. It had the ability to alter a scene in such a way that it looked totally different to the way our eyes normally see it. Again I was hooked; to this day, long exposures and light trails are some of my favorite techniques in photography.

Long exposure photography and light trails have similar techniques; it is the subject matter that differs. So I will discuss each technique separately, and tell you how to get the best results in both.

How to do long exposure photography

Shooting long exposures effectively requires that you should be shooting in Manual mode as much as possible. If you are not sure how to shoot in Manual, take a look at “Getting Off Auto – Manual, Aperture and Shutter Priority Modes Explained to learn more about these modes. To be able to get sharp and effective long exposure images, here is a checklist of items you will need.

1. What equipment is needed to shoot long exposures?

A tripod – this is a good piece of equipment to have in most instances, but is a critical piece of equipment for shooting long exposures. Make sure your camera is properly mounted onto the tripod before you start shooting.
A camera – obviously you will need a camera, but many people assume you can only do this type of photography with an SLR. Some advanced point-and-shoot cameras can also do long exposures if they have a Shutter Priority function. Take a look in your camera’s manual to see if it has this function; you may be surprised.
Cable release – your camera will be on a tripod, so it should be very still. However, sometimes the action of pressing the shutter release button can cause the camera to move slightly and this movement can cause your image to blur very slightly. You may not notice this on the LCD screen, but when you open the image on your computer, it will be evident. I recommend getting a cable release (also called a remote trigger). It is simply a cable that attaches to your camera and acts as a shutter release button. Using a cable release means you can set up your camera, step away from the tripod, and press the button without touching the camera. Cable releases can be wireless too. If you don’t have a cable release or don’t want to buy one, you could use your camera’s self-timer function to trigger the shutter.
Warm clothes and comfortable shoes – depending on where you live, and depending on the time of year you plan to be shooting, you may need to dress warmly. Long exposures work well after dark and it may get cold, so be sure to wear warm clothes. Be sure that you have comfortable footwear, too, as you may be standing for a few hours.

2. What subjects are best for long exposure photography?

Long exposures work well for certain types of subjects like seascapes, landscapes, and cityscapes. The key to getting a successful long exposure image is to have something in your image that is perfectly still and something that is moving. Water, clouds, and trees blowing in the wind all work well if the rest of the scene is stationary. This difference between the elements in the scene will create drama, and will add significant value to your image. The viewer will be seeing something that cannot be seen with the naked eye.

The reason why long exposure images are so compelling is that they warp time. Water looks like a soft mist, trees look like a dull blur, and clouds become long and streaky. This is what makes a familiar scene more compelling.

Long exposure scene in Vancouver, Canada

3. What camera settings should be used?

Long exposures are ideally shot in Manual mode. If you are not sure how to shoot in Manual mode, you can use one of the other semi-manual modes such as Aperture priority or Shutter priority. Here are some quick pointers on the settings:

Shutter speed – depending on the light in your scene, your shutter time will need to be at least 10 to 15 seconds, or longer if necessary. If you are doing a seascape and the water is moving quickly, then a few seconds may be long enough to make the water look misty.
Aperture – you will want to have your aperture set at anywhere between f/8 and f/16. This will be determined by how much light is in the scene and how long you want to expose for.
ISO – keep your ISO settings as low as possible. ISO 100 is what I use for long exposures.

4. When is the best time of day to shoot long exposures?

It’s normally a good idea to shoot long exposures as the sun is setting, or just after sunset. My suggestion is to be on the scene an hour before sunset. That way you can test some shots, make sure your composition is good, and be sure all your settings are correct. Then wait.

I will sometimes simply sit there and enjoy the scene; other times I may listen to some music. But I like to be relaxed and ready for when the light starts to work. Normally you will want to start shooting about 15 minutes before the sun has completely set and up to an hour after it is below the horizon. The important part is to be willing to experiment.

Each time you decide to shoot long exposures will be a little different. The light may be brighter than you think, the sunset may not be as dramatic as you hoped, or the shot may not be just as you imagined. Be patient and experiment. I will sometimes go back to a location two or three times to try and get the shot I am looking for. Once I have it, though, the sense of reward is fantastic, and the patience and effort are paid off!

Long exposure of Science World in Vancouver

How to shoot light trails

Much of the advice for shooting light trails is very similar to the tips above. The key difference is in the timing and location of your shoot.

1. What equipment is needed to shoot light trails?

Same as above

2. What subjects are best for light trails?

For light trails to work, you need to have something with lights moving through your scene. A car, a bus, a train, and even an aircraft can work. Be sure to be out of the direction of the vehicle you are photographing. Please do not stand in the middle of the road, or on train tracks. Position yourself in a safe place to make this work. Always be aware of your surroundings. It is easy to become immersed in what you are shooting and lose sight of where you are standing. Be safe, first and foremost!

A moving bus in the scene made this shot more dynamic

3. What camera settings should be used?

Light trails, like long exposures, are ideally shot in Manual mode.

Shutter speed – depending on the light in your scene, your shutter time will need to be at least 10 to 15 seconds, or longer if necessary. Make sure that your shutter speed is long enough to capture longish light trails. You don’t want to cut them off too soon as you will have some short trails in your image that may look strange.
Aperture – you will want to have your aperture set at anywhere between f/5 and f/11. This will be determined by how much light is in the scene and how long you want the exposure.
ISO – keep your ISO settings as low as possible; ISO 100 is what I use for light trails. If your ISO is set to 500 or higher, your exposure will be shorter and you run the risk of overexposing the highlights, especially when shooting car headlights.

4. When is the best time of day to shoot light trails?

Light trails can be shot in the early evening, or after the sun has set. Each scene will be different, but sometimes it is too light to get effective light trails just after sunset. You may need to wait until 30 minutes after the sun has set to get longer light trails.

The important part, once again, is to be willing to experiment. Try different times after sunset and see what works for you. Spend time behind your camera perfecting your timing. Scout locations during the day that you will think will work for light trails and then go and try it out.

Steam Clock in Gastown, light trails on the road

Photographing after dark can be very rewarding. It is worth the effort to learn how to use these techniques to bring new images into your portfolio, and to have new skills which will enable you to shoot under any lighting conditions. Experiment and enjoy it! Happy shooting.

The post How to do Long Exposure Photography and Light Trails at Night appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Barry J Brady.

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Beginners Tips for Night Sky and Star Photography

21 Jul

The post Beginners Tips for Night Sky and Star Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Phillip Van Nostrand.

Star Photography

My favorite type of personal photography is taking night shots of the stars (long exposure pictures). I am often busy shooting pictures of people at weddings, or apartments, or models, and it’s important for me to make sure I take pictures for fun regularly. Taking pictures for no one other than myself is highly rewarding, soul filling, and fun! I also love taking travel photos and HDR photos, in this article we will take a close look at exactly how you can take your own epic star photographs.

What you need to take jaw-dropping pictures of stars

To take your star pictures, you only need three things:

a full-frame camera (for better ISO capabilities)
a fisheye lens (for the widest view of the sky)
a tripod (for stability during 15 second photos)

(Note: You can do this with a cropped sensor camera, without a tripod, and without a fisheye lens. It will just be a little harder and slightly less jaw-dropping)

Camera settings

You can nail this shot almost every time with these settings: 25 second exposure, f/2.8, ISO 1600

If your lens doesn’t open up to f/2.8 you can try 30 seconds at f/4 with ISO 1600.

Note: this kind of photography won’t work if there is a full moon out (or even a half moon). Don’t compete with large light sources, the stars will be over powered. The best location for star photography is way out in nature, away from city lights that cause “light pollution.”

Why to use these settings

The most important component of these settings is the 25-second exposure. An exposure longer than about 25 seconds will start to show star trails. Photographing star trails is a legitimate type of photography on its own, but not the type of photography you are trying to do here. Since you are limited to about 15-25 seconds max shutter speed, you still need to let in more light.

The largest aperture you can find on a fisheye lens is f/2.8, and still, your picture might not be quite bright enough to look stunning. So this is where the ISO comes into play. On a full-frame camera like the 5D Mark III or the Nikon D800, you can bump the ISO up to around 2000 without seeing much noise.

You’ll learn how to reduce noise in Lightroom in the next section for a super clean photo.

Editing in Lightroom

I do extensive retouching in Lightroom after I take my photos. I’ll usually boost the exposure up by a stop or more, and I’ll use Noise Reduction under the Detail section to reduce any unwanted “noise” (those pesky extra white, red or blue pixels that show up when you push the ISO too high).

Here is a standard star photo of mine and the Lightroom settings I used to create it:

Here are the Lightroom settings I used to edit the above photo:

1) You can see in the first panel that I bumped the whites up to +46 and brought the blacks down to -52. I really wanted to emphasize the stars against the dark sky and this is a good way to do that. Pushing the clarity up to +55 also helps define the stars against the sky, making them nice and crispy. I boosted the saturation to bring out any colors that are in the sky.

2) In the second panel, you can see that I sharpened up the image a bit, also to emphasize the stars. At the same time, I brought up the noise reduction to 33 to smooth out some of the noise that might show up, and I brought up the color to 25 for the same reasons.

Pro tips

Here is where you can have fun with the editing. Play around with the split toning sliders to make the colors in your sky appear magical. In the photo above you can see a little bit of turquoise in the lower part of the sky, and that comes from boosting that color in the Shadows of the Split Toning slider here:

You can also affect the color of the sky by playing around with the temperature and hue sliders to get some pretty magnificent looking star photos. Take a look at this one photo rendered three different ways:

Another pro tip that you may have noticed in all of the photo examples I gave here is this – shoot your stars in context. It really tells a great story to see a silhouette of a pine tree or a house in the background, and it shows the magnitude of the scene when you have an object in the foreground to compare to the stars.

Lastly, make sure you know which direction the Milky Way is. You can use an app like Sky Map to see exactly what stars are in the sky above you.

Have fun shooting, and please share your pictures below!

The post Beginners Tips for Night Sky and Star Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Phillip Van Nostrand.

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Slideshow: Apple reveals the winners of the Shot on iPhone Night mode challenge

05 Mar

Apple reveals the winners of the Shot on iPhone Night mode challenge

At the beginning of the year, Apple invited iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max users to share their best photos taken in Night mode. All 3 iPhone 11 models feature a Wide sensor with 100 percent Focus Pixels. As a result, Night mode automatically activates in low-light environments.

Thousands of photos were submitted from around the world. The winning photographers, selected from a panel of 10 judges, hail from China, India, Russia, and Spain. The judges, including Malin Fezehai, Tyler Mitchell, Sarah Lee, Alexvi Li, and Darren Soh shared their thoughts on what made the winning photos stand out.

Winning photos will be featured on apple.com, Apple’s official Instagram account which boasts 22.5 million followers, at select stores, on billboards around the world, and other third-party photo exhibitions.

Konstantin Chalabov (Moscow, Russia), iPhone 11 Pro

Location: Sakha Republic

Phil Schiller says: ‘Konstantin’s photo is a super-dramatic image shot with Night mode. It could be the opening shot of a great Cold War spy movie. It challenges us with intriguing questions — ‘Where is the driver? Where are they going? Why stop out here?’ A cool mist permeates the blue Russian hillside and snow-covered ground, framing the lonely vehicle with bright red lights that hint at an unknown danger.’

Brooks Kraft says: ‘A movie-like scene that leaves you curious about what happened in this snowy remote setting. Night mode captures the blue light exterior hue beautifully as well as the incandescent lighting inside the cab of the truck and the truck lighting — a wide variety of lighting.’

Andrei Manuilov (Moscow, Russia), iPhone 11 Pro Max

Mitsun Soni (Mumbai, Maharashtra, India), iPhone 11 Pro

Location: Quartiere San Lorenzo

Darren Soh says: ‘An amazingly well-balanced composition that throws so many questions back at the viewer — ‘Where is this? Who lives here?’ — and perhaps the most important — ‘Why is laundry hanging out to dry at night?’ As an architectural photographer, I am drawn by the image’s one point perspective that leads the viewer into the frame, right smack into the hanging pieces of clothing.’

Sarah Lee says: ‘I love this and feel it could only have been shot on Night mode. It is beautifully composed, uses symmetry very well, and without cliché to communicate a fascinating story about densely populated urban spaces and the way many people live. This work reminds me of Michael Wolf’s ‘Architecture of Density’ in its theme, but compositionally the photographer has their own take, which is really interesting.’

Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Tyler Mitchell says: ‘This one blows my mind. I have no idea where that deep rich red light is coming from on the tree. It almost feels like a UFO sitting above the tree, just out of frame. Absolutely beautiful composition as well.’

Arem Duplessis says: ‘The rich red color of the tree and ground gives this picture an otherworldly quality. Paired with the night sky, it feels like a still from a sci-fi film.’

Rubén P. Bescós (Pamplona, Navarra, Spain), iPhone 11 Pro Max

Location: Sierra del Perdón

Phil Schiller says: ‘Photography is the art of light, and Rubén’s photo magically uses light to bring this art installation in Spain to life. The color in this Night mode image is a captivating orange, beautifully framing the band of pilgrims in sharp silhouette. The crackly details on the foreground rocks add to the story of the long and difficult journey ahead for these pilgrims before they reach their holy site.’

Alexvi Li says: ‘Taking great advantage of Night mode with exposure setting, the photographer captured the silhouette of a group of people in the city light backdrop. The ground in the photo reveals beautiful texture when shooting against the light. The simple composition quickly draws viewers into a story, while delivering good image quality.’

Rustam Shagimordanov (Moscow, Russia), iPhone 11

Location: Hamnøy I Lofoten, Nordland, Norway

Kaiann Drance says: ‘A captivating shot of a winter village by the sea, which must feel cold, yet looks warm with the glow against the rocks and lights inside the red cabins, inviting a story about the people inside.’

Malin Fezehai says: ‘I love how the lights in the red cabins give a sense of warmth in the cold. The layers in the image create depth and give me a sense of cold and warmth at the same time. It’s a beautifully captured landscape image of a winter evening.’

Yu “Eric” Zhang (Beijing, China), iPhone 11 Pro Max

Jon McCormack says: ‘This image represents iPhone at its best. Capturing life as it happens, no matter what the light is! The sense of moment, intimacy and place in this image is very good. It really transports the viewer to being right there.’

Arem Duplessis says: ‘This picture has a very real quality to it. The rising steam, the silhouetted figures backlit from the lamp all align perfectly in this magical caught moment.’

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Apple’s 2020 iPhone photography contest seeks best Night mode shots

09 Jan

Shot on iPhone 11 Pro Max in Night mode by Eric Zhang.

Apple has announced another iPhone photography contest, this one soliciting photos shot using the company’s Night mode feature found on the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max. This new contest follows the first ‘Shot on iPhone’ competition announced by the company in January 2019. The new contest is open to submissions through January 29.

The 2020 iPhone Night mode photography contest opened to submissions on Wednesday, January 8; the five winning images will be announced by Apple on March 4.

Interested iPhone 11 owners can submit their favorite shots on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtags #NightmodeChallenge and #ShotoniPhone, as well as on China’s Weibo service using the tags #NightmodeChallenge# and #ShotoniPhone#.

Shot on iPhone 11 Pro in Night mode by Austin Mann.

Apple is also giving competitors the option of emailing a high-resolution version of their images to its shotoniphone@apple.com; in this case, photographers must use the following file naming convention: ‘firstname_lastname_nightmode_iPhonemodel.’

Social media submissions should include a note about which iPhone model was used to capture the image in the caption. Apple says contestants can use third-party and Photos app editing tools to edit the images. Submissions must be submitted by 11:59 PM PST on January 29 to be eligible. As well, contestants must be at least 18 years old.

The company has offered multiple tips on using the Night mode feature, including paying attention to the capture time displayed in the Night mode icon and using a tripod to keep the shots steady. Winning images will be showcased in a gallery on the Apple website, Apple Newsroom and Apple Instagram account; they may also appear in Apple’s digital campaigns, among other promotions.

The full list of judges and other details can be found in Apple’s announcement.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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How to Take Stunning Photographs in Night Fog

13 Dec

Fog Photography is an ethereal, atmospheric form of outdoor photography that produces some of the most beautiful photographs. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most difficult to capture. From the wrong exposure to a serious lack of contrast, there are many ways fog photography at night can go wrong. In this post, you’ll learn how to take stunning photographs in Continue Reading

The post How to Take Stunning Photographs in Night Fog appeared first on Photodoto.

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Google explains its Night Sight astrophotography mode in detail

27 Nov

Ever since Google launched its Night Sight feature on the Pixel 3 series the low light photography feature has been very popular with users. On the new Pixel 4 Google has updated Night Sight with a specific mode for astrophotography. The team behind it has now authored a blog post to explained the function in more detail.

In order to capture as much light as possible without using shutter speeds that would require a tripod and/or lead to blur on any moving subject, Night Sight splits the exposure across multiple frames that are aligned to compensate for camera shake and in-scene motion. In a second step the frames are averaged to reduce noise and increase image detail.

The astrophotography feature uses the same approach in principle but uses longer exposure times for individual frames and therefore relies on tripod use or some other kind of support.

Image with hot pixels (left) and the corrected version (right)

The team decided exposure times of individual frames should not be longer than 16 seconds to make the stars look like points of light rather than streaks. The team also found that most users were not patient enough to wait longer than four minutes for a full exposure. So the feature uses a maximum of 15 frames with up to 16 seconds exposure time per frame.

At such long exposure times hot pixel can become a problem. The system identifies them by comparing neighboring pixels within the same frame as well as across a sequence of frames recorded for a Night Sight image. If an outlier is detected its value is replaced by an average.

In addition the feature uses AI to identify the sky in night images and selectively darken it for image results that are closer to the real scene than what you would achieve with a conventional long exposure.

This image was captured under the lighting of a full moon. The left half shows the version without any sky processing applied. On the right the sky has been slightly darkened for a more realistic result, without affecting the landscape elements in the frame.

Night Sight is not only about capture, though, ??it also includes a special viewfinder that is optimized for shooting in ultra-low light. When the shutter is pressed each individual long-exposure frame is displayed as it is captured, showing much more detail than the standard preview image. The composition can then be corrected and a new Night Sight shot triggered.

Some of the results we have seen have been impressive. For more more technical detail head over to the original post on the Google blog. A n album of full-size sample images can be found here. The team has also put together a helpful guide for using the feature in pdf format.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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The Google Pixel 4 Will Feature Two Cameras Plus Enhanced Night Sight

19 Oct

The post The Google Pixel 4 Will Feature Two Cameras Plus Enhanced Night Sight appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Earlier this week Google announced the long-awaited Pixel 4, which promises to take smartphone photography to a whole new level.

This comes in the wake of Apple’s iPhone 11 Pro announcement last month, which saw the debut of a triple-camera setup and features such as Night Mode.

In other words, the Pixel 4 is a competitor in an intense fight to create the best cameras, the best lenses, and the best camera software.

So what does the Google Pixel 4 offer?

Let’s take a closer look:

First, the Google Pixel 4 features a dual-camera setup, offering the usual wide-angle lens alongside a new 2X telephoto option. This isn’t unique (Apple has regularly included “telephoto” lenses going all the way back to the iPhone 7 Plus), but it is a nice addition for those who need a bit more reach. You can use the 2X lens for tighter portraits, and it’s also useful for street photography, where you often need to photograph subjects from a distance.

Interestingly, Google has decided to keep the wide-angle camera at 12 megapixels, but has packed in a 16-megapixel sensor for the telephoto camera. While plenty of photographers will be excited by this jump in resolution, it remains to be seen whether such tiny pixels will result in significant noise.

The dual-camera setup should also improve Google’s Portrait Mode, and Google has promised more natural background blur and very precise edges (e.g., when dealing with hair). Truthfully, I’m skeptical. I’ve yet to see a Portrait mode photo that looks perfect on any smartphone camera. But I’ll wait until I see the results from the Pixel 4 before judging.

One cool new feature that will debut in the Pixel 4 is Live HDR. When you go to capture an HDR photo, you’ll be able to see a live HDR preview on your smartphone screen; this should give you a sense of what you can expect from the HDR+ effect.

Finally, if you enjoy doing astrophotography, you’re in luck: The Pixel 4 offers an improved Night Sight mode, in which you can take stunning photos of the night sky. It works by taking a series of long exposures, before blending them together to create a beautiful final photo. Note that you’ll need a tripod or other method of stabilization to get sharp astrophotography shots.

Overall, the Google Pixel 4 offers some impressive new features, even if none of them feel totally groundbreaking. Up until now, the Pixel lineup has dominated regarding low-light shooting, and the enhanced Night Sight suggests that Google plans to keep running with this success.

The Google Pixel 4 is currently available for preorder starting at $ 799 USD and will hit the shelves on October 24.

You can check out this first look video from cnet to get more of an idea of the Google Pixel 4.

Are you interested in the Google Pixel 4? Let us know in the comments!

The post The Google Pixel 4 Will Feature Two Cameras Plus Enhanced Night Sight appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

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