Suggestions for Night Photohraphy

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Permalink Reply by Nathaniel on December 28, 2008 at 9:55pm

night photography is tricky, especially when you are trying photograph a person. First, make sure your model understands that they must stay as still as possible for the duration the shutter is open. Second, are you shooting in JPEG or RAW format? For the kind of shots your are doing you really need to be shooting in RAW. If you are shooting in RAW there are 3 settings that are important to shooting night photography:

Click on the links for a definition and explanation to these terms.

f-stop. The lower the number the more light is allowed in, the higher the number, less light.

shutter speed or exposure time (how long the shutter stays open)

ISO speed which determines how sensitive your camera is to light. The higher the number of the ISO speed the more sensitive it is to light.

It is important to understand how these settings coincide and work together. Night photography can be a very tricky thing so don't get frustrated if it doesn't work the way you want it to right away. Its all about trial and error in the beginning. Hope this help, and good luck!

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Permalink Reply by CameraClicker on December 29, 2008 at 4:25am

Your subject moved more than just blinking. Even blinking can be a problem.

Use a remote shutter release, either cable or wireless. Tell your subject to be perfectly still for the exposure duration plus five or ten seconds. Tell your subject you are starting, then when your subject has settled, open the shutter. Tell your subject when it is safe to move again. Watch your subject for the duration of the exposure, if there was movement, take the shot again. Check the shot on the back of the camera by zooming in.

f-stop, shutter speed and ISO matter even more if you are shooting JPEG. RAW gives more latitude for post processing so it can be a good safety feature. If you get everything right, shooting JPEG is fine.

Something else we usually do with night photography is lock the mirror up a second or two before releasing the shutter. If you are doing this, it is very important to tell your subject what is going on because the clicks and pops the camera is making are out of sync with recording the image. The second click is the start of recording and the third click is the end.

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Permalink Reply by Sean on December 29, 2008 at 7:00pm

Well your image is clear and in focus...you only problem is that your model moved. I am only going to guess on the shutter speed at about 2-8 seconds with the other settings. The blur looks like the movement you have when you breath. You could have your model hold their breath for that period of time. For nighttime photography I don't like to raise the iso, because there will be noise just because you are shooting at night...if the iso goes any higher then you will just get more noise.
Take the camera off "aperture priority"...change it to "manual" and play with the settings...you will learn so much more so much faster. Good luck and I am looking forward to seeing more from you.

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Permalink Reply by Ashton on December 29, 2008 at 9:41pm

Thanks! I usually do have it on aperture priority...

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Permalink Reply by Simon Plant ProPhotoInsights on February 23, 2009 at 3:11pm

Ashton check out the video section I have added one of my tutorials on low light photography plus I have one on shooting starlight images at my training site.
Cheers,
Simon

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