A Guide to Nocturnal Photography

Introduction
Similarities to Other Photography
Differences
Specific Tips
Conclusion

Introduction

In some ways "nocturnal" photography is no different from most genres, and in other ways, there's a world of difference. This article will explore the similarities and differences, and give tips to overcome some of the specific issues that are rarely encountered in other fields.

Similarities to Other Photography

First and foremost, we need to remember that photography is both an art and a science; gear is generally less important than composition, mood, and other purely artistic factors, when shooting night photos. That's not to say quality gear is useless; the point is that the skills you've already cultivated in other genres of photography apply here as well.

Landscape photographers have a few mantras: "A tripod is your sharpest lens" along with "f/8 and be there." The fact is that a tripod helps in most types of photography, with the few obvious exceptions of candid portraiture, some wildlife or sports, street photography, et cetera. This is more of a subtle difference, but a tripod is required instead of useful here.

Differences

There are two main challenges you'll face shooting outdoors under a night sky, that are less common in daylight photography: overwhelming darkness can make focus difficult, and exposure is a trickier matter because most night scenes have an extremely wide range of contrast, far exceeding the tonal range of film or digital.

Exposure times stretch into many seconds, perhaps even minutes. This is where the tripod comes in; if you use an SLR camera, this is also a great time to familiarize yourself with the mirror-lockup feature. Use either a remote shutter release or the timer mode, to avoid shaking or vibrating the camera as you press the shutter release. Again, these techniques will be familiar to the landscape photographer, but are uncommon in many genres, but strictly required in night photography.

We all know the trade-off in quality that comes with a higher ISO/ASA value, or a more sensitive ( to light ) recording medium. However at some point, film suffers reciprocity breakdown and digital becomes overwhelmed with hot pixel noise and other artifacts related to time ( example 10 minute exposure from an early digital SLR - notice the magenta bar to the right of the frame ). In general you want to use the lowest sensitivity rating you can get away with, but when you face much longer-than-normal exposure times, it pays to experiment to find the point of diminishing returns.

Specific Tips

• Use a tripod, MLU, and a remote or at least timer mode.
• Bring a flash-light and/or laser pointer to help achieve focus in the darkness. If possible, use a brighter ( big aperture ) lens to gather more light, simply to make focus easier.
• Always bracket your exposure, whether you intend to create an "HDR" or not.
• Shoot at twilight, and ideally on a night with interesting weather to give visual appeal to your images. If the sky is plain, emphasize the foreground instead.
• Practice!

Conclusion

Photos with glittering lights set against a deep blue sky are naturally beautiful, and a tempting subject for photographers. Shooting at night is a lot like riding a bike; there's a learning curve, but a person quickly gets up to speed. And while there are some unique considerations, many of the skills you've already built in your photography will apply here.

For more tips and sample photos demonstrating the use of this advice, see A Primer on Night Photography, by the author of this article. But, there's no substitution for hands-on experience.

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