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Styles: Night Photography
The Darkness of Night 
Under section 6.5 we saw that snow scenes need to be overexposed so that the image retains the 'whiteness' of the scene. The reverse is true for night photography. The camera will attempt to gather as much light as possible to create an image with a full range of brightness, and this can lead to rather grey images. You should use the exposure compensation to underexpose by about 1 stop.
Ideally you should also use auto bracketing set to about ±0.5EV to capture three images at -1.5, -1.0 and -0.5EV.
Colour in the Sky
The best time to get great night time shots is the hour just after sunset. This may be counterintuitive at first as what we are saying here is that the best night shots aren’t actually taken at night they are taken around dusk. The reason for this is that dark black skies generally don’t look good in a photo, a bit of colour in the sky provides something interesting to look at and also provides a little light for other elements in the scene.
Tripod for stability
Use a tripod. Night time is great for playing around with long exposures but if you don't have a means of holding the camera perfectly still, then you will get plenty of pictures with severe camera shake.
Turn OFF the Flash
Most compacts have a default flash mode that activates the flash as soon as the light falls below a certain level. If you want to capture a night scene, you MUST turn the flash off. Remember that the built in flash on a camera will only illuminate objects up to about 5m in front of the camera.
If you don't turn the flash off, the camera will set a fast shutter speed as it assumes your subject will be lit by the flash alone, and you will end up with a very dark picture.
Autofocus problems 
Often the autofocus system on a camera will struggle so you may need to resort to manual focus to get sharp images.
Night Portraits (ideally a tripod is required)
If you want to capture a night scene with people in the foreground, you will need to use the flash to light the subjects. However this will create a very dark background. If your camera supports it, you need to select slow syncro flash. This will fire the flash to light your subject, however it will then hold the shutter open as though the flash was turned off in an attempt to capture some of the background. Because the shutter is open for a while, you will need to either use a tripod or set the camera on a steady surface.
You should ask your subject to remain still after the flash has gone off as the shutter will still be open. If you have a wicked sense of humour, see how long you can have them stand still after the flash has fired, not for the sake of the picture… just because it’s fun to watch them struggle!
More on Long Exposures 
If you have a tripod, long exposure photography is very rewarding and the results can be stunning. Long exposures can be anything from about 1/4 second to many minutes (most DSLRs go up to 30 seconds, however they often have a 'bulb' mode where the shutter stays open for as long as the shutter button is pressed down.
- Use mirror lockup to cut down internal camera vibration.
- Use self-timer to prevent camera shake when pressing shutter button.
- Alternatively, use a cable or wireless release to trigger the shutter.
- Use the lowest ISO available on your camera. Since you are using a tripod, slow shutter speeds don't matter, and you are going to get a better picture selecting 8s at ISO 100 than 1s at ISO 800.
Light Trails
Some interesting pictures can be obtained at night using long exposures combined with bright moving sources of light (such as car headlamps). In the picture below left, the camera was set up on the tripod and the shutter was opened just as a bus was about to drive in front of the camera. The lower lights are the headlamps of the bus and numerous cars - the higher light streaks are from the internal bus lights.
Painting with Light
There are a couple of methods that can be employed here. You can take your flash off the camera and walk around firing the flash at various parts of a night scene or you can use a torch (flashlight) to illuminate various elements of the scene. Select a long shutter speed and use one of these two light sources on the various subjects within your picture.
More Ideas
Factories are often lit at night and if there are smoke chimneys, you will find some great opportunities.
- Thunderstorms
- Bodies of water reflecting the moonlight
- Amusement rides
- Astrophotography (moon and stars)
- Long exposure with multiple flash.
An Experiment
Find the time of sunset and pick a nice photographic spot. Set up a tripod and take a picture every minute from about 10 minutes before sunset to about 50 minutes after. You will see how much and how quickly the colour of the sky can change.
Sample Pictures
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Photo by Colin
The lighting on this foot bridge stood out against for yellowness of the surrounding street lighting.
Exposure: 4.5s, f/5, ISO 100
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Photo by Phil
Exposure: 30s, f/16, ISO 100. |
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Photographs
This is a site about photography so I'm sure you are expecting to see plenty of pictures.
For now, why not take a peek at the flickr galleries belonging to the two authors of this site.
Colin's Flickr Page
Phil's Flickr Page
"I just walk around, observing the subject from various angles until the picture elements arrange themselves into a composition that pleases my eye."
- Andrew Kertesz
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