Night photography scares the soul out of many photographers. How do you even take photos when there’s no light? This is the question that they usually ask.
Well sure, there’s a shortage of light during the night but the artificial light sources that we have out there are plenty to take creative masterpieces.
When done properly nighttime pictures can come out much better than daytime photos. You just need to know how to make the most of what’s available. They also appear unique as not many people head outside when it is dark out there.
Night Photography Requirements
1. Lens for Night Photography
There are three aspects that you should consider when choosing the lens for night photography – focal length, aperture, and stabilization.
Choose your focal length based on what you want to photograph. For cityscape, landscapes, or the night sky, take a wide angle with you. For nighttime street photography, something between a wide to medium telephoto would do. For night portraits, take a telephoto lens.
No matter what lens you decide to take along, make sure that they have a wide aperture. While an aperture of f/1.8 or wider would be great, a minimum of f/2.8 is a must. Otherwise, you might really struggle taking photos in poorly lit conditions.
Lastly, having stabilization is a huge plus. A lens with stabilization will allow you to take steady shots handheld even at slow shutter speeds. It’s a must if you don’t plan on carrying a tripod along with you.
2. Camera for Night Photography
You don’t need a special type of camera to shoot at night. However, it’ll help you a lot if your camera has a manual mode. This lets you control the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO independently to allow maximum light to enter the camera.
It also helps if your camera has a good high ISO performance; just that the image must be usable even if you push the ISO to around 6,400 or 12,800. We’re not looking for a squeaky clean photo at those ISOs.
3. Tripod or a Gorillapod and Remote Shutter Release
A tripod or a gorillapod is a must if you want to take some long exposure shots or astrophotos. Otherwise, if your aim to walk around taking photos, it’s better to leave them at home.
If you plan on using the tripod then carry a remote shutter release with you as well. Using it will further help you to avoid any camera shake when pressing the shutter button. Don’t worry if you don’t have one. You can use a 2-second timer instead.
4. Other Accessories for Night Photography
Depending on how long you intend to stay out at night to take photos, there are some other things that you’d want to take with you.
- Spare battery, especially during winter, as batteries die faster in the cold
- A flashlight – a red one if you’re going out for astrophotography; they help retain your night vision
- Warm clothing, hot fluids to drink, and something to munch on
7 Night Photography Ideas
1. Shoot Night Portraits
While shooting night portraits sounds like a bad idea at first, you’ll know why we highly recommend you do it.
Look for artificial light sources like lamp posts, neon lights, windows of a well-lit restaurant, and so on, and place your subject close to them. Have their face turned towards the light and shoot with a wide aperture like f/2.8 or wider.
This will create an excellent tonal and color contrast with the darker surrounding and make your subject stand out better.
2. Shoot During a Rainy Night
Again, this might sound like a horrible idea at first but hear us out. The city with the wet roads, people with umbrellas, and the droplets on the window panes will open a whole new photographic opportunity for you. It’s like the rain adds a different mood to the image.
Moreover, try capturing the reflections of the traffic light on the wet road. The vibrance will surely please anyone.
3. Photograph Traffic for Light Trails
Nighttime gives you a perfect opportunity to photograph light trails. With people returning to their homes from work, and the low light environment, set your camera to shoot long exposures and capture mesmerizing light trails.
Set your camera on a tripod and with the camera pointed to the traffic shoot set the shutter speed to around 5-10 seconds and adjust the ISO and aperture accordingly. You can photograph beautiful light trails this way.
Be sure to go through the section on how to photograph light trails in our long exposure photography guide for complete details.
4. Night: Perfect Time for Photographing Bokeh Balls
Bokeh balls are the circular blurry shapes that are formed in the areas that are out of focus in an image. To introduce bokeh balls in your image, look for areas that have multiple light sources either in the foreground or the background.
Then, with the aperture wide open, around f/1.8 preferably, focus on the subject and adjust your shutter speed and ISO accordingly. This will result in a sharp image of the subject with soft bokeh balls in the foreground/background.
Besides looking aesthetically pleasing, the bokeh balls can add vibrance and depth to your images.
In case you have a portrait with bokeh balls in the background, but you want to add some bokeh balls in the foreground too, Colorcinch has a very simple way for you to do it.
Step 1: Upload your image to Colorcinch.
Step 2: Navigate to Overlays – Bokeh.
Step 3: From the variety of bokeh overlays, select the one that suits your image. You can make further adjustments to the bokeh balls by clicking on the Settings icon. Finally, use the Slider to adjust the intensity of the bokeh balls and click Apply.
Have a look at the following comparison to see how much of a difference adding bokeh makes to the image.
5. Photograph Local Monuments at Night
If you have a monument or some architecturally beautiful buildings in your neighborhood, you must visit them during the night. Besides being free from the bustling crowd, the light used to light them makes them appear quite different from the daytime.
The lighting can accentuate the textures, patterns, and any structures that might be present in the monument/building.
6. Photograph Skyline at Night
Skylines appear simply mesmerizing during nighttime. The lights on the buildings stand out beautifully against the dark horizon, begging to be photographed. While it’s quite easy to ignore the buildings during the day, the story is completely different at night time.
It’s a bonus if you can find a water body in the foreground to include the skyline’s reflection on it.
7. Night Time Street Photography
Look at the right place and you’ll find the street equally lively even during the nighttime. Street photos taken during the night are something you don’t come across often. This makes it a perfect opportunity for you to take unique shots.
A medium-range prime lens in the range of 24-35mm would be perfect to capture the nightlife that goes around the city. And don’t be afraid to use a high ISO if you need to freeze motion. After all, a noisy photo is still better than a blurry photo.
On second thought, if done creatively, even your blurry street photo can turn out to be very meaningful.
To Sum It Up
While the shortage of light can make night photography a challenging genre, the rewards are truly worth it. You get various opportunities to take and present photos that are truly unique and stand out from the crowd easily.
Taking good night photos requires that you have a good understanding of what your camera gear is capable of so that you can take their full advantage. But even if you are a beginner, night photography is still a good avenue to learn how your settings can affect your photos.
