How To Photograph In The Dark

One of the challenges of taking pictures this time of year is the light – or, more accurately, the lack of it. When you get up in the morning it’s dark by the time you get home from work it’s dark again. An during the few precious hours in between, the sky is all to often a bland, Tupperware grey, with correspondingly low levels of illumination.

No wonder, then, that many photographers mothball their gear for the winter months, and hibernate in front o the TV until spring comes round again.

But if, instead of regarding the relative lack of light as problem, you start thinking of it as an opportunity to try something new, your picture-taking will get a much-needed boost, and you’ll feel motivated to keep on shooting.

If you’re prepared to wrap up warm, it’s a really great time to capture some cracking urban landscapes an country scenes. While those who like their creature comfort can crank up the central heating and improvise a studio a home suitable for everything from portraits to still-life Other ideal subjects include historic buildings such a castles and cathedrals, and neon-signed nightlife such a clubs and bars – with streets you wouldn’t look at twice during the day suddenly coming to life as floodlights an illuminations are switched on.

The term ‘night photography’, though, is misleading. The best time to take pictures of street scenes and buildings I actually at dusk, just after the sun’s gone down and while there’s still plenty of blue in the sky. If you leave it any late the sky will come out a dense black with the lights a burnt out highlights. As a rule of thumb, an hour before it gets dark is when you should begin shooting for the best results In the days of film, shooting at night was, well, nightmare – the enormous contrast range meant getting the exposure right was tricky and unpredictable, and It wasn’t until you picked up the prints you found out whether you’d been successful or, more commonly, not Working digitally means you see the result immediately, and on many cameras can fine-tune the exposure to get the balance right. And you can obviously tweak images on the computer later t improve matters further. What makes night photograph appealing are the bright, vivid lights, and you need t make sure the camera’s white balance system doesn’t’ compensate for them – or the pictures will be flat an uninspiring. If you have a choice, set the controls for daylight balance, and you’ll capture the vibrant warmth which mercury-vapors and tungsten illumination give to subjects.

In bright street lighting you might just get away wit hand-holding, especially if you increase the ISO setting but the risk of camera-shake is always present. Bracing yourself against a lamppost or resting the camera on wall can help, but if you’re serious about nighttime shooting a tripod is virtually essential.

Overall, a tripod is one of the most useful accessories you can have and we’ll be looking at other ways you might benefit from owning one in a moment.

If you have a ‘compact’ digital camera you don’t need a particularly heavy or sturdy tripod. As long it has stable legs, isn’t flimsy, and features an adjustable head It should do just fine. Those fortunate enough to have digital SLR and longer, heavier lenses should consider investing in something a little more robust. Most digital cameras feature shutter speeds down to at least 1/ second or 1 second, while many go down to 4, 8, 15 o even 30 seconds, is more than adequate for the vast majority of nocturnal activity.

Only a handful of models feature a ‘B’ setting that enables you to hold the shutter open for as long as you like, but this is far from essential unless you really get bitten by the night photography bug. If you want to ad animation to your low-light shots, try including moving cars, whose front and rear lights will streak across the picture during long exposures

In fact, you can make this the whole point of wonderful special effects picture by finding a good vantage point on a flyover and looking down on a bus road and shooting as traffic passes below. A tripod on its own won’t protect you from shake. If you jab the shutter as you take the picture you’ll jar the camera and get blurring. A gentle, steady squeeze is what’s required. Unfortunately, few digital camera allow you to take the picture using a cable release though some do offer remote firing via an optional remote control, and it can be worth getting one if you plan to shoot in low light a lot

A simple alternative that’s available on most camera is to use the self-timer designed to enable you to include yourself in the picture. During the gap between you pressing the release and the shutter actually firing which is typically 10-12 seconds, any movement will have ceased with the result that pictures are pin-sharp.