Night Photography

Sometimes people ask me ( sometimes at work and sometimes when looking at my photos ) how do you take a beautiful, clear night photo?  Well, it depends on what the subject is.  Different subjects require different settings to consider.  However, there are a few things that are true for taking any type of night photo.

1.  Use a tripod.  This is probably the most important thing to consider.  Why?  When taking a photo at night, there is much less available light to work with.   There is no sunlight ( although the moonlight does provide some light ) so it makes taking photos hand held, virtually impossible.  Even if a flash is used, its still best to use a tripod.  If a tripod is not available, steadying a camera on a wall or holding it tightly, close to your body can work but it's no substitute for using a tripod.

Yes, I know carrying a tripod is a pain but that's the price to pay to take a sharp, clear photo.  And actually, its not that bad.  I have two different ones, but mainly I use this one.  Its not the lightest one out there but its not too bad.

 

2.  Use a remote shutter release, if possible.  What is a remote shutter release?  It's a hand held remote control that controls the shutter when taking a photograph.  Why use it?  Any little bit of movement can affect the focus quality of a photo at night time.  Yes, it's possible to press the shutter like normal, but it's better to use a remote shutter release to avoid any camera shake.  If your camera doesn't support a remote shutter release, using the timer can work too.

 

You can see on my camera, the shutter release is a cable that plugs into the side of the camera.  There are some that are wireless.
 

3.  The settings on the camera to take the actual photo.  First, the camera you use should have settings that you can program yourself.  Shutter Priority ( to set the shutter speed you want ), Aperture Priority ( to set the aperture, or F-stop setting you want ) and / or Manual Setting ( just as it sounds, you can control both shutter and aperture settings yourself  ).    It doesn't have to be an expensive SLR camera.  There are smaller, hand held cameras that allow you to customize these settings too.

After that, this is the tricky part because it requires a lot of experimentation to figure out what is the best setting for a particular photo.   A lot of times, I have to take many, many photos of the same subject, using different settings.  It's an advantage to use a digital nowadays, because I can take as many shots as I want and not worry about wasting film.   I can then review the different shots on my PC and then delete the ones that I don't like.  Also, the LCD on my camera displays the different settings I used so I can use that information later as a guide for similar photos in the future.  It's a constant learning experience for sure.

There's more to it than that, but that's the basics.  

Here are a few photos I took recently.  Each required a different set of settings and a lot of trial and error.

This first photo is a photo of St. Ignatius Catholic Church taken from atop Twin Peaks.   Twin Peaks is just what the name implies, two small mountains in San Francisco.  They are similar and are mainly undeveloped land.  At the top is a vista point where you can see a panoramic view of the city below.  On a clear day, you can see the entire city.

Also, this photo is taken during "blue hour".  "Blue hour" is the time after sunset ( and in the morning I guess, before sunrise ) when the sky is dark but not completely dark.  If the photo is taken with the correct exposure, and with a bit of luck, it makes the sky appear a deep blue.  This photo is not so blue but the effect is still visible.  Its important to have things set up beforehand if you plan to take a "blue hour" photo because there is only a short amount of time to capture the image.

 

The next one is a view of San Francisco, also from Twin Peaks.   I like this photo for a few reasons.  One reason is because of the orange-colored street lights that appear near the middle of the photo.   That street is Market Street, the main street that runs through San Francisco.  You can also see the lights of the Bay Bridge and the lights of the cars that are crossing over from the East Bay.

 

This photo is the lights of the San Francisco Bay Bridge and the city's skyline.  This photo was taken from Yerba Buena Island / Treasure Island.  These two islands sit in the middle of the Bay.  The Bay Bridge runs through Yerba Buena Island, which is now occupied by a U.S. Coast Guard station.  Treasure Island is a man-made island that used to be a Naval Station but has been converted into residences and other uses, such as sound stages used for television and movie productions.  

I like this photo because it shows three of the towers of the Bay Bridge, and the lit span reaching out across the water, connecting to the city of San Francisco.  The glowing lights reflected off the water was a difficult effect to capture because I had to walk about half a mile away from the vista point, then climb up onto a raised pedestal overlooking the water.  ( The vista point is too low to see the reflection of the lights ).  It was actually a bit dangerous going out there as I would have fallen into the Bay if I slipped or lost my balance, but I think the resulting photo was worth it. 

The last photo is the sky after sunset.  This was taken along Highway 1, past the town of Davenport.   There's really nothing in this area, other than miles of California beaches overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  

The sunset was not really special this evening but as I was getting ready to take an entirely different shot, I looked up at the sky to see it this reddish-orange glow across the ocean.  So, I stopped what I was going to photograph and quickly ran to the end of this cliff looking out over the beach, set up my tripod and snapped as many shots as I could while the sky was still this color.  Once the color faded into the night sky, I decided to forget about the original photo.  It wasn't going to get much better than this one.