Night Photography Tips

Night photography is always fun and can produce exciting images especially when there are some stunning lights or fireworks to capture. I was fortunate the other evening to notice some awesome lights being reflected on Sarasota Bay very close to where I live. So close actually, I was out there shooting the skyline in my bathrobe.  Now that alone would of been a great photograph! I have seen the water very still before and some nice reflections, but never such vibrant lights being reflected. Overall, the air and water temperatures were on the cooler to cold side so maybe that contributed to the colorful reflections. It truly was magical, so I grabbed my camera and tripod and got to work doing night photography.

Night Photography Tips

  1. Pump up your ISO. I used 400 for the photo below. Unfortunately, with anything much higher than ISO 400 combined with the low light conditions of night photography you may see a lot of noise.
  2. A tripod is a must or something very sturdy to support your camera.
  3. Use Manual Mode on your camera. This will allow you to adjust independently your Aperture and Shutter Speed.
  4. Keep your Aperture as wide as you can. If the distance between your camera and subject matter is great as in the image below, f4.5 to f5.6 will work just fine, producing sharp in focus images.
  5. You will also have to open up your Shutter to allow more light. On the camera’s meter my image was a good 1-2 stops underexposed.
  6. A remote shutter release is recommended or you can also use the timer on your camera.
  7. Take lots of snaps at various Aperture and Shutter speeds and be sure to bracket, bracket, bracket.  Experimenting and practice is the best teacher for night photography along with photography in general.
  8. Remember to bring a flashlight.  This believe me is a critical tool for doing night photography.

“Night Lights”

Night photography of Sarasota Skyline

Sarasota skyline at night.

Well, I hope these night photography tips have been helpful. Now go have some fun shooting your local skyline or any other interesting lights in your neighborhood or city.

If interested in night photography, you may enjoy this post on shooting lightning strikes.

Thanks for reading and more of my work can be viewed at www.susanmcanany.com.