Taking pictures at night can be a little difficult, especially when you do it for the first time. That's why we want to help with a few important tips on how to photograph at night and how to retouch the images.
First of all, let's assume you want to take some cool pictures of your city at night. If you live in larger city, the combination of beautiful buildings and lights can be spectacular.
Before anything else, you will need to find a good angle in order to have a good composition. If your subject is a building, try avoid having a black, dull sky in your frame. It will only take up space and ruin the composition. Instead, try to find the best angle that will make the building stand out. A high vantage point is preferred if you have access to it.
Regarding gear and settings, there are a few things you need to remember. The most important piece of equipment when it comes to nighttime photography is the tripod. The reason for that is that you are going to use long exposures of 5 seconds or more. The ISO speed should be the lowest your camera allows in order to keep the maximum amount of detail and lowest noise.
Set the aperture to f11-f16 depending on conditions. You will find that a smaller aperture will have a star like effect on public lighting, ultimately adding to the visual appeal of your photograph.
We also recommend using a remote control or the camera's self timer to make sure there is absolutely no camera movement. From a shooting point of view, this pretty much covers it. Good results come with practice, so take this technical advice and go out shooting.
I'll leave the retouching part to French photographer Serge Ramelli, who does a terrific job of demonstrating how you should edit a nighttime photo in this video.
Recommended Night Time Photography Reading:
- Night and Low-Light Photography Photo Workshop
- The Low Light Photography Field Guide
- The Complete Guide to Digital Night & Low-Light Photography
- Night Photography: Finding your way in the dark
