Shooting at night camera settings. Image quality setting. Shooting with a long exposure on a tripod
Photos taken in the evening and at night look unusual: the light of the moon and electric lamps transforms the landscape. The only thing left for the photographer is to capture it artistically and technically competently. A picture is created when the required amount of light hits the photosensitive element of the camera, so in the evening and at night when low light shooting rules are changing. The material presented in this article is designed for a photographer who is familiar with the basics of exposure and the functionality of his camera, and all the tips are given from the condition that we want to make not just a beautiful, but also a technically correct frame.
How to photograph at night: preparation for shooting
Preparation is an important part of location shooting. In low light conditions, it's hard to get a sharp, blur-free shot. To avoid blurring (in slang "shake"), among other things, you need to use a tripod.
The tripod leg is responsible for stability, the head - for the orientation and mounting of the camera. The tripod as a whole, or the tripod in particular, may be metal or plastic. Plastic is light and cheap, but it does not fix the camera well, it is fragile, unstable in the wind, and even its slight vibration does not fade for a long time. metal structure more expensive and heavier, but stronger and more stable. There are also tripods with carbon tripods: they, having a lightweight carbon frame and high strength metal parts, combine the best characteristics of plastic and metal models.
Professional tripods have interchangeable heads - universal and specialized (for example, for shooting horizontal and vertical panoramas, macro photography). They also differ in the way and ease of adjusting the camera position. For example, a ball head based on a sphere enclosed in a vise is convenient for shooting in which the camera is constantly moving in several planes. It provides smooth and precise movement of the camera and is fixed at all tilt angles.
The three-axis head has separate adjustment levers for each of the three planes. And the main difference between a panoramic head and others is the ability to rotate the camera with the center of rotation at the nodal point of the lens. That is, the rotation occurs around the point where the streams of light converge before reaching the photosensitive element of the camera. If you need to shoot a panorama consisting of several rows, panoramic heads are used with the ability to tilt the camera up and down - up to the zenith (vertically up, +90° from the horizon) and nadir (vertically down, -90° from the horizon).
Remember that there are several positions in which the tripod is most stable. When setting up, you need to spread the tripod legs wide to move the center of gravity lower and, if the shooting tasks allow, not to raise its head high.
When shooting at slow shutter speeds, even pressing the shutter button can cause slight camera shake and spoil the shot. If possible, set the shutter delay mode to 2, 5, or 10 seconds, or use the remote remote control. If you will be shooting in cold weather, charge the battery fully and take a spare. Remember that batteries drain faster in cold weather.
Photographing at night
Night photography is called not only shooting at night, but also at sunset. Sunset lasts about an hour, so you need to plan your shooting location in advance and arrive at least half an hour before it starts. This time will be needed to select the angle and camera settings.
Adjusting the exact white balance when shooting at night is quite difficult. When you change the composition, the number of light sources changes, the variety of which in the city can greatly change the color temperature. In our case, it would be best to leave the white balance in automatic mode. Shooting in RAW format will allow you to get an original file that you can work with repeatedly without changing the digital negative: correct the white balance, perform exposure compensation.
The end result depends on the selected metering method. Matrix metering determines exposure settings based on data from all areas of the frame. It is great for evenly lit scenes. The center-weighted method measures the entire field of the frame, but most of the measurement is concentrated in the center of the frame within a circle with a diameter of 8-10 mm, which is displayed in the viewfinder. This metering method is best used when a very bright light source enters the frame and you need to determine the exposure without its participation. The point method for determining exposure reads information from a point 1–2% of the frame area located in the center of the current focus area.
So, with uniform lighting, matrix metering is used, and in difficult conditions- center-weighted or spot.
You should not raise the ISO value above 400. The higher the sensitivity, the more digital noise will appear in the picture. ISO400 level on most reflex cameras gives an acceptable quality for the monitor and even more so for printing. Higher values tend to result in a sharp drop in picture quality.
Often in low light conditions there is a problem with focusing. For clear shots, try to focus on a contrasting or well-lit subject. For example, on road markings or on the bright windows of a building. The main thing is not to focus on a homogeneous object, whether it be gray wall, sky or asphalt.
Working with endurance is the most important point night photography. Relatively fast shutter speeds (1/30 - 2 seconds) emphasize the movement of objects, blurring them against a static, clear background. Shutter speeds longer than 2 seconds already show movement differently: moving cars are not visible, headlights turn into streaks of light, fast-moving people are not shown in the photo. If your main goal is to focus on movement, it's best to shoot in shutter priority mode. If you are photographing a landscape, use aperture priority mode to be able to influence the depth of field.
Working with light
When shooting at night, the flash will not be able to evenly illuminate the entire frame, but it can be used to highlight and make a moving object static. Set the rear-curtain sync - the flash will fire at the end of the exposure, so that the subject will be sufficiently illuminated, but at the same time its movement will be emphasized by a blurry trail not in front of it, but behind it.
In low light conditions, light becomes a tool. Using a flashlight, you can dose the amount of light that falls on an object, thereby making it stand out from the surroundings. This method is called a light brush. Having fixed the camera on a tripod, take a flashlight, set the shutter speed to 30 seconds or Bulb (in this mode, the shutter remains open for an arbitrary period of time) and, while exposing the frame, evenly illuminate the parts of the object that you want to focus on. This method requires care and practice.
The Bulb mode has one specialty - using it, you can shoot nighttime thunderstorms. To do this, you need to set the shutter speed to this mode and focus the lens to infinity. The aperture needs to be chosen taking into account the situation: for example, when you catch lightning in the frame, it will make your picture brighter. In this case, it is best to use a lens with a focal length of less than 28 mm, since it is convenient not only for a wide angle, but also for a large depth of field. Remember that when shooting during a thunderstorm, you need to be careful not to stand with a tripod in an open field. It is also dangerous to be near tall tree, tower or power line.
Often, during a long exposure, an extraneous light source enters the frame. For example, when shooting the movement of cars during the exposure, a red light turns on and the cars stop. In this case, spots of light will appear in the frame where the cars were motionless, and their outlines become visible. To avoid this, use a small piece of black paper to temporarily cover the lens. It can also be used to capture multiple exposure shots. If during the fireworks several times alternately cover and open the lens, you get a frame with multiple volleys of fireworks.
Shooting at night or in the dark. Oh yeah.
This is what people think about the least when buying a camera and what they come to very quickly. Night shooting is so romantic.
Technically, shooting handheld in the dark is not difficult, but there are a number of significant limitations that reduce it to the level of impossibility or unacceptable quality:
- Long exposure due to low light
- High ISO due to slow shutter speed
- Digital noise due to high ISO
How do beginner photographers "correctly" take pictures at night ?!
Undemanding young photographers raise the built-in flash and click the shutter with gusto, blinding everyone around. The more attentive, not necessarily the more experienced, frown in displeasure at the sight of flat faces, red eyes, and unnatural grotesque lighting.
Others, who have read photo blogs with answers on how to take pictures and have already bought a tripod, suddenly discover that apparently still people are very mobile when shooting at slow shutter speeds. Say hello to blurry photos and a Manfrotto tripod for a lot of money. :)
Still others joyfully raise ISO, especially if a SLR camera allows you to raise ISO to over 25k +, and then sigh sadly, looking at photographs hopelessly spoiled by digital noise.
Fourth are faced with incorrect autofocus. It seems like the camera is aimed, but not in the right direction and not in the same way, in general. Or it refuses to focus at all.
These are the main problems that our photographer will visit when trying to photograph something at night or just in the dark. However, the good news is that these problems are completely solvable, if approached skillfully.
When talking about night photography, you need to know that there are two main photo accessories that make night photography very easy. This:
- Flash. external or built-in
- Tripod
And now we'll talk about how to photograph at night with and without them. And, since you are a beginner photographer, we will start with their absence.
How to take pictures at night without a flash?!
With such photography, a novice photographer has next choice in how to take pictures:
- Using a tripod
- With high ISO(ISO)
The bottom line is to ensure that the shutter speed on the camera is sufficient to exclude a blurry photograph.
What happens if you raise the ISO when shooting at night?!
By raising the ISO, you can reduce the shutter speed to a value that will allow you to get a clear picture, without shaking or blurring.
This method is good for everyone, except for one point:
Raising the ISO leads to the appearance more digital noise and the worse the matrix of your camera, the stronger the digital noise will be in the photo.
By the way, raising the ISO always leads to the appearance and amplification of digital noise. It doesn't matter when and how you photograph: day or night.
How to shoot at night or in the dark with a tripod?!
The smartest thing you can do if you want to photograph something in the dark is to use a tripod.
A tripod can be anything: expensive or cheap, with or without a swivel head. Its task is only to ensure the complete immobility of the camera during night photography. Yes, actually, and not only at night.
Thanks to the tripod, you can use any slow shutter speeds, which will allow you to digital camera, completely without fear of blur or movement on the frames. You will not have any need to raise the ISO.
In other words, if you are photographing with a tripod, then ISO can be set to its minimum value.
If there is no tripod, i.e. If you are a completely new photographer, you can use any surface suitable for laying the camera and ensuring its stillness when taking pictures.
How to take pictures at night with a flash?!
To begin with, you must understand that any flash, whether it be mounted or built-in, can only illuminate a few meters and, therefore, it will not work to illuminate the entire Moscow Kremlin with a flash.
Flashes are good for night photography of portraits, small interiors or buildings and the like. In general, all that is enough lighting from this very flash.
The process of shooting night photography with a flash is simple.
We raised the built-in / turned on and set up the external one and take pictures to your health. As a rule, any Kenon / Nikon / Pentax / Sony / Samsung flash works fine in automatic or semi-automatic mode on its own camera, which makes life a lot easier for a novice photographer.
The details of using the flash are described in the instructions for your camera or the flash itself, and we will talk a little further about using the flash when shooting portraits at night.
How to shoot at night without a tripod?!
As already mentioned, trying to work out photography in the dark is fraught with long exposure, and not gopniks, as you might think. Alas and ah, but a novice photographer has only two options for taking pictures at night and without a tripod, i.e. from hand:
- Use high ISO
- use flash
The problems that give rise to both of these options for night photography have already been discussed a little higher.
How to photograph portraits at night with a digital camera?!
Basically, there are three options for how you can shoot portraits of people or just people themselves at night:
- Using built-in or external flash
- Using high ISO
- Using a tripod and flash
Taking a portrait at night using the flash
When using the built-in head-on flash, you will get fairly flat lighting and correspondingly flat faces of your friends. Red-eye and harsh shadows go hand in hand with a photo taken this way.
In general, the sensations from such photographs are terrible, and therefore, I strongly do not recommend using the built-in flash.
Night portraits are much better when using an external flash with a rotary head, i.e. the flash can be directed in different directions and operate with light reflected from any wall or ceiling, which gives a softer and better lighting portrait.
The problem with external flashes is that they are quite expensive. Canon / Nikon flashes with rotary heads are quite expensive. The cost of Pentax flashes generally drives into quiet horror.
The situation with outbreaks is saved by the Chinese manufacturer of flashes of the YongNuo brand.
But there is another problem here: most of the YongNuo flash models require manual adjustment, which imposes higher requirements on the skills of a novice photographer. At a minimum: knowledge of exposure, exposure pairs and shooting in manual mode on the camera.
How to take pictures at night at high ISO !?
When taking a photo, by setting a high ISO, you can get a pretty good shot that will have the right to life and that will retain all the naturalness of the lighting in the photo.
However, be sure that shooting in the dark, through raising the ISO, is not an activity for the faint of heart photographers, because the abundance of digital noise in the picture will be colossal, especially when shooting with a cheap digital camera such as a digital zoom or a soap dish.
And so it can be concluded that at night, with a high ISO, only advanced cameras with fast optics shoot well. In principle, one can not assume, because this is exactly what happens.
Remember: if you are using a tripod, then you do not need to set a high ISO for any kind of photography.
How to shoot portraits of people at night using a tripod and flash?!
Now we come to the most important thing: how to take a good portrait at night?!
From the title, you already understood that you need to use a tripod and a flash. The problem with this approach to photography lies in the fact that it is necessary to work out the person being portrayed and everything that surrounds him. Especially the background.
And the kind of night shooting that allows all this is called "slow sync photography" by "front or rear curtain." You mount your camera on a tripod, set the exposure to work out the background, and turn on slow rear-curtain sync.
What happens with this type of photography?!
The camera will expose the background and last moment shutter speed will turn on the flash automatically, which will allow you to get a clear portrait of a person in the foreground, without blurring and stirring.
You can do the same thing, but completely in manual mode on the camera. As a rule, this allows you to get a photo with better developed shadows and lighting.
Photographing a portrait in a fully manual mode with a tripod and flash
This photo is taken as follows:
- Mounting the camera on a tripod
- We select the manual shooting mode on the camera and select the exposure to work out the background or background.
- We select the flash power for sufficient illumination of the person in the foreground.
- Enable slow rear-curtain sync
- Set the timer on the camera and press the shutter button on the camera.
The flash should not be overly powerful. We only need to highlight the person, not tearing him away from the background visually. You can find a description of how slow synchronization mode is enabled on your camera in its instructions.
This is the most efficient and effective method photography at night, which guarantees a high-quality night portrait of a person without blur, movement and a low level of digital noise due to the lack of the need to bully the ISO.
Combining high ISO, flash and a tripod is useless, because in their essence they all contradict each other.
According to the tradition of the photoblog, about the photo from the article:
This is one of the first pictures I took at night. Photographing was carried out late at night in a fully manual mode of the camera without a flash and a tripod.
I compensated for the lack of a tripod by laying the camera on some kind of fence. Not as convenient as with a tripod, but the stillness of the camera during shooting was ensured and, therefore, there was no need to turn up the ISO when shooting.
The selection of the exposure made it possible to obtain detailed moonlight on the mountains, in the very background. By the way, this study confuses inexperienced photographers so much that they take this line of mountains for some kind of image processing defect.
Using a slow shutter speed blurred the surface of the water, but I chose it in such a way that I still retain a slight ripple of the waves on the water.
Bonus for those who have read this far. Please note that all the lights in the photo have elongated rays, like stars.
A similar effect can be obtained when using a closed aperture i.e. the aperture value is in the range of 12-16, and the more you close the aperture, the more the rays will be stretched.
In general, it turned out to be quite a good interesting photo taken at night. So romantic.
Simple and short tips for night photography, as well as several ways to make night shots more interesting. From camera settings to low light shot ideas.
So, consider the basic settings, rules and techniques.
1. For a good picture - the maximum file quality
If you want to get high-quality night shots, then you need the maximum quality of the file itself, which means shooting in RAW format. In this case, your image will contain the maximum amount of "information", which will give a wide field for further processing and image enhancement in Lightroom, Adobe Camera Raw and other RAW file processing programs. RAW is especially important when shooting at night, because it will preserve the maximum amount of detail in the shadows and highlights, which are especially saturated at night, and it is also easy to control the white balance in post-processing, so that it can be difficult when shooting at night itself.
2. Use a tripod for sharp shots
Night photography involves low light and long exposures, often over 30 seconds. It is clear that when shooting "by hand" to keep the camera absolutely still during this time is unrealistic. So if you want to shoot at night, get a tripod, otherwise it's almost impossible to get sharp shots. The more stable and heavy the tripod, the better. It is very good if there is a hook at the bottom of the tripod's central stem that will allow you to hang something on it that will make the tripod heavier and increase its stability. It can be, for example, a bag or a backpack from a camera. In addition, it is not advisable to hold the tripod with your hands while shooting. In other words, keep to a minimum everything that can move the camera even a little after you press the shutter. Even a small shift, imperceptible to the eye, can give a "blur" in the final picture.
3. Selectplacein advance
Before you go to photograph, do some reconnaissance. This will save you time and allow you to get what you want faster. Find a good point, evaluate the lighting at night, see how buildings are lit if you decide to shoot architecture, evaluate traffic depending on time and place if you want to shoot "light trails" - traces of headlights from passing cars. In other words, find in advance a place where the lights of the night city will look the best. What is beautiful during the day will not always be good at night and vice versa.
4. Use the "golden mean" when choosing an aperture
When choosing an aperture, use the "golden mean" - usually it is from f / 8 to f / 16, but there is no exact law here. It makes sense to find out the golden mean empirically for a particular lens. Even expensive professional lenses will not always give the best picture at the minimum and maximum aperture values. Using the "middle" you insure yourself and increase the chance of getting a good and sharp night shot.
5. Camera settings for night photography
It's best to put your camera in manual mode (M), so you can experiment with the combination of shutter speed and aperture that will give you best result. Good way- first set the aperture, for example, to f / 16, and then, focusing on the prompts of the camera exposure meter, select the shutter speed. Take test shots and check the result on the display. If the picture is too bright - reduce the shutter speed, too dark - increase it. Keep in mind that optimal exposure will result in a too bright picture according to the camera electronics. Decrease the exposure by 1-2 stops and the result will become more realistic.
6. HowgetEffect « stars»
Clamping down the aperture (around f/16) not only increases the depth of field, which will allow you to get sharpness in both the foreground and the background, but it will also turn street lights into "radiant" stars, which gives a special atmosphere to night shots.
7. Nightcomposition
Analyze the scene carefully before taking the picture. What parts are in the dark? Which, on the contrary, are lit too brightly. How will it show up in your picture? Think about lighting. The large contrast between bright and dark objects is especially important to consider when shooting at night. Feel free to use the zoom or your feet to find the point that will allow you to get the optimal composition, where there will not be ¾ of the frame failed in absolute darkness or vice versa, “knocked out” by bright light.
8. Use "Mirrorlock— Up»
When shooting at night, it is important to eliminate the slightest camera shake. Including those that occur at the moment of raising the mirror in reflex camera. So it is highly recommended to use the " Mirrorlock— Up"- preliminary mirror lifting (usually lives somewhere in the advanced settings).
9. Don't touch the camera!
When using a long exposure, even pressing the shutter button can spoil the picture. If the camera has a remote control option, use it. If not, use the built-in delay timer to release the shutter. Night shots rarely require haste and instant reaction.
10. creativeideasForshootingof people
Usually, strangers at the time of photography interfere with us. But when we are talking about night photography, then crowds of people can, on the contrary, add variety and some charm. If people are still, they can be used as "silhouettes". If they are in motion, then at shutter speeds of about 1 / 4-1 / 2 seconds, you can get interesting effect"creative blur" emphasizing movement.
11. WhatISObetter
The choice of ISO depends on the type of night shot you want to take. For urban scenes with long exposures, when using a tripod, ISO 100-200 can be selected. This will help reduce digital noise and preserve maximum detail. If you are shooting something that even at night requires a relatively fast shutter speed, then use the highest possible ISO at which your camera produces pictures. good quality. Also, remember that very slow shutter speeds heat up the camera's sensor, and this can lead to significant noise even at low ISOs.
12 Motion blurpictures
The “motion blur” category of shots has the power to turn one picture into another. And this is very easy to achieve when shooting at night, with a tripod and long exposure. Try to shoot a road with heavy traffic at a shutter speed of 2-5 seconds and individual headlights of passing cars will turn into rivers of fire and light.
13. Manual or auto focus?
It's best to use both. Use autofocus to get the focus, then set your camera to manual to keep it focused. This way your camera won't try to "hunt" every subject if the lighting changes and you won't have to refocus every time you test shots and find the best exposure values for the shot. If the scene is too dark for autofocus to “hook” on the subject, then use only manual focus or Live View if the camera allows it.
14. Time for night photography
Different times allow you to get a different effect. It's curious that best time for night photography, it is not always deep night. Often, interesting shots are taken at dusk, when the night lights are already on, but the sky has not yet completely darkened. The combination of electric light and the remnants of natural light will help you create a truly unique shot. In the dead of night, you are unlikely to be able to capture beautiful clouds, although in the evening it is quite possible. See how the same frame changes over time. Which is better? Difficult question - you decide.
15. White balance for night photography
If you use auto white balance, then your camera can play tricks on you, because at night, it is difficult for it to decide which white balance will be correct. To be more confident in the result, use the manual balance. Try the "cloudy" setting (Cloudy ~ 6000k) if you want a warmer, yellowish picture or " artificial lighting” (Tungsten ~3200K) for a cooler picture.
16. Unplugstabilizer
Image Stabilization (IS) - any image stabilizer, be it in the lens or on the camera, is designed to help you when you're shooting handheld. But it can give quite the opposite effect when you shoot with a long exposure on a tripod. The stabilizer, depending on the internal logic and type, can, on the contrary, make completely unnecessary movements and ruin the frame. So turn it off and be calm
17. How to shoot a "star trail"
effects
zoom effect. Especially interesting when you shoot moving lights. Try to start shooting at the "short" end of the lens and while the shutter is open, slowly zoom in to the "long" end. Or vice versa. It is difficult to predict what will happen in the end, but the effect can be very interesting.
20. Using the backlight
On a moonless night, when there are only trees and rocks around and there is no lighting, you can help yourself with lighting. Ordinary flashlights, depending on the temperature of the light (ordinary lamp, diode, halogen, etc.), will allow you to get effects that are different in color and perception.
In order to make full use of the backlight
- Arrive early, before dark, to choose a composition
- Switch your camera to manual exposure mode by setting f8 and 120 seconds shutter speed to start and start experimenting with backlight, aperture and shutter speed.
- If you're using a flashlight, don't leave it stationary. Move smoothly from side to side, which will give a more natural effect and better illumination.
21. Keep your camera cold and your batteries warm
In winter, in the cold, the batteries are discharged very quickly. Especially when you shoot with long exposures. In order not to end up with a discharged camera at the most inopportune moment, keep 1-2 spare batteries warm. So that you can replace them if the main sits down. In addition, avoid frequently moving the camera itself from cold to warm, as this can lead to condensation and fogging of the lenses, and in especially sad cases, to failure of the electronics.
22. A little about postprocessing
When you open your RAW file with Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw, the first thing to do is set the white balance (temperature). Then go to the Vibrance and Saturation settings to make the picture more saturated. But don't overdo it. Recovery - will help you bring "highlighted" areas back to life.
The specificity lies in the fact that long exposures impose certain restrictions on a wide range of subjects. So, in the dark, it is almost impossible to shoot dynamic scenes.
The exposure is long enough, and the runner on the embankment will not have time to appear in the frame even as a ghost. Ask strangers long time standing still is not always possible. Therefore, when shooting at night, choose scenes that do not involve rapid movement.
So, on the mentioned embankment, you can shoot a hugging couple, a monument or a parked motorcycle instead of runners or skateboarders.
What sensitivity to set
Do not forget that canons exist to be broken in the name of art, and a talented photographer can turn even outright harm into a favor. For example, blurry movements can become part of your artistic intent. In reportage shooting, it is the blurred contours that convey movement. As a result, a technical marriage that occurs when night shooting, turns into the "highlight" of the picture.
Photographer: Christopher Martin.
In practice professional photographers such tasks are often posed. It can be a corporate photo shoot in nature, shooting on New Year's Eve, etc. Here it is important to show imagination and find a reasonable compromise. If quality is paramount for you, you can not increase the sensitivity. Shoot at the lowest possible.
If you can sacrifice quality a little (for example, you are going to print small photos or process pictures with “noise reduction”), the sensitivity can be raised to 400-800. The maximum value is set when it is necessary to get a picture at any cost.
Night shooting accessories
Even the highest sensitivity in the dark is not enough for handheld shooting. So be sure to use a tripod. You can take with you a carbon fiber model, which is light in weight. Of course, carrying such an accessory with you is more pleasant than, for example, Manfrotto weighing 6 kg. But any tripod takes up a certain place in your luggage.
However, it is not recommended to refuse this accessory. After all, it is thanks to the tripod that the camera will be stationary during a long exposure. Just install a camera on it and set any shutter speed. Exposure time is limited only by the capabilities of a particular device and your common sense.
But the monopod will be practically useless for a night photo shoot. Yes, it extends the shutter speed range by 2-3 stops, eliminating blurring and other defects in the photo. However, a monopod will not radically solve the problem.
Choosing a technique for night shooting, you must clearly know what each device is intended for. So, if you can make the camera still in other ways than using a tripod, go for it.
Obviously, in many situations, a tripod turns out to be “third wheel”. For example, when walking with a girl in a park or square, it is inconvenient to carry it with you. But you can put the camera on the parapet and make good night panoramas.
There is little light in the forest even during the day, but there are a lot of stumps. Of course, you will have to put chips or knots under the camera to fix it in the desired position. But you don't have to carry around a bulky tripod. Thus, fantasy can help out the photographer, even if he does not have the right accessories at hand.
Optical stabilization
The optical stabilization system is a good compromise between quality and laziness in the implementation night shooting. Some camera manufacturers integrate stabilizers directly into the camera. Lenses of other models are equipped with "stubs". So greedy manufacturers make consumers pay for a convenient feature every time they change lenses.
Many compact devices famous brands also have a stabilizer. The scheme of action of this element is as follows. The optical block and/or photosensitive matrix move in the right direction at the required moment. This compensates for the shaking of the camera body. However, there are also limitations. For example, with a ten-second exposure, no stabilizer will save the situation.
Most scenes can be shot in completely different ways, using the available shutter speed options alone. So, a minute exposure turns an average black night into almost day. This is achieved by lightening the shadows.
However, when night shooting the night must still remain itself. In the pictures, this can be realized with the help of incomplete study of the shadows. The latter refers to black areas in which a minimum of detail is visible. Also, the reproduction of bright areas around light sources will give naturalness to your pictures.
The camera does not know the intentions of the photographer. Therefore, it does not hurt to master exposure compensation. This adjustment helps to trick the exposure meter to achieve the result you want. Obviously, a night photo session should be carried out only in an absolutely manual mode (I am talking about it). In other words, the photographer independently sets arbitrary aperture and shutter speed values that are independent of each other.
Photographer: Natalia.
Feel free to experiment, because it is much easier to do this with digital equipment than with film. You can at any time look at the pictures taken on the camera screen, analyze the errors, take them into account and reshoot bad shots. Do not be lazy to do image processing in a graphics editor. Sometimes it is post-processing that turns an ordinary frame into a real masterpiece.
At night shooting shoot in RAW format. It is available in many amateur devices. And professional cameras all have this mode. The RAW format, also called "raw format", provides the ability to set some parameters "backdating" after shooting. Thus, the photographer can correct mistakes in the editor made during the photo session.
- Before heading out for a photo shoot, do some reconnaissance. This event will save time and get the desired result faster. During reconnaissance, evaluate night lighting, find a suitable shooting point. If you are planning to shoot architecture, pay attention to the lighting of buildings. In other words, find a place in advance where night city will look optimal.
- When choosing a diaphragm, stick to the "golden mean". These are values in the f/8-f16 range. But there is no clear law here. Try to determine the golden mean experimentally, choosing best parameters for a specific lens. Even night shooting will be carried out with the help of professional expensive models, this is not a guarantee beautiful picture at maximum and minimum aperture values. By setting the parameters to medium, you make sure and increase the chances of getting high-quality sharp night shots.
Photographer: Dmitry Piavkin.
- To improve depth of field, stop down to f/16. This will make the distant and foreground clearer, turn the street lights into beautiful "stars". Thus, night shots will get a special atmosphere.
- Before you take a picture, analyze the scene in detail: which areas are in the dark, and which are lit too brightly. Ask yourself the question: “How will all this appear in the photo?” Be mindful of lighting at all times. At night shooting it is extremely important to take into account the significant contrast between dark and bright objects. Do not be lazy to use your feet or zoom to find a point from which you can shoot the optimal harmonious composition, where there will not be 3/4 of the frame "knocked out" bright lighting or plunged into complete darkness.
- In cold weather, batteries are rapidly discharged, especially when shooting in winter at slow shutter speeds. It does not hurt to stock up on extra batteries so as not to end up with a discharged equipment at an extremely inopportune moment. Keep them warm.
- Often outsiders interfere with the shooting. But during the night session, crowds, on the contrary, can bring a certain charm and variety. If people are still, use them as "silhouettes". Moving objects allow you to get a curious blur effect that emphasizes dynamics. Such frames are shot at shutter speeds from 1/2 s.
- IN different time different effects are obtained. Moreover, late night is not always the optimal period for a photo shoot. Often, interesting shots are taken at dusk, when the skies are not yet completely dark, but the night lights are already burning. The combination of residual natural light and full electric lighting will help you make unique images. If night shooting performed too late, you are unlikely to capture beautiful clouds, as is possible in the evening.
Photographer: Yuri Gnatyuk.
- Headlights and traffic require approximately thirty seconds of exposure.
- When shooting moving lights, the zoom effect looks very interesting. Start shooting at the "short" tip of the lens. Without closing the shutter, zoom smoothly towards the “long” end or vice versa. predict result night shooting in this mode is quite difficult, but it can be very curious.
- The reflection of the lights in the pond will double their number in the frame. Even winter photos can be much more beautiful if you use the reflection of light in frozen puddles or on wet pavement.
- On moonless nights, when there is no lighting at all, and the shooting takes place in nature, backlighting can be used. To get effects that are diverse in perception and color, use lanterns that differ in light temperature. If you are using a flashlight, do not fix it at one point. Move it smoothly - this will provide better illumination and create a stunning effect.
Photographer: Sergey Sharkov.
- Having opened your RAW frames in AdobeCameraRaw or Lightroom, first of all select the temperature (the so-called white balance). Then saturate the shots with Saturation and Vibrance, but don't overdo it. To "resurrect" the exposed areas, use Recovery.
Ideas for night photography
Transport and its flows
The lights of moving vehicles always look beautiful. To get this effect, you need to set a slow shutter speed. I note that a slow shutter speed when shooting at night is more of a necessity than a whim of the photographer. But its creative use allows you to get interesting shots.
Here everything is determined by fantasy. If you can't get good pictures, don't think it's just because the equipment you're using is cheap. It is possible that an inexpensive filter kit or a regular tripod will help you.
Photo shoot in the amusement park
In such establishments there are always a lot of moving lights, whether it's a Ferris wheel or a carousel with horses. Using a slow shutter speed and a tripod, you can get stunningly beautiful pictures.
The light will merge into one whole, as if the attraction was spun up to an unprecedented speed and photographed.
heavenly bodies
Romantics, scientists, and ordinary people have always been interested in the movement of stars. Dedicate your night shooting. Such photographs look extremely impressive. They suggest thoughts about the infinity of our universe, the existence of other lives. Yes, and just delight with their beauty.
To shoot a "star trail", exposure may take half an hour or more. Here you can shoot in two ways. Either you take a single shot with a very long exposure, or a series of shots with a short exposure, and then glue the images together.
To shoot high-quality scenes, use very long (at least half an hour) shutter speeds. It is obvious that the photo shoot is best done in nature. In urban conditions, the light of the stars will be drowned out by the abundance of electric lighting. The result is quite worth it to spend a spring or summer night in a tent or a country house.
Photographer: Chris Cook.
The only caveat is that you will need protective case, designed for the lens to protect the latter from dew.
Fill in the foreground with reflections
A simple and quite obvious idea. But with proper implementation, you will get fabulous photos. After all, the reflections of colored lights in the foreground look incomparable.
fireworks
Despite the seeming banality, night shooting fireworks, with its proper organization (for the hundredth time I repeat: long exposure, tripod, filling the foreground) allows you to get unforgettable shots.
paint with light
In general, the technique of painting with light is quite old and well studied, although it requires some practice. Having mastered it, you can completely give free rein to your imagination. For example, you will get the opportunity to capture a cute ghost that traditionally appears at night. Many other interesting topics can also be covered.
Photographer: Janne Parviainen.
This style is called "freezelight".
Use the beauty of natural phenomena
After sunset or before dawn, nature looks different than usual. cloudy sky, moon, thunderclouds, fog, lightning - ready-made scenes for shooting. Such objects are capable of making even a banal landscape very colorful and non-trivial (you can learn how to shoot a landscape). A night shooting thunderstorms allows you to get some of the most beautiful pictures of natural phenomena.
You can even use multiple exposures to add drama and dynamism to thunderstorm shots. This is a fairly well-known technique among professional photographers. Speaking of natural objects, not to mention the northern lights. If you live or intend to travel to regions where this phenomenon occurs, be sure to take the opportunity to capture it.
Photographer: Yuri Belegursky.
After completing night shooting, carefully review the resulting frames, analyze the errors, consult with colleagues if necessary, send pictures for criticism to some public social network.
This approach will allow you to constantly expand your baggage of skills and knowledge, improve your skills, and perform more interesting, complex and important tasks.
That's all for me, friends. I hope you enjoyed the article. If so, then leave comments and watch the video below - I will be glad! See you in the next articles.
Even if you have photographed the streets of your city or the shore of a familiar lake a thousand times during the daytime, you can rediscover them at night. Headlights and building illumination, moonlight and reflections on the water will give you the opportunity to create original and unique scenes.
The main feature of shooting at night is the work with long exposures, due to which insufficient lighting is compensated. Therefore, the process of night shooting is somewhat different from the more familiar shooting during the day.
For night shooting, as well as for daylight shooting, there is also a concept of regime time. When you want to include the sky, it's best not to be completely black, as is often the case in the dead of night. Try to shoot within an hour after sunset or an hour before sunrise - this will be the "golden" time night photography. Residual natural light is combined with artificial light, and clouds can be discerned in the sky.
Equipmentfor night photography
Many novice photographers believe that shooting at night requires a special fast lens. lens. This is wrong. You can take great night shots with any lens available to you. After all, the main attention should be paid to the settings - then everything will work out.
But what can not be done without is without tripod. Because it will be extremely difficult to hold the camera still during a slow shutter speed. Of course, you can find another stable support (parapet, fence, stump or stone), but this is not particularly convenient - your movements relative to the subject will be limited.
It is preferable that the tripod is as stable as possible, and you do not have to support it with your hands - this will blur the frame. If necessary, place a weight (bag, umbrella) on the hook of the central tripod rod.
When you move on to shooting with a tripod, don't forget to disable stabilization mode Images. The stabilizer lever can be located directly on the camera or on the lens (depending on the manufacturer and model of photographic equipment). The work of the stabilizer consists in the slight response movement of the matrix or optical system to compensate for the vibration of the camera in the hands of the photographer. When the camera is securely fixed on a tripod, the stabilization system, however, tries to move, removing the missing vibrations - then, at a slow shutter speed, the image is blurred. Shaking can also appear when shooting with a tripod at a large focal length. Therefore, get as close to the subject as possible. However, sometimes blurring part of an image is an artistic technique.
So, the camera is fixed on a tripod, but the movement is still present. Perhaps your movement when you press the shutter button creates it. Warn it negative phenomenon can be done in two ways:
Activate function self-timer shutter(interval shooting) so that it fires a few seconds after the button is pressed.
Use cable for remote shutter release, then touching the camera at the time of shooting will not be necessary at all. Cables (also called remotes) can be infrared, radio-controlled, mechanical or electronic. Which one you get depends on personal preference.
Working at slow shutter speeds will “plant” very quickly battery your camera. Therefore, if possible, take a spare battery with you when you go shooting.
General camera settings
Best time to shoot at night in manual mode("M"), so you can set the maximum settings at your discretion.
In order to be able to eliminate small shooting errors in the post-processing process, shoot in the format RAW(some photographers call it "raw format"). The format allows you to save a maximum of color and light information (this is especially important for preserving details in the shadows) and at the same time not to lose the quality of the image during processing.
Most likely automatic focusing at night, it will not come in handy for you: in case of insufficient lighting, the automation simply will not be able to focus or will give a serious failure. So switch your camera to manual focus.
To keep the entire image in focus, apply hyperfocal focus. To do this, conditionally divide the scene being shot into 3 equal parts and focus on 1/3. As you know, with this method, 1/3 of the frame before the focus point and 2/3 behind it is sharp. The method is suitable for you if there is no very large object in the foreground of the picture.
white balance in night photography - one of the most controversial issues. If you are shooting a city street, then at night it will be filled with point sources of light with different color temperatures. The easiest way is to set the automatic white balance, and then correct the frame in the photo editor. In this case, you must definitely switch to the RAW format. If you want to get pictures in JPG format, then for the picture to be warm, set the white balance to “cloudy”, and for a colder picture, set the white balance to “incandescent lamp”.
By deliberately setting a completely wrong white balance, you can achieve amazing artistic effects.
There is a fairly common misconception that for night photography you need to use large sensitivity values -ISO. In fact, increasing the ISO value will inevitably lead to a loss in image quality - the appearance of noise, especially in shadow areas. If you are shooting on a tripod, then set the minimum ISO value to 100, the lack of light will be compensated by a slow shutter speed.
When you need to shoot moving people at night, you will need a faster shutter speed, which means that image quality will have to be sacrificed by increasing the ISO value. This is not critical if the pictures are intended for printing in standard small formats.
built-in flash you should not use, although many novice photographers reach out to “illuminate” everything around. The range of the built-in flash is only a few meters, so it will not be possible to illuminate the entire scene with it, but the foreground will be overexposed and the frame will be spoiled.
Exposure settings for shooting at night
For night shooting, it is recommended to use the median values. diaphragm f8-f16. Firstly, this will allow to achieve a sufficient depth of field of the frame, and secondly, it will eliminate the appearance of distortions at maximum f values.
The most important parameter for night shooting is long exposure. Its indicator can range from 1 second to the value that your creative intent requires.
It is difficult for an inexperienced photographer to “guess” the desired shutter speed the first time. Therefore, you will have to shoot a couple of trial shots, analyze the result, and only then proceed to the main shooting. Over time, you will remember the approximate shutter speeds for different situations and it will be easier for you to select them.
Here is an example of basic shutter speed and aperture values at the minimum ISO value for various shooting situations:
Night sky - 15"", f 5.6;
The sky at dusk - 1/30, f 5.6;
Landscape by moonlight - 4", f 5.6;
Full moon - 1/250, f 8;
· Building with illumination - 4 "", f 16;
· High traffic road - 30"", f 22;
Fireworks - 20"", f 11;
Amusement park - 15 "", f 16.
When a scene calls for shutter speeds longer than 30 seconds (30""), set the camera to Bulb mode. Working in this mode, you are free to set the exposure time as you wish.
By setting long shutter speeds, you can achieve a bright, almost “daylight” frame. However, you should not do this: you went outside for night shots, which means that the night on them should remain at night - save the shadows and the general tonality of the dark time of the day, highlight the light sources.
Camera automation does not take into account your creative ideas, so the built-in exposure meter in the dark will not be useful to you, because. may produce incorrect values. This is due to the fact that the built-in exposure meter of the camera measures only the amount of light reflected from objects. Accordingly, if there is a car (or a glass showcase, or snow) in the frame that reflects light, then the metering will occur on it. And after pressing the shutter, the rest of the scene will be dark.
Function auto bracketing will help you get 3 shots c different values expositions, from which it will be possible to choose the most successful ones already on the computer.
When you set a slow shutter speed, the camera, after closing the shutter, processes the resulting image for some time, eliminating possible noise. No need to think that the technique is frozen - just give it the opportunity to finish processing without pressing all the buttons that come across.
Secrets to getting great night shots
Night shooting in practice
To receive interesting views to the night city high altitude, learn shoot through glass(for example, you can climb to the top floor of a high-rise building, or find an observation deck). When you see glass that is not very clear, and everything that is in the room is also reflected, it is probably difficult for you to imagine how to make a good shot in such adverse conditions.
To deal with the problem, start by placing the lens as close to the glass as possible. Then take a small piece of dark fabric (you can use a scarf or even a T-shirt) and cover the camera, as if making a screen for it between the glass and the rest of the room - this way you can eliminate reflections in the glass, at least in the part where the camera is located .
To prevent dirt on the glass from spoiling your shots, open the aperture (reduce the f-number) until the pictures become “clean”. Often the optimal value is f8.
Very popular, but no less interesting star effect around light sources (such as lanterns or bright highlights) will help create accents in your night photos. Stars is an optical effect that is directly related to your lens aperture design and the number of aperture blades. When f is minimal, the kinks between the aperture blades do not affect the photograph in any way. But when f increases, the aperture aperture takes the form of a hexagon or an octagon (depending on the design of the lens). Passing through such a hexagon, the light from a point source is displayed in the image as an asterisk.
If you are working near a body of water, be sure to pay attention toreflections. Hundreds of night lights will double and create an incredible pattern of light and color. Interesting pictures are obtained if the subject itself is not in the frame, but there is only its reflection. Water and reflections in it can take up to 2/3 of the frame area, but do not get carried away: do not forget to show the sky and the landscape surrounding the reservoir. The reflections that are taken from the level of the water surface look the most successful and clear. To do this, you will need to install the camera lower. The highlight of the frame can be ripples on the surface of the water in windy weather. If there is no reservoir nearby, but it has recently rained, then puddles are also an excellent “source” of reflections. Watch and you will find the idea of your best shot.
For shooting at night, away from city lights, slightly different rules apply than when shooting in the city. There are no additional light sources here, except for the moon and stars, but you can add light yourself using the technique light brush painting. To create a frame, you will need a flashlight or any other device that can illuminate the space at a fairly large distance. Mount your camera on a tripod and start shooting at slow shutter speeds. While the exposure lasts, smoothly paint with a flashlight beam in space, like with a brush, highlighting the main objects of the frame and giving them volume. Multiple light sources can be used at the same time different temperatures. For example, draw a path with a beam, or branches of a tree, or flowers in the foreground of the frame. If you do everything right (maybe not right away, but as you practice for sure), the result is a soft distribution of light and an unusual mesmerizing frame.
Having left the city, you will immediately find that far from the city lights, they seem brighter and closer. stars, and you'll probably want to make them part of your frame's composition.
To display the stars as the human eye sees them (shiny dots), you need to correctly calculate the shutter speed. For calculation, there is a rule: "600 divided by the focal length." For example, the maximum focal length of your lens is 200mm; divide 600 by 200 and get 3. That is, to remove static stars, you need a shutter speed of at least three seconds.
With the help of photography, you can show the movement of the earth: with ultra-long exposures (from 5 minutes to several hours), tracks from the movement of the stars across the sky. The use of ultra-long shutter speeds can lead to the appearance of noise in the picture, which occurs due to overheating of the matrix during long continuous work. Therefore, use the noise reduction function if your camera has it. If the desired quality cannot be achieved, then try to take several shots with a shorter shutter speed, and then “glue” them together in a photo editor.
A festive day in the city can please the amateur photographer with the opportunity to capture bright sparks fireworks in the night sky. Here, it is more important than ever to plan the shooting in advance, set up the camera on a tripod, adjust the camera settings and focus before the program starts - the fireworks will not wait for you. Open the camera shutter after hearing the salute, and keep it open until the lights go out. The light from the fireworks is very bright, so be careful when setting the exposure so that the frame is not too bright. Take a large number of photos, then choose a few of the best ones. Experienced photographers also advise taking into account the direction of the wind when shooting fireworks: if you are close, then the smoke from the volley can enter the frame and make it cloudy.
The article uses photos from official sitesTamron, SigmaAndCanon
