NIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY

Night photography concerns to the photographs taken between dusk and dawn. Night photography generally can be done using stilted light or long exposure. The development of high-speed photographic films, wide-aperture lenses, higher sensitivity image detectors has made night photography increasingly conceivable.

The first photographers Brassai and Bill Brandt have produced admirable work in night photography. In 1932, a book published by Brassai known as” Paris de Nuit”, showcases Paris in night through black and white pictures. Brandt, famous british photographer, used obtuse conditions at night  in a favorable position to snap the streets of  Great London by moonshine.

At the onset of year 2000, the complexities of shooting at night has been made easier with the popularity of digital cameras.

Importance of Moonlight

Alike in daylight photography where the position and angle of sun plays a very important role, night photography also requires careful attention to the moon. An overhead moon creates unpleasantly stern, downward shadows whereas a low-laying moon is more likely to create long shadows on cross-lit objects.

Experimenting with Exposure

During the daytime the basis is more or less around 18% gray card, but for night photography there is no consorted way of exposing night photos. One could "under-expose" to maintain the dark look of night, or could alternatively have the histogram chart representing a frequency distribution of    the entire tonal range like a daytime shot. Exposure time is decided accordingly as per the different lightning conditions at night.

Metering at Night

Usually Light meters become erroneous at about 30 seconds in most of the cameras. For precise metering, one can first meter using a larger aperture such that the metered exposure time is less than 30 seconds and then stop down as necessary and multiply the exposure time accordingly.  Further to achieve the most accurate metering one can also carry an external light meter.  

The main things to be taken care of while taking night shots are:

Camera: A camera with a manual exposure mode and a wide range of slow shutter speed can help in achieving best results at night. Most of the manual cameras and digital SLR provide these facilities. Today the Modern electronic camera offers a range of 1-second shutter speed (considered most appropriate for night photography) up to 30 seconds.

ISO Sensitivity: ISO sensitivity basically tells that how sensitive your camera's image sensor is to light. Higher ISO levels are idealistic for night photography, conceptually, higher the sensitivity setting, the faster it will capture light. Therefore for a night shot, high setting like ISO 200, ISO 400 or above are recommended, depending on how dark the location is.

Shutter Speed: The length of time for which the camera's shutter stays open, while clicking a picture is known as shutter speed. The longer the shutter stays open, the higher is the picture's exposure. To ensure the availability of all light sources in the subject, camera's sensor must get enough exposure, thus setting a higher exposure in night shots. Generally, camera should be set at a shutter speed of 1/25 or lower, depending on the darkness levels.

Tripod: It keeps the camera steady; even in the most bungle some angles, and thus increases the overall sharpness and quality of the end result. If it’s a picture without flash or ample lighting, then tripod is a norm.

Night photography has an attraction all its own. Practicing and implementing different constituents of photography with a couple of simple techniques can capture a lot of astounding results.