Points to remember while taking night photos
With most celebrations being held after dusk, many of the best occasions to capture photos are at night, without natural lighting.
There are many problems a photographer may face while taking night shots. Over or under exposures, blurred results, inability to capture moving objects and wrong timing are some common issues. Here are some simple steps to taking better night photos.
Use long exposures
As the intensity of the available light would be very low, you will have to open your shutter for long time to capture the details. So, make sure that your camera has enough exposure range. For example: 30 sec - 1/2,000 sec. Having a bulb exposure mode – that allows you to open the shutter for longer time – is also useful. Set your camera in manual mode to get proper control over exposure.
Hold your camera firm
When you open the shutter for long time, the pictures may get blurred due to shaking of the camera. Using a sturdy tripod and shutter-release cable is the solution. If your camera has a remote control, use that rather than the shutter-release cable.
Choose the right film speed
Higher the ISO – a standard that indicates film’s sensitivity to light – number, poorer the quality is a popular rule as increasing the ISO number causes grains. Using an ISO over 400 for night shots is not advisable. If you can afford to use a lesser or minimum ISO, use it.
Control the light
Setting the right aperture size – the opening through which light is admitted - is the key to achieve desired results. If you set a long exposure, use small aperture to avoid over-exposing any stationary lights in the frame. Using a small aperture also helps you to get better depth of field and gradation.
Mix artificial light with the available light
Parties and celebrations often involve a lot of fancy lighting which can affect photos. In some situations, you can wisely use flash to get some good effects, though we don’t use flash for normal night shots. If you want to capture a motion in the foreground as well as the natural light available in the background, you may set a longer exposure and use flash.
The aperture and exposure has to be chosen wisely to avoid over exposure or unwanted lights in the frame.
Time your shot
Choosing the right time for your shot is very important. Many photographers prefer shooting during dusk when colors and details are very visible and easy to capture.
Check out the lighting conditions at the time you plan to take photos, in advance. Natural lighting can be unpredictable - so finding the right time is well worth the effort.
Retouch your photos
As we use natural and unnatural lights for the shoot, the colors in the photo may be different from the picture you had in mind due to the variance in color temperature. After getting the photo right, use an image-editing software like Photoshop to correct color, brightness and contrast, etc.
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