Introduction to Night Photography

Not Just a Shot in the Dark Ross Chevalier

The Photo Video Guy ross@thephotovideoguy.ca

We’ll Discuss• Quick History

• Gear Requirements

• Basic Technique

• Exposure Tips

• Star Points and Star Trails

• Potential Locations

• Helpful Apps

• Resources

History

• Began in the 1850s

• Alfred Steiglitz best “known” photographer

• Paul Martin (1890s)

• William Fraser (1896)

• Edward Steichen

Alfred Steiglitz - Icy Night 1898 All rights reserved by The History of Photography

Archive

Paul Martin - A Wet Night on the Embankment 1896 All Rights Reserved

Photo Books

• Paris de Nuit - Brassai (Gyula Halasz)

• Le Paris Secret des Annees Trente - Brassai

• A Night in London - Bill Brandt

• Washington by Night - Volkmar Wentzel

GearMust Have

DSLR

Tripod

Remote release

Flashlight(s)

Wide Angle Lens (preferably fast)

Proper attire

White Towel

Darkness :)

Nice To Have

Intervalometer

Tripod weight (sandbag)

Raincoat and garbage bags

Live View

Hood loupe

Flash with coloured gels

Flashlight snoot

Camera Settings• RAW

• Native ISO

• White Balance AUTO

• Manual / Bulb Exposure

• LENR may not be needed

• LCD brightness turned down

• Picture Styles NEUTRAL

• Manual Focus

Basic Technique

• Camera on tripod

• Lens set to correct aperture

• Off Camera Release connected

• Manual Focus - AF will frustrate you

• Experiment - no rules

f/8.0or f/5.6 if you have an ultra wide

Moonlight Exposure Guides

Exposure by MoonlightPHASE DAYS +/-

FULLEXPOSURE

COMPEXPOSURE

TIME

Full - - 10m

Waxing/Waning Gibbous

1 +1/2 15m

Waxing / Waning Gibbous

2 +1/2 20m

Gibbous 3-4 +1 1/2 30m

Quarter 7 +3 1/2 2h

Crescent 10-11 +6 1/2 Don’t

High ISO Exposure Testing

ISO 100 Native1S 2S 4S 8S 15S 30S 1M

6400 3200 1600 800 400 200 100

ISO 200 Native

1S 2S 4S 8S 15S 30S 1M

12800 6400 3200 1600 800 400 200

Colour Temperature

• Night photography is “interesting” when it comes to white balance

• Lots of different light sources with different colour temperatures means you can experiment more

• Table shows common colour temperatures

Colour Temp Table

LIGHT SOURCE COLOUR TEMP HUE PRIMARY USE

Candle 1500K Orange Dinner settings

High P Sodium 2000K Yellow-Orange Street Lights

Tungsten 2700-3200K Yellow Indoor lamps

Moonlight 4000K Neutral-bluish Werewolves

Fluorescent 4000-6000K Neutral-green Indoors, signs

Metal Halide 5000K avg Neutral Stadiums

Mercury Vapour 6500K Blue-green Industrial

Long Exposure Noise Reduction - LENR

Turning on / off

Star Points / Star Trails

• Star Points - stars in a night shot appear as points of light

• Star Trails - stars in a night shot appear as streaks of light

Shooting Star Points

• ISO 1600 as a starting point

• Max exposure time is 600 divided by lens focal length - Eg 600 / 18mm = 33.3s max exposure time

• Wide angle lens at max aperture

• Use LENR in camera*

• Avoid areas with severe light pollution

Shooting Star Trails• Find the North Star (see Resources)

• The farther the star is from the North Star the longer the trail per unit time

• Including the North Star creates a still point that other stars revolve around

• 15-20 minute exposures can give you lovely trails

• The longer the exposure the more noise you’ll get - consider stacking shorter exposures together

Some Guidelines

• Shoot RAW (consider DNG for storage)

• Format your cards before you start a shoot

• Backup your images to your computer separately from your import process

• Use the High ISO test to avoid long exposures that fail

Stacking

• The process of taking multiple short exposures and “stacking” them together in Photoshop

• Crisper images, better detail

• Lower noise, better light control

• Requires Photoshop

• Requires Intervalometer

Stacking Setup• CHARGE your battery

• Set to natural ISO

• Choose an aperture between f/2.8 and f/8.0

• Infinity or Hyperfocal Focus

• Set quality to RAW

• Turn LENR off

• Image Stabilization turned off

• Remote release with timer to trigger exposures with 1s gap

Stacking Image Capture• Set White Balance to K, choose 3700K for moonlight, 2700K for tungsten

• ISO 200 f/7.1 4 minutes a place to start under full moon

• Expose for a right balanced histogram

• Set individual exposure duration based on tests

• Set total exposure time based on desired star trail length

• If you will light paint, first and second last frame only

• Final frame is manual with cap on (may be needed for noise reduction later)

HDR?• Of course you can HDR

• Best Practices

• Use Spot meter function of your camera

• Meter for each frame

• Brightest to Darkest and expose accordingly

• Unlike daylight, very trial and error

Locations

Where to Shoot

• Abandoned buildings and sites

• Factories

• Industrial Areas

• Cities

• Countryside

• What may be boring in daylight can be amazing at night

“Trespassing”

• Seek permission first, get in writing if possible

• Expect to be challenged

• Carry copies of your images

• Be polite

• If told to leave, leave

Special Thanks

I want to specially acknowledge the work of Lance Keimig and his book Night Photography - Finding Your Way in the Dark from Focal Press. Without this powerful work, this presentation

would be considerably weaker.

Web Resources

• www.darknessdarkness.com

• www.thenocturnes.com

iApps

• Star Walk

• Sun Seeker

• Sky Guide

• Focal

Summary

Night photography is fun

Easy with a digital SLR

Doesn’t require a ton of expensive kit

Allows for lots of creativity

Go shoot something