tips - preparing for night photography

8/13/2019 Tips - Preparing for Night Photography

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TEPBYSTEP

Reveal the problemWhen you zoom in on

images taken at night, you

may spot one or more bright

white or coloured pixels in the

ame position in each shot.

hese are likely to be hot or

tuck pixels on the sensor.

High ISOs and long exposure times can exacerbate the problem of dodgy pixels heres how to fix them

How to deal with hot and stuck pixels

Remap the pixelsYour camera can detect

where these pixels are and

remove them from pictures as

you take them, but youll need to

remap the sensor first. Switch

off the camera, remove the lens,

and fit the dust cap on the body.

Manual cleaningHead to the Sensor

Cleaning option in the

yellow Setup menu. Select

Manual Sensor Cleaning and run

this for about a minute with the

body cap in place. Switch the

camera off then take a test shot.

Shoot RawIf the problem persists, try

again. Ultimately, you may

have to send your camera in for

repair. Alternatively, shoot in Raw

and open the images in Adobe

Camera Raw, which removes the

worst stuck pixels automatically

ifferent aperture settings youll find that

shot has the perfect degree of blur

mpared to the rest.

Focusing at night can be a source of

stration too, particularly if youve come to

on your cameras autofocus. In low light,

lens will focus backwards and forwards

king for something to lock on to, even

en youve manually selected a single AF

nt that lines up with the important part of

scene. Theres every chance that it wont

able to focus accurately. It can be difficult

ell if the image is sharp or not, so check

focus indicator (the green circle in the

tom of the viewfinder). If its flashing, it

ans the picture may be blurred.

shot in the darkead of relying on the hit-or-mainly-miss

formance of autofocus in the dark, switch

manual focus (MF) and use Live View for

sistent results. The illuminated Live

Typical camera functions youll need to keep an eye on when shooting at night

Low-light camera settingsnstead of relyingn the hit-or-mainly-misserformance ofutofocus, switcho manual focus

Narrower aperturesNarrow apertures (high f-numbers, such as f/16 shown here) give

plenty of depth of field, but they do result in slower shutter speeds and

the potential for blurred shots. However, a wide-angle lens used at a

fairly wide aperture (such as f/5.6) offers a good compromise.

Raw formatSwitch to Raw for

night photography.

The files will show

more noise than

JPEGs, which have

Noise Reduction

(NR) applied, but

youll have more

subtle control over

NR in software

such as Adobe

Camera Raw.

Low ISOThe lower the ISO,

the less chance there

is of noise appearing

in a shot (although

there is still a risk

with longer exposure

times). The downside

is slower shutter

speeds, so increase

the ISO to enable a

shake-free shot when

shooting handheld.

Slow shutterspeedLonger exposure

times are generally

required to make an

exposure at night,

such as 5 secs

shown here. At this

speed youll need

a tripod, or dial in a

wider aperture and/

or higher ISO for a

quicker exposure.

Auto whitebalanceWhen youre

shooting in mixed

lighting, such as

in a city at night,

its often easier

to leave the white

balance set to

AWB as this

usually produces

a good balance of

the various light

sources.

To emphasise

the cool blue

tones of a moonlit

landscape, try

using the

Tungsten white

balance preset
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Narrow apertures are indicated by large

f/numbers and give lights a star-like glow

At night, youre likely to use long exposure times and/or high ISO settings, both of which

increase the amount of noise. High ISO Noise Reduction is applied to all images, unless

you manually override it in the red Shooting menu or Custom Function menu (dependingon your camera model). There are four settings: None, Low, Standard and High.

Long Exposure Noise Reduction is also available. Set to Auto, this kicks in at exposures

that last a second or more. It removes noise by taking a black frame exposure,

determining where the noise appears, and then applying noise reduction to the original

shot. However, it takes the same amount of time to create the black frame exposure as it

does the main image, eating

into both shooting time and

battery life.

Dealing with noise

Welcome to shooting starsIn addition to controlling how much light

enters the lens and determining depth of

field, the choice of aperture also affects

how lights are portrayed in a shot taken at

night. At wide apertures, street lamps can

be captured with a simple circular glow,

but dial in a narrow aperture (eg f/22)

instead and you get an appealing starburst

effect. This is caused by light diffractingaround the edges of the aperture blades in

the lens. We say appealing, but if you find

the effect distracting then simply choose

a wider aperture to reduce it (eg f/8).

By default,

your EOS has

High ISO

Noise

Reduction at

the Standard

setting

The strongest setting smears subtle

details as it smooths the noise away

There are several accessories that

make night photography easier. Take

more memory cards than you think

youll need (especially if youre doing

more experimental photography, such

as shooting car light trails) and make

sure your lenses are fitted with hoods

the light from street lamps or even a

full moon can cause flare in a picture,

just as the sun does in daylight.

TripodYoull need one of these

for long-exposure work

in low light. It can be

hard to judge if the

setup is level in the

dark, so activate the

built-in electronic level

(by repeatedly tapping

the INFO button onrecent EOS bodies) to

fine-tune the framing.

Spare batteryExtended exposures,

prolonged use of Live

View and cold

conditions drain

batteries quickly, so

keep a spare in a warm

pocket when shooting

at night. Check batterycapacity in the yellow

Setup menu.

HIGHISONR:OFF

HIGHISONR:HIGH

Essential gear

TorchAlthough you can use the built-in light tocheck settings on the top LCD screen in

the dark on some models, this reduces

battery power. Use a torch to help you

make adjustments instead. A powerful

torch can also be used to illuminate part

of a scene in order to give the cameras

AF system something to lock on to, as

well as for light-painting (see page 8).With Noise Reduction disabled, JPEGs are

peppered with a sheen of gritty noise

W o r l d M a g s . n e t W o r l d M a g s . n e t
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