Night Light Effects

Night light effects in photography give the photographer a unique opportunity to use light to "paint" a scene through manipulation of the light. Longer exposures will lighten even the darkest sky, stretch stars and give a surreal appearance to an everyday night scene. Night light effects can be created with most cameras; however, an SLR camera with the ability to shoot long exposures is best for creating dramatic effects.

Equipment

You will need the following equipment to successfully create night light effects in your photography:

SLR camera--An ideal camera has a manual mode so the shutter and aperture can be manually programmed.

Tripod--A tripod is a valuable and necessary tool that prevents camera shake during long exposures.

Cable release or remote release---If your camera allows manual settings, a cable or remote release will help alleviate accidental camera vibrations.

Effects

Multiple fireworks

Only the imagination limits the opportunity to create night light effects. Many effects are relatively simple to create. Shooting city skylines allows you to capture the nightlife glitter with vivid highlights, outlines and silhouettes. Traffic trails add an interesting aspect to a night scene, and they are one of the easiest light effects to capture. Fireworks create great abstracts in print and allow plenty of room for variety. Flash light painting turns the night into your canvas.

Settings

Starry night, lonely road and tail lights

Low ISO settings provide the best image quality for long exposure settings. Camera settings to capture night light effects vary with the result and desired impact you wish to create. Below are initial settings for night light effects; tweak them to capture your vision.

Traffic trails and city skylines--Set your camera's aperture to f/16 or f/22 and your shutter to B (bulb) or the longest amount of time your shutter can remain open.

Fireworks--Set your camera's aperture to f/8, f/11 or f/16 and your shutter to 5-10 seconds. Set your focal length to infinity. If you want to capture more than one burst, set your shutter to B (bulb) and leave it open long enough to capture multiple bursts. Watch out for light burn if you shoot more than one burst.

Flashlight painting-- Set your camera's aperture to f/8, f/11 or f/16 and your shutter to B (bulb). "Paint" the objects you want to appear in your photo by outline them with a flashlight with the object between you and your camera or stand next to your camera and spotlight objects in front of the camera with sweeping motions of your light.

Techniques

Cactus backlit with candle; side lit by flashlight to silhouette tree stump

Zooming and backlighting are additional effects you can add to your night light effects.

Zooming adds a great twist to night light shots. To create a zoom effect, set a long exposure (shutter speed of 1/15th or greater) and then twist the lens from one extreme to the other during the exposure.

Backlighting adds drama to silhouettes and shadows. Depending upon the size of the subject you are backlighting, you can use a flashlight, candle or spotlight placed strategically behind the object or to the side of the object to create striking shadows.

Considerations

Digital cameras will get "noisier" with longer exposures. Noise is when the night color loses its vividness and become faded. To minimize noise, bracket your shot (take the same shot with various shutter time settings, for example 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds).

References

• Picture Correct; Low Light and Night Photography; Eric Hartwell
• The A-Z of Creative Photography; Lee Frost; 1998

Resources

• School of Photography