How to Use Night Lighting for Photography

Learning to use night lighting for photography is essential if you want to take good low-light shots. Flash works best, but there are times when using flash is not an option. Even without flash, dramatic night scenes can still be achieved. Taking low-light shots requires certain camera settings and techniques to keep the photo from being blurry or grainy. Here are a few tips to help you create great photographs at night.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Camera
• Camera Owner's Manual
• Tripod

1. Find and use natural light sources like streetlights, car headlights, starlight and even reflections from bodies of water. Reflections not only provide more light, but they also add interesting effects to your photographs.

2. Increase the ISO setting. The ISO setting determines how sensitive your camera is to light. The higher the ISO setting, the less light that is needed to take great photos at night or in low-light situations. Many cameras feature an ISO range from ISO 50 to ISO 400. For night lighting shots, stay in the ISO 200-400 range.

3. Set your aperture or f-stop. An aperture is the opening which allows light to enter your camera. By using a smaller f-stop number, you will allow more light to pass through the aperture, which is essential for taking great night shots. Use aperture-priority and start with the lowest f-stop possible, like f/1.8 for example. Adjust as necessary to get the best night lighting photos.

4. Set your shutter speed. Shutter speed is one of the most important things to consider for night lighting in photography. The shutter is a door that opens and closes to allow light into your camera. The longer the shutter stays open, the more light passes through. For night shots, start with a shutter speed of 1/30 of a second and decrease or increase as necessary.

5. Adjust the white balance manually. Adjusting white balance helps to set the color "temperature" of the photo so that it more closely matches the subject. Setting white balance manually is very important in night photography because of the limited amount of available light, which can distort colors and cause your camera's auto features not to work. Point your camera toward a white object and press the white balance control. Adjust the white balance again if you move to another subject.

6. Focus your camera manually. Your camera's auto focus feature may not work properly in low-light conditions. Focus your camera manually to produce the best results.

7. Use a tripod. The best way to improve night photography is to use a tripod. A tripod will keep your camera steady which will allow you to keep the shutter open longer. Practice taking shots with as little movement as possible to reduce blur.

Tips & Warnings

• Read your camera's manual to learn more about it's features and how to use them. Experiment with different camera settings to find what works best for you.
• Use a remote control in conjunction with your tripod to further eliminate camera shake.
• Pictures taken at higher ISO settings have a grainy quality to them. Reduce ISO to the lowest possible number that will still allow enough light to take a great shot.