How to Take Night Photography With a Lumix DMC FZ50

Taking night photographs present different challenges than daylight photographs because of reduced light and contrast.

The Lumix DMC-FZ350 is a superzoom digital camera made by Panasonic. A major upgrade from the FZ30, the FZ350 provides photographers with the necessary features to take low-light and night photographs including a wide range of sensor settings that improves low-light capabilities, a fast lens allowing maximum light capture and through-the-lens (TTL) flash adjustments. When an electronic shutter release cord is used and the camera is mounted on a tripod, exposures lasting from seconds to minutes are possible, giving the camera outstanding night photography capabilities.

Instructions

1. Select the manual (M) setting on the camera's modes control knob located on the top right-hand side. Selecting manual mode allows you to make the critical settings necessary for night or low-light photography.

2. Set the ISO to 800. (The ISO settings can be found on the menu, viewable on the LCD.) ISO 800 is a good starting point, but adjustments will probably be necessary after you take a few concept photos.

3. Use the built-in light meter by gently pushing the shutter release button halfway down, without causing the shutter to release. You can see the meter indicator through the view finder. Adjust your lens aperture (The f-stop setting) and ISO so that the meter indicates a proper exposure setting. In some cases, depending upon the lighting, you may need to underexpose or overexpose your photograph slightly.

4. Stop-down the lens to its maximum of f/11 to increase the depth of focus. Stopping down the lens will restrict the amount of light received by the sensor, but you can compensate by increasing the ISO setting. Opening the f-stop to its maximum of f/2.8 will shorten the depth of focus but allow more light to enter the camera and will allow you to use a lower ISO setting.

5. Experiment with the the f-stop settings on the lens and the ISO setting within the camera to achieve the desired results. Night photography is a balancing act between depth-of-focus (aperture setting) and ISO (sensor sensitivity and graininess) and typically requires several attempts to produce the desired effect.

Tips & Warnings

• In many cases, because of reduced light, you will be taking long exposure photographs, so a tripod will be handy to have. It will keep the camera steady during longer exposures (slower than 125/sec).

• The Lumix DMC FZ50 has an image stabilization feature but will not completely dampen movement during extremely long exposures (those lasting more than 1/60/sec).

• The higher the ISO setting, the more sensitive your sensor becomes but the photograph will show more of a grainy texture. Night and low-light photographs typically have a grainy texture.

References

• "The Photographer's Handbook, 3rd Ed."; John Hedgecoe
• "Digital Photographer's Handbook: Equipment, Techniques, Effects, Troubleshooting, 3rd Ed"; Tom Ang; 2006
• "The Complete Guide to Night & Low-Light Photography"; Lee Frost; 2006