Taking night photos can be very satisfying. Whether on a warm summer
evening, or a winter night when the chill makes all the lights twinkle,
taking photos at night is fun, and an excellent way to explore the
capabilities of a camera. All that is required is a sturdy tripod and
patience.
Taking photos at night requires a bit more planning than in the day time.
Shooting at night takes more time, and invariably more fiddling with
the camera. Moreover, the subject has to be right. The photographer needs
to decide how to compose the image with the light available, determine
which areas of the composition are the brightest, how to balance the
light by placing the camera in such a way as to create an image that
has the right mood, and feel.
Night photos with a point and shoot
While the ability to capture images at night is usually available with
more advanced cameras that provide a way to control the length of time
the shutter remains open, some point and shoot cameras provide a "night
scene" mode that also has some possibilities, as long as the photographer
pays close attention to setting the camera properly.
In most cases, the night scene mode available on point and shoot
cameras is intended to capture photos of people standing in front of
a city skyline at night. To achieve this, most night scene modes will
automatically set the flash to a slow synch — which leaves the
shutter open for a short while after the flash has fired — and
use some form of red eye reduction. For a night landscape, the flash
needs to be turned off. With night scene modes when the flash is turned
off, the exposure time available to the camera may extend, depending
on the camera model, into a range covering from 2 to 8 seconds. With
these types of cameras, although the camera remains in charge of deciding
the aperture and the shutter speed, a couple of other controls are probably
available to the user.
Controlling focus
The Auto focus system of many point and shoot cameras can have a problem
focusing under low light. In this situation, some models will default to
infinity focus, but not all. However, if the camera has a landscape mode
(effectively an infinity focus) that can be used concurrently with the
night scene mode, obtaining a correct focus should be possible.
Controlling exposure
The fact that the camera
automatically selects the shutter speed precludes any type
of control over the length of the exposure, generally the
most critical element for night photography. In addition,
fully automatic cameras tend to under estimate the length
of time the shutter should remain open during night shots,
as the accuracy of their metering is not as good under low
light as it is during the day. Often, the resulting photos
can be quite dark, as in the example shown at right.
Auto Exposure, 2 seconds at f2.8
Auto Exposure, 2 seconds at f2.8 and 200 ISO.
Two alternatives are generally
available to increase the brightness of the image with point
and shoot cameras. The first is to increase the sensitivity
of the sensor.
Pushing the camera to 200 ISO will, for the same exposure time, produce
a brighter and more interesting image. A further boost to 400 ISO would
also increase the brightness, but will also introduce more noise into the
image. Since different cameras will respond differently to increases in
sensitivity, experimentation will be necessary.
A word of caution is in order
here. Some camera models preclude changing the ISO in the
night scene mode to ensure that noise is kept down. A check
of the user manual should help determine what is possible.
The second way the image can be brightened a bit is by increasing the exposure
compensation, but the effect tends to be subtle. Setting a compensation
of +1EV, or even more, under these conditions can force the automatic
exposure system of the camera to use the slowest shutter speed.
Controlling colour
At night, the primary source of light is usually the surrounding incandescent
lighting. Setting the camera's white balance to that particular setting
(also called Tungsten on some cameras), tends to reproduce the colours
of the lights more accurately.
Auto White Balance
Incandescent White Balance
As can be seen in the images
above, the Auto white balance will normally produce warmer
colours, and incandescent, cooler colours. It remains however,
a matter of personal taste.
Still, it should be understood that the majority of point and shoot cameras
have a limited capability to take shots at night, and that models that
have a few additional capabilities will generally produce better photos.
A full feature camera is best:
To take night photos, the camera should have a shutter speed range that
extends to a minimum of 15 seconds, and provide control over it. It should
also be able to capture noise-free images at 100 ISO or below, and produce
images with only minimal noise at 200 ISO. In addition, the camera should
also be equipped with a noise reduction system, either automatically engaged
below a set shutter speed, or manually selected, which will process the
image to eliminate as much of the noise as possible.
As with many things in photography, some guidelines can be offered
to take night shots, but much of the results will depend on the camera
being used, and the subject being photographed. What follows are some suggestions
for settings that we have found to work well with a number of cameras.
Because taking night photos is fairly time-consuming, and the opportunity — time,
weather, etc. — may not present itself very often, it is a good strategy
to capture multiple shots using a variety of camera settings.
First the Program mode should be avoided. Program modes, even those
of cameras with advanced metering systems and which offer multiple shooting
modes will usually produce similar results with night photos as those of
simpler point and shoot. Most program modes are designed for day time use,
or for flash. So the best results will be obtained with either the Manual shooting
mode, or the Shutter priority (S), also called Time Value (Tv),
modes.
Shooting a series of photos is better than just one
In the images below, we start with a specific aperture, in this case the
brightest the camera has to offer and a 50 ISO sensitivity which is the
least prone to noise, and progressively increase the exposure time with
each shot.
4 seconds, 50 ISO.
8 seconds, 50 ISO.
15 seconds, 50 ISO.
30 seconds, 50 ISO.
60 seconds, 50 ISO.
Working methodically,
it is possible to find the best image: the one that both
captures the subject and fits the taste of the photographer.
If the camera offers the possibility of very long exposure times, an additional
series of photos should be captured, but this time at a much smaller aperture.
Very few cameras offer a shutter speed range that extends into minutes
as opposed to seconds, and night photography at small apertures, using
a relatively low sensitivity, generally require exposure times that are
around 1 minute.
Generally, using apertures such
as f8 or f10, will produce a better image when the focus
is set to infinity. The image will have better edge to edge
sharpness than it would at a wider aperture.
Assuming the camera is capable of long exposures with a
small aperture, an additional series of images should be
captured as shown above, but with much longer exposure times,
starting with 5 seconds, then 15 , 30 seconds, 1 minute and
1.5 minutes if the ISO is relatively low. (At a higher ISO
value, the time for each exposure can be shortened.) A Bulb
mode is practical for this and each shot can be timed with
a watch.
Exposure: 1 minute at f8 and 50 ISO.
However, while the use of a small
aperture is desirable for landscape photos, be it at night
or during the day, the reality is that most compact digital
cameras have limited maximum exposure times which often precludes
this choice as a smaller aperture requires a much longer
exposure time.
A final note. The LCD screen should not be relied on at night to judge
the true brightness of the image. The LCD screen is back lit and therefore
always presents a brighter image than has actually been captured. Moreover,
at night, when the eyes become accustomed to a dimly lit environment, the
image on the screen can appear to be even brighter, and in turn become
even more misleading. Indeed, if possible, the screen's brightness should
be turned down when the camera is used at night.
As always, the only sure way to determine what works best for a given camera
is to experiment, learn from the experience, and have fun while experimenting.
