6 tips for night photography

In today’s article I will give some tips for night photography. A glorious sunset will always attract a crowd of photographers. However, the moment the sun sets behind the horizon, it seems that everyone gets discouraged and runs away.

What they don’t realize is how exceptional the scene can become at dusk and early in the evening. The hours following sunset are really ideal for landscape photos.

But of course for this you need a little more knowledge to perform such work.

With these 6 tips it is possible to make the long-awaited golden hour longer and turn this into an impressive work.

tips for night photography

1 – Beware of composition

It is easy to be mesmerized by the strong colors of twilight. However the photographer who works to add more visual interest will eventually create a better image.

About half an hour before the sun begins to look for foreground subjects to anchor its composition, flowers, tree stones are always welcome at this time.

The idea is to add visual interest all the way through the frame, you explore various options, make sure to try different perspectives including the view from the ground.

Count every second compose in advance and wait for the best moment of light to shoot.

2 – Use Live View

Instead of fighting with auto focus switch to live view and manual focus it will be of great value in low-light environments.

By switching to manual focus and enlarging the scene on the LCD you have the ability to use maximum care in a micro-focus on what is important in your scene.

With an increase of 5x to 10x you have to rely a lot on your vision.

Remember the magnified view on your LCD is not representative of the actual focal length. By pressing the shutter button the entire scene will be captured in sharp detail.

With this level of accuracy I find this feature ideal for low light photography and for night shots.

3 – No tripod? No problem

It is true that a good tripod is the best friend of a landscape photographer, especially in situations of near darkness.

However, there are occasions when definitely taking one is not possible. With a little creativity, you can still create a sharp photographs. The key is to adjust the camera so that it has a delay of 1 or more seconds on the timer.

Compose your photo with the camera resting on a stone or a bag and press the trigger. The timer will count down for a few seconds. This is long enough to eliminate any vibration from the camera before firing.

Using this technique, you can still use very long shutter speeds even without a tripod.

4 – Safety first

When you go out for night shots all the camera buttons become quite difficult to see, and so a small flashlight will be of great value for this moment.

It can also come in handy if you are stuck on a trail or in places with lots of rocks.

Always carry with you an easy-to-handle flashlight and easy to keep. Although it is an optional item never underestimate your flashlight, because one day it will save you.

5 – Cool the White Balance

During the day it is quite common for everyone to choose warmer white balance presets. For night shots, however this will make the image appear overexposed and what best meets situations with little light is a colder white balance.

This will give you a slightly more real image and if you photographed in Raw will allow you to make any necessary adjustments in post production.

6 – Stay relatively far away

Night photography will offer you some spectacular opportunities, especially when we have the moon is full, and this can check this in advance using apps on your smartphone.

In these low light conditions, you will have to take some special steps to get the most balanced capture.

First of all a solid tripod is essential to avoid camera vibration if it is not with your use some support. In the mountains the winds can be strong, so opting for a tripod with firm legs is essential

Even with the moonlight it will be necessary to use a slower shutter speed, between 10 to 15 seconds.

Start with the following setting: ISO 400, Aperture at F/4 and a 15 seconds on shutter. Then adjust until you get the desired exposure.

These are just some of the tips for night photography, you can develop a complete portfolio just thinking about night photography, which is really cool.
If you have some more tips for night photography leave it here in the comments it will be very useful for everyone.