Night Photos

Stay calm, shoot in raw and keep reading.

WRITTEN BY NATALIE EDWARDS

Shooting portraits at night can be intimidating, I’ve had some success myself and I want to share what I’ve learnt here. First off, one of the hardest parts is keeping the camera steady. When taking portraits I don’t like to use a tripod because I find it restricting, as well as lugging it around can be a pain. Always focus on your subjects eyes and make sure that you keep the camera steady, try and lean on something, if you’re shooting from a low angle use your knee as your easiest on-the-go tripod.

Whenever I do night photography I only use the light provided at the location. This had gone from neon signs to the lights at the bottom of a ferris wheel. Great locations to practice shooting with a low light source can be arcades, carnivals/festivals, bowling alleys, you can even try light painting or your own car headlights. Shoot wide open with a higher ISO and a slow shutter. This will allow you to let so much more light into your photo.

I try to stay very aware of any shadows being created on the models face or how colours are casting with their skin tone. My tip here would be to always angle your models face in the direction of the light even if they’re looking in a different direction to it. Shooting in RAW is essential for your editing process, remember that underexposed images can usually be recovered if you shoot in the RAW format. If there’s not enough light to expose properly on the shoot, that’s still okay. Editing is one half of your job.

Another great tool you can use is prisms. This is a big favourite for me in regards to photography in general, you can get some amazing effects with whatever light source you’re using. I own a small triangular prism which I incorporate into my photography when I’m doing a more creative shoot. As well as these prisms I recommend clear frame glasses, the style is up to you but they’re a great reflector and they can really bump up your picture. Aviators are popular which you can find on places like eBay or Amazon for a good price. Lastly, understand the exposure triangle. This consists of aperture, shutter speed and ISO. A wide aperture will let more light in, the longer your shutter is opened up the more light that’s letting in, ISO allows you to work with less light.

Test your settings as much as possible and you’ll see how you can manipulate your images in the camera. Being able to adjust and adapt to different settings is very important if you’re looking to add something like night photography to your skillset. It can also be a really fun experience because it’ll open your shoot options so much.