Night Photography is difficult because of the manner in which the photos have to be taken. But before we get to that, here are a few items that will be necessary to taking photos at night:
- 100 or 400ASA film
- Tripod
- Shutter Release Cable
- Camera
- Flashlight
- Notepad
In order to take good night photography photos, you need to expose the film for a long period of time. All camera have a setting for exposure called "B" for Bulb, which is a manual exposure setting. This setting allows you to depress the shutter button and keep the shutter open for as long as you hold the button.
The amount of time you keep the shutter open will vary depending on many factors: film speed, your light source, and your affect on the film. Since this varies so much, I have posted many pictures below to show the different affects.
On average, however, you will probably use around an f/8 stop and an exposure of 5-10 seconds. This is where the tripod and shutter release cable are essential. You can't touch the camera if you are taking photos with such a long exposure. The release cable allows you to trip the shutter for any given amount of time without touching the camera.
The light meter built into the camera becomes useless as soon as you switch the exposure to B. The onboard meter uses a combination of film speed, aperture, and exposure to determine the meter reading, but as soon as you set it to the manual setting you take that factor out of the equation. This is one of the difficult factors of Night Photography.
Now for some examples. All the examples below were shot on 100ASA film, which is actually on the slower end of film speeds and requires more light, thus a longer exposure at night. Below each picture I will list the focal length, aperture size, and exposure. See which you think came out best.
50mm+Wide Angle Attachment, f/5.6, 1 second
50mm+Wide Angle Attachment, f/5.6, 5 seconds
50mm+Wide Angle Attachment, f/5.6, 10 seconds
50mm+Wide Angle Attachment, f/5.6, 15 seconds
Of all the above photos, I think the 10 second exposure is the best. The only enhancements I made to that photo were to remove the lens flares I had not anticipated that night.
The 1 and 5 second exposures simply didn't have enough light to work with. Keep in mind these were all taken with an f/5.6 shutter, which is a stop larger than the f/8 I suggested earlier. Although it is possible to open the aperture further, I would not recommend it. The ideal range for all lenses is +-1 stop from an f/8.
The 10 second exposure had plenty of light for all the areas I was interested in capturing. The reason I don't like the 15 second exposure is because of the water: at this exposure the water is much more blurred than at the 10 second exposure.
So for this batch, an f/5.6 and 10 second exposure worked well.
135mm, f/8, 1 second
135mm, f/8, 3 seconds
135mm, f/8, 10 seconds
135mm, f/8, 20 seconds
With these photos, I again think the 10 second exposure is just right even though I closed down to an f/8 aperture. You can really see the difference between a 3 second exposure and a 10 second exposure. These were taken with a longer lens, the 135mm, at an f/8 so it seems 10 seconds is the good exposure for both.
50mm+Wide Angle Attachment, f/8, 1/125
50mm, f/8, 1/60
50mm, f/8, 5 seconds
50mm, f/8, 10 seconds
Again, I would say the 10 second exposure is just about right. I edited blemishes from this photo, but I did not enhance lighting or color. The lights from both the water fountain in the foreground and buildings in the background provided enough lighting over 10 seconds to properly light the scene.
I would say all told I spent an hour taking all these pictures on this particular night. It was a great learning experience, one which I am eager to repeat. Unfortunately, Wilmington is not a town of beautiful lights at night really. Street lights just don't cut it.
I am, however, eager to give another area of Night Photography a try: Light Streaks. Light Streaks are photos taken at night in which a light will move across the frame. Typically speaking, cars headlights/taillights and stars are the main subjects of this type of photography. I will post another entry at a later date when I give this a try.
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