When shooting at night, facing the boundless sky, how to find the focal length and how to shoot a clear picture?

Digital photography is an art full of creativity and inspiration. The unique operability of digital cameras gives us some shooting skills different from traditional cameras. For example, in macro photography, digital cameras have great advantages over traditional cameras, while in night photography, digital cameras are slightly difficult. Today, we will discuss with you some skills of digital camera shooting at night.

Tip: Accurate exposure control is the key to digital camera night photography.

Use scene mode to shoot night scenes.

At present, many high-end digital cameras provide shooting modes of P (automatic), A (aperture priority), S (shutter priority) and M (manual). In addition, most digital cameras provide scene shooting modes, the most common modes are night scene mode and macro mode, and some digital cameras provide more detailed and rich scene modes, and even can obtain functions such as shooting modes in the evening and late at night. Generally, satisfactory results can be achieved through this night scene mode. For most novice digital cameras, shooting at night is the simplest, feasible and guaranteed method. However, it should be noted that some digital cameras cannot flash synchronously in night view mode.

Computer-synthesized secondary exposure

When shooting at night, the ambient light is weak and the contrast is large, while the digital camera uses electronic photosensitive element (CCD). Due to technical limitations, the obtained information is easily affected by noise, and the dark details are weak. Generally, digital cameras can't perform secondary exposure like traditional cameras, which is a common skill of traditional cameras when shooting at night, but we can solve this problem through computers:

Firstly, determine the file size and format of the shot image and the settings on the camera, and define the composition, and then take a photo before night when the light is still good; Keep the original focal length unchanged. When the light is on, set the exposure value of the digital camera. Never change the focal length of the lens or the file size format of the image before taking another photo. Input two photos into a computer and use image processing software (such as Photoshop or PhotoImpact) for post-synthesis processing. In this way, high-quality night images can be obtained simply and conveniently.

This method can also be used to make beautiful night photos of people.

Focusing problem of night scene shooting

At present, there are few digital cameras with fixed focus mode, and they are basically products below 2 million. Many other digital cameras adopt the focusing mode of combining automatic focusing with manual focusing. Each focusing method has its own characteristics and applicable objects, such as numerical adjustment manual focusing and focus ring manual focusing. Numerical adjustment Manual focusing can achieve accurate focusing by adjusting the distance in the LCD screen. This focusing method is troublesome to operate and requires high distance judgment, but it can be effective for shooting night scenes.

Generally speaking, the accuracy and speed of autofocus of non-SLR or quasi-SLR digital cameras need to be improved. Because it is difficult for ordinary digital camera focusing sensors to focus on scenes with low contrast and low brightness accurately, when focusing on night scenes, we should focus on bright scenes as much as possible, and then lock the focal length for composition.

Unexpected white balance

Different from traditional camera shooting, digital cameras do not achieve white balance by adding color filters, but only adjust the color of the whole image through built-in programs. General digital cameras have several white balance modes to choose from. Some digital cameras also provide white balance numerical adjustment (color temperature adjustment), and some higher-end digital cameras even have custom white balance function, which provides photographers with a broader creative space.

When shooting at night, if the white balance adjustment is not adopted, the light waves produced by floodlights decorating buildings and scenery will be more colorful than those seen by the naked eye (because the human eye can automatically correct the color balance), and the evening sky will show more amazing and bright colors on the photosensitive elements. If automatic white balance adjustment is adopted, the bright colors of the scene will be lost instead, and the photo level will appear dull and tasteless. Readers who pursue special effects can try different white balance shooting effects and have unexpected gains.

Mastering the night shooting skills of digital cameras requires a lot of practice. Readers can explore many interesting places in shooting practice according to the functions and characteristics of their cameras, give full play to their creative inspiration, and show the beauty of the night.

Matters needing attention

Digital cameras are generally not equipped with lens hoods, so be careful when taking pictures near the light source. You can use simple objects for occlusion.

When shooting, choose LCD (liquid crystal display) for framing. Considering the problem of power consumption, the compromise is to use an optical viewfinder to view the scene and use LCD to confirm the composition. When shooting in a dark environment, the display screen can't finish the work well, so you should choose an optical viewfinder to view the scene.

When shooting outside, you should bring enough batteries and mobile storage. Use the LCD screen when not shooting.

Be sure to bring a tripod. Hand-held shooting will greatly affect the quality of the final image. Use self-timer function or remote control shooting to reduce the influence of jitter.

The effect of LCD display is not the final photo effect, but it is generally much brighter than the actual photo, and it needs to be observed and judged on the computer to be accurate.