What problems should be paid attention to in night photography of urban night scenes?

Seven skills of street photography at night

Generally, you can shoot light in the daytime or in the sun, but it is not enough to shoot by street lamps or home lights at night. There are other ways to strengthen the problem of insufficient light at night. Here are some tips for street shooting at night.

1. Add ISO

When you meet the opportunity of street shooting at night, the camera settings are generally to turn up the aperture, absorb the light as much as possible, and turn the ISO to the highest. When it comes to setting the ISO value too high, photographers usually worry about "too much noise". Indeed, the improvement of ISO can improve the sensitivity, but it is replaced by the decrease of color contrast and inevitable noise.

But please look at the photos of Daido Moriyama. Many of his works are full of a lot of noise, perhaps intentionally. If the noise produced by high ISO is controversial from the perspective of "photography textbook", it may be a plus item for photos from the perspective of "narrative technique", which will make photos more human and strengthen the feeling of recording facts. Personally, I don't know why the noisy photos make me feel "alive" and "more real". High ISO noise is not terrible, but sometimes it will give you better results, so don't be afraid to set the ISO to the highest when shooting at night!

Shoot moving objects

Just now, I mentioned that increasing the noise generated by ISO can provide tension for the photo story, which is the viewpoint of turning the original photography defects into advantages, and the second point is the same. When shooting in the street at night, the shutter often slows down because of insufficient light, and it is easy to take "shaking" photos. The shaking picture will make many photographers play upside down, but it can add dramatic effects to your photos, such as mystery. Therefore, in addition to increasing ISO, you can also try to slow down the shutter and shoot a slightly shaky picture to increase the story.

3. Use a fixed-focus wide-angle lens

If you are serious about focusing on street shooting at night, I suggest you use a fixed-focus wide-angle lens. Usually, the fixed-focus lens provides a fairly large aperture, which can attract more light sources at night, such as from the largest 1.4, 1.8 to 2.8. If you want to use a telescope, refer to the second point and try to strengthen your story, because you may take a bunch of shaking pictures. Otherwise, please see point four.

tripod

I believe all the friends who have taken photos know that putting the camera on a tripod can definitely make you take stable photos. But street photography emphasizes speed and instant judgment. It usually takes a second or two to decide. Press the shutter and passers-by won't stop there for you to shoot. Therefore, unless you are not afraid of weight, make sure you set up a tripod, adjust the camera to the target, and build a picture, otherwise the speed of pressing the shutter without being discovered can be within two seconds ... Personally, it is not recommended to shoot street shots with a tripod.

Manual focus

I remember the first time I met the opportunity to take pictures at night, and I felt that the lens was not good and it was not easy to focus. The lens kept focusing back and forth and hissed, but it couldn't focus at all. Later, I learned that it was because of autofocus under the condition of insufficient light source. Auto-focus is very convenient in the case of sufficient light source, but it is not easy to use in the case of insufficient light at night. It is recommended to use manual focus.

6. Look for any light source that can be used

There is never a shortage of lights, neon lights, street lamps, shop lights, buses and MRT lights in the city at night. A photographer once said, "As long as there is light, even a little, I can take pictures." So don't be afraid of lack of light when shooting at night. You must compromise shutter speed or high ISO noise. In fact, the artificial light sources provided by many cities can make you take unexpected pictures.

7. Don't stop exploring

There are many restrictions on shooting at night, such as basic lighting. If you want to explore in an alley, or shoot in more complicated places such as Lee Tae Courtyard in Seoul and Ximending in Taipei, there will be safety problems. But I encourage everyone to explore as much as possible under the condition of "ensuring their own safety".