Six Skills of Night Scene Shooting

Night scenes have always been a favorite subject for photographers, so what should be paid attention to for beginners? Now I will share with you six tips that the author will use when shooting night scenes!

1, tripod is very important

First of all, a stable tripod is very important for shooting night scenes, because a slow shutter is usually used for shooting night scenes. If the tripod is unstable, the photos will be blurred, especially when the wind is strong on the mountain. Moreover, the tripod can be used for a long time if it is well maintained, and it is really worth investing in photographic equipment.

2. Use M mode (manual mode) to shoot easily.

In normal hand-held shooting, A mode (aperture first) is also used to shoot, which can effectively control the depth of field and shutter speed (increase the aperture and automatically adjust the shutter), but in night shooting, I mostly use manual mode (M mode), but novice photographers will ask, in M mode, all apertures, shutters, ISO, etc. They all adjust themselves, so how should we start?

It's actually quite simple. The initial value can be determined according to the following process:

(1) First, adjust to mode A (aperture prerequisite) for metering, and determine the aperture value and ISO. For example, with f/8 and ISO200, the shutter obtained is 2 seconds;

(2) Then switch to M mode (manual mode), with the aperture set to f/8, ISO200 and shutter set to 2 seconds, one beat;

(3) Look at the shooting effect. If necessary, determine the exposure with reference to the histogram. If you feel the overall darkness is low, you will generally choose to slow down the shutter instead of increasing the aperture or ISO. This is because the camera has been mounted on a tripod and is not afraid of long exposure. However, if you increase the aperture, it will brighten the depth scene, while ISO will increase the noise, without taking advantage of the photo quality.

Step 3 change the white balance

Changing the white balance means changing the color of the photo. You don't have to use automatic white balance to shoot night scenes. Changing the white balance can make your photos have different effects! Cold will bring out the feeling of science fiction city, and warm will have a lively effect. So try different white balance in the same scene!

4. Both large aperture and small aperture should be used.

You don't have to use a small aperture to shoot night scenes. Although a small aperture (such as f/8) will deepen the depth of field, sometimes we must use a large aperture to shoot night scenes. For example:

(1) When shooting a very dark scene but can't slow down the shutter-for example, shooting a starry sky, you should use a high ISO+ large aperture +30-second shutter, otherwise you can't shoot successfully!

(2) Handheld shooting-Handheld shooting is restricted by the "safety shutter". If the shutter changes too slowly, hand shaking will occur. At this time, the aperture should be slightly larger, and the ISO should be improved if necessary, so that the scene will not be blurred;

(3) When you want to shoot a shallow depth of field effect-don't fix the composition. In addition to shooting "big scenes" at night, you can also take good photos by highlighting details with shallow depth of field effect. At this time, you need to use a large aperture to shoot a shallow depth of field! Christmas lighting is a good example!

5, slow shutter shooting

Slow shutter speed is a very interesting and useful skill. When shooting with a slow shutter at night, you can shoot beautiful car tracks, star tracks, light paintings and even some invisible light. We can also shoot through the slow shutter of the camera. You can try to find a hill without light, slow down the shutter and see what you can shoot!

Step 6 use a black card

The use of black cards is very simple, even for beginners. The principle is to cover the bright place with a non-reflective black card when exposed for a long time, so that the place with insufficient light can absorb more light, and even in the environment with great light difference, you can take a photo with general light. This skill will make photos different! Try it today!