Exposure techniques for night photography

Photography at night is a headache, especially for beginners. If you want to take better-quality photos at night, you must first do a good job of exposure. Proper exposure is the key to taking high-quality photos at night, so it is especially important to learn exposure techniques for night photography.

Correct exposure

Correct exposure is one of the basic conditions for achieving good results. In most cases of night photography, the exposure time is long, so the photo must be kept stable, and a tripod and shutter release cable must be used as much as possible; due to low illumination and long exposure time, the film's photosensitive performance will suffer from "reciprocity failure", that is, the photosensitivity The sensitivity is reduced, so the exposure should be appropriately increased. Roughly speaking, the aperture should be 0.5 to 1 stop larger than the exposure index measured by the light meter as exposure compensation. Taking the commonly used GB21o film as an example, the exposure reference table is listed below:

Exposure reference table for night photography

Slow exposure

The so-called slow exposure refers to exposure Exposures longer than 1 second. For most cameras, the B door is usually used in combination with timing (counting 1, 2, 3... silently, or looking at the hands of the watch). In addition to being used for static night scenes with low illumination, slow exposure can also be used to express moving luminous objects at night, such as passing car lights. Holding a flashlight (turned on) and waving it in the dark space to form some kind of light painting pattern or slow-moving full body. Starry stars, etc., are exposed to light on the film into elongated and changing bright lines, which can beautify the picture, add atmosphere, and enrich the shape.

Multiple exposures

The empty background at night is generally dark, so multiple exposures are easier to master than during the day. Each exposure is calculated according to the single exposure. Can. However, if you photograph the same object (such as an illuminated building) combined with other supporting objects, the total amount of multiple exposures can only be equivalent to the amount required for one normal exposure, otherwise the object you photographed will be seriously exposed. over. Therefore, the required amount of one exposure is assumed to be F8, 1 second. If 4 exposures are to be made, then the exposure amount of each time should be F8, 1/4 second of 1 second, that is, F8, 1/4 second, or F16 , 1 second. Since the number of exposures is large and separate calculations are cumbersome, we can assume that high-speed photosensitive film is used. In other words, the actual sensitivity of the film is GB21o, which is equivalent to ASA100. If three exposures are required, the film can be used as ASA300. Four One exposure is considered ASA400, ten exposures is considered ASA1000, and so on.

When shooting night scenes, in order to show the outline of the ground scenery against the background of the night sky, double exposures are often taken. The first exposure is after sunset and before the ground lights turn on. Use F5.6 and 1 second. The sky that is not completely dark is slightly sensitive to the film. The second exposure is after the ground and water lights turn on. Expose for the scene. Use F5.6, 2 minutes. For the first and second exposures, after the ground and water lights are on, use F5.6 for 2 minutes to expose the scenery. For the first and second exposure, the viewing position must be determined in advance and the camera must be fixed in place to complete the two exposures.

Multiple flashes

When shooting huge objects at night, such as large machine tools, ancient buildings, hotel living rooms, etc., you can achieve better results by using multiple shift flashes from multiple locations and sides. Comprehensive lighting effects, as well as distinctive styling effects. During the shooting process, transparent sheets of different colors were placed in front of the flash, and the flash was shifted for more than a hundred times.

Polygonal lens rotation exposure

Representing a building with string lights lit up on a festive night. If a multi-prism lens such as a triangular prism or a pentaprism with a central plane is attached in front of the camera lens, and the additional lens is rotated while making a slow exposure, a circular rotating light painting line can be formed to highlight the main body of the picture, adding beauty and vividness. The key when shooting is to place the subject in the center of the frame.

Raise the camera to expose

According to the movement of the light point, the effect of light lines on the film can be achieved, and the same effect can be obtained by moving the camera to capture a still light point. For example, when shooting a night scene in a city, if you have a tripod that can raise the center column, mount a camera for slow exposure, and simultaneously raise or lower the camera, you can create elongated light painting lines that vibrate up and down.

There are various exposure methods, the above is just an example. If you can combine different exposure methods, you can often achieve wonderful, novel and beautiful modeling effects.