Suggestions for beginners to learn night scene shooting.

1. Ideal camera settings for street photography at night.

Where there is light, you can shoot at the shutter speed of 1/250, but in most cases, the shutter speed can only reach1160 at most, or even 1/60. You need to hold the camera steady, use a wide-angle lens as much as possible, and try to shoot at the shutter speed of 1/60; Pull ISO up, generally ISO is up to 3200 and up to 6400, although most cameras have strong noise processing ability; There are also many observations of light sources.

It is recommended to use a wide-angle lens, because the longer your focal length, the faster the shutter speed is needed to make the picture clear.

It is recommended to observe the light sources, because most cities have artificial light sources, car lights, neon lights, fluorescent lights, street lamps, lights in shops and so on. It is not easy to take pictures at night. The reason is not that it is too dark, but that the light is too uneven. In some places, the light is very bright, and in others, it is too dark. Practice observing the light source more.

Find the light source

At night, the light source is very important, because even if the picture is great and inappropriate, the light source is still useless. Therefore, it is suggested to find a light source near the scene, choose the light you like, and then prepare to shift the focus to the person or thing you want to shoot.

If the camera is aimed at the light source, the subject will darken, and dramatic light and shadow can be taken on the characters, and great signs can be taken.

3. Nightlife shooting

Try to observe scenes that don't happen during the day at night, such as clubs, subway stations, underground streets, arcades, night markets and other nightlife.

4. Pay attention to the shooting distance

In the evening, if you frame the subject and the surrounding scene at the right time, you can not only shoot the whole atmosphere, but also strengthen the story through the characters you shoot. When the shooting distance is far away, it is easier to hold people tight, and the closer to the moving subject, the faster the shutter is needed. Unless the subject you want to shoot is still, consider adding some details closer to the picture.

5. tripod and shooting method

Holding a camera is the best way to shoot street photography, because you don't know when and where what will happen. Holding a camera can make you react quickly, unless you want to lock an area to photograph the moving state of the crowd. At this time, you can try a slower shutter speed, such as 1/8 per second.

I usually take a camera, a mirror, a backpack (with a notebook, a spare battery, a memory card, a bottle of water, a mobile phone, etc.). ), and the tripod is too heavy to use.

Step 6 flash

Flash is a common tool when shooting at night. I prefer to use some ambient light sources at night. Flash is easy to attract others' attention, and the person being photographed will be uncomfortable.

Of course, with the flash, you can have more room to play. Use faster shutter speed and shallower depth of field, and don't worry about the noise caused by too high ISO.

When shooting at night, there are two common methods of flash: one is to focus on people or things, and only highlight the subject when shooting; The second is to shrink it a little, take the whole scene in and highlight the main body a little. Choose the method to use according to the information you want to convey.

7. Insufficient exposure or excessive noise

When improving ISO, adjust the exposure to the correct value as much as possible.

Many times it is because the environment is too dark to find the most correct exposure value. It is suggested to take photos with low exposure, and then use Lightroom software to improve exposure value. Don't use JPG when shooting, use RAW files.

If there is really too much noise, my opinion is: first, turning a photo into black and white can sometimes add dramatic tension to the photo; Second, just give up the photo, and the next one will be better.

8. Ambiguity and imperfection

Take photos as clearly as possible, but you don't have to take every photo clearly at night. Pay more attention to: story, composition, atmosphere.

9. The photos taken at night are inherently dark.

The photos taken at night should look like they were taken at night, right? Or shoot during the day. There will be dark parts on the picture, underexposed and unclear details. If you carefully observe the histogram of photos taken at night, compared with photos taken during the day, the histogram of photos taken at night will be far to the left (dark part).