Main points of night shooting

We can start shooting at night from these six points:

1, tripod

It usually takes a long time to take a night view, so the camera should be hidden to take a clear picture. In order to avoid the influence of vibration, it is best to use a tripod to reduce shaking.

2. Turn down the brightness (ISO)

I believe everyone knows that high sensitivity brightness can get faster shutter speed at the same aperture value to reduce the jitter problem when shooting, but it will cause noise in the photo. Especially when shooting at night, long exposure will make the dark noise particularly obvious, so if the environment permits, it is best to use tripod and low ISO value to get the best shooting effect.

3. Take photos with a large aperture lens.

When we put the lens on the fuselage, the aperture of the lens will automatically open to the maximum. In a dark environment, a larger aperture allows more light to enter the lens and makes the picture on the viewer clearer. For example, two photographers shoot night scenes at the same time and place. If a lens with the maximum aperture of f/2.8 and a lens with the maximum aperture of f/5.6 are used, the picture on the viewfinder of the photographer with the aperture of f/2.8 will be obviously brighter, and the photographer can see the clear details more easily.

Step 4 shoot with a small aperture

It may seem contradictory. Just now, the author said to use a large aperture lens. Why do you want to shoot with a small aperture now? There is a simple reason. The purpose of using a large aperture lens is to make it easier for photographers to see clearly when shooting, but the aperture is lowered for the following two reasons:

Small aperture can make the depth of field larger, so that the scene will not be blurred by the influence of shallow depth of field; If there is light at night, shooting with a small aperture can make the light star-shaped and the effect is more prominent.

5, long exposure

One of the common methods for shooting night scenes is long exposure (shutter value as slow as 10 second, 30 seconds or several hours), which can be used to shoot car tracks, star tracks, waves and so on. Long exposure can not only smooth waves or record the trajectory of red taillights, but also make some light that is usually invisible to the naked eye appear. The effect is absolutely fascinating. You must try more!

6, set the white balance

It is not recommended to use automatic white balance when shooting night scenes, because in dark environment, automatic white balance can easily become inconsistent, leading to color difference in photos. You can use the white balance of "tungsten lamp" mode when shooting night scenes, but of course you should choose the most suitable mode according to the environment at that time. In addition, saving photos in RAW format allows photographers to adjust the white balance as needed afterwards, which is more convenient.