Take Spectacular Nighttime Photos with Your Digital Camera - Part II

Night photos can take on a somewhat magical quality you may find lacking in normal daytime photography. Amazing night pictures certainly can attract attention. As the sun goes down, however, it becomes harder to capture images without the proper equipment and techniques. Thus, as was mentioned in Part I of this series, taking incredible nighttime photographs requires a lot of planning.

When your digital camera receives less light, it cannot absorb the surroundings as well in the resulting photographs. Some pictures may turn out too dark. Others can be too blurry. Your camera requires more time to absorb enough light to create an effective picture, so any shaking of the device will result in photographs lacking sharpness.

To compensate for the lack of lighting, here are several things you can do with most middle and high-end digital cameras to get the results you need. Part III of this series will continue with even more expert ideas.

* You may think that professional photographers take a large amount of time to set up a shot, perform complex calculations, talk about all sorts of topics such as f-stops, shoot one photograph that accurately represents their interpretation of a particular scene, and then leave.

While most of this may be true, the last part - only taking one photo - is far from it. Many, if not most, professional photographers commonly take a multitude of shots for every subject! Traditional photographers can go through rolls and rolls of film on a single shoot, and digital photographers may use gigabytes of memory.

Professionals know that no matter how well everything has been factored in when setting up a shot, 'stuff happens'. It is better to take time shooting a particular subject ten times and get one outstanding photograph than to take one or two photos that turn out blurry or dull.

Most photographers perform a trick called bracketing, where they intentionally adjust their camera settings in small increments in case their calculations were not precisely correct.

Heed this advice when taking photographs at night. If you have a particular subject you want to reproduce in digital form, don't rely on taking 'the one perfect shot', but take several photographs in case problems occur with the lighting, or lack thereof.

Remember, you're shooting digitally, which means you can later throw out all the bad photos in your camera's virtual 'trash can', and no one ever needs to know! I can't tell you how many times I've done this, especially when taking late-night shots of the Chicago cityscape in places I couldn't bring a tripod. I may shoot hundreds of shots and only keep a few dozen.

* If your digital camera has a special nighttime mode, study your manual and learn how to enable this feature. Perhaps your camera has a button or dial next to a graphic of a half-moon to signify this setting. This works well for some late-night situations.

* Forget about using the flash unless you purchase a high-quality accessory flash unit. Flash shoots a burst of light out of your camera and works most effectively when your subject is within a few feet. If your subject is a long way away, your small flash unit will never reach it effectively.

Nighttime photography requires a little extra work out of you and your digital camera. To prevent against mistakes and increase the chance of a spectacular shot, it may be necessary to take the same picture multiple times, adjusting your camera settings slightly to help ensure at least one picture will come out well. The digital camera manual must be studied, as many high-end cameras contain automatic features to help take better photos. And, a natural tendency most people have to use flash must be avoided. By heeding this advice, you can learn to take spectacular nighttime photos.

Look forward to article III in this series in the near future!

Copyright 2005 Andrew Malek.

Andrew Malek is the owner of the MalekTips computer and technology help site at http://www.malektips.com. Visit his digital camera page at http://malektips.com/camera/ for hundreds of more digital photography tips.

---

Olympus Digital Cameras - Digging Into The History

One of the oldest companies, Olympus has had a long... Read More

A Guide to Disposable Digital Cameras

Disposable Cameras (also called single-use cameras) first came on the... Read More

Help! My Old Colour Photo has Turned Pink ? 5 Minute Digital Fix

Almost all of us will have seen this particular photographic... Read More

Photography Contest - a fun and rewarding experience

Do you like to take photos? Are you always standing... Read More

Top 10 Digital Cameras - What You Need To Know About Them

There are a large number of top 10 digital camera... Read More

Where to Find Cheap Disposable Cameras

There are many kinds of disposable cameras. All disposable cameras... Read More

Photography 101 Part 1

Photography 101 Part One Equipment: camera, meter, flash, tripod This... Read More

Start a Photography Business from Home

Anyone with the right camera equipment, and the necessary skills... Read More

How to Shoot Video of Your Kids Sports Team So That Anyone Else Will Watch It!

Break out that video camera, there is a game this... Read More

Tame Those Memories

Family vacations, summer weddings and family reunions are in full... Read More

The Alligator Farm - Home to Beautiful Winged Creatures

Your first thought when you read "Alligator Farm" might be... Read More

Disposable Underwater Cameras

Disposable digital and film cameras (also called single-use cameras) provide... Read More

Transfer The Digital Camera Images To Your Computer

There are a few very important tasks associated with using... Read More

Take Spectacular Nighttime Photos with your Digital Camera - Part I

Night photographs express a special something that cannot be seen... Read More

Underwater Photography: The Wonders Under the Sea

The world of photography is an amazing one. It's been... Read More

The Benefits of Disposable Cameras

Disposable cameras are cheap and easy to use. If you... Read More

The Beginner Buyers Guide To Digital Cameras, Or The Ins And Outs Of Megapixels

The most important part of buying a digital camera is... Read More

Extreme Digital Photography: Beyond Point-and-shoot

When my old Olympus digital camera got broke while caving... Read More

Becoming A Digital Artist On A Budget

So, you want to become a digital artist but paying... Read More

The Truth About Pixels, Part 2-1: Printing 4x3 Inch Photos

Why is a 3 megapixel camera better than a 1... Read More

Studio Photography and Digital Backgrounds

The article given here was written for Adobe Photoshop 5,6,7,CS,... Read More

7 Things You Must Do If You Want To Make That Perfect Camera Shot

Saturate yourself with your subject and the camera will all... Read More

How to Easily Start Up Your Own New Photography Business From Home

With modern technology in the form of SLR digital cameras,... Read More

Terms Used The In The Stock Photography Business

So you are a small business person or web designer... Read More

The Well-Dressed Photographer - Summer

Outdoor photographers shoot year round. That includes the hot summer.... Read More

Make More of Your Photos

We all want to make the most of our wedding... Read More

Bracketing and How To Use Tt Correctly...

What Is... Exposure BracketingExposure bracketing is a simple technique professional... Read More

How Can I Preserve My Lifetime of Memories in Photographs?

Like most folks you have probably have organized and sorted... Read More

Online Photo Sharing: Not Just for Family and Vacation Photos

You may have joined the photo-sharing craze to share your... Read More

Digital Cameras and Digital Photography

Before you rush into buying your digital camera this holiday... Read More

Nude Art Photography

Nude photography is the genre of art photography, whose subject... Read More

How a Digital Camera Works

The digital camera is not something of a magic box... Read More

Using Film Speed Effectively

So you have this great new camera. Now you're standing... Read More