{"id":10453,"date":"2016-12-08T09:59:49","date_gmt":"2016-12-08T15:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/creativememories.com/apps/thepages\/?p=10453"},"modified":"2016-12-08T09:59:49","modified_gmt":"2016-12-08T15:59:49","slug":"photo-tips-night-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/creativememories.com/apps/thepages\/2016\/12\/08\/photo-tips-night-photography\/","title":{"rendered":"Photo Tips – Night Photography"},"content":{"rendered":"

Snapping photos at night can be challenging and rewarding! \u00a0There are so many fun things hiding in the dark to capture – the moon, stars, shadows, lights, reflections …. \u00a0I find working in manual mode has made the biggest difference in success for me with my photos in the dark! \u00a0This post may get a little techie, but I will try to keep it simple and easy to understand. \u00a0There is a lot of trial and error that goes on with night time photography and digital is so fantastic for learning and experimenting.<\/p>\n

Christmas Lights<\/h2>\n

I like to capture the lights on our home at Christmas time, especially after a fresh snow.<\/p>\n

\"untitled-0005754\"<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In this photo the lights are a little washed out because all of the surroundings in the photo are too bright. \u00a0My settings were f6.3, 1\/3 sec shutter speed and my ISO 800.<\/p>\n

\"untitled-0005762\"<\/p>\n

This photo was taken moments later, but I changed my settings to get the effect of twinkling lights. \u00a0f22, 2 sec shutter speed and ISO 640 \u00a0The big difference here is the aperture at f22. \u00a0This closed the shutter to a very small opening like squinting your eyes and gives the starburst effect on the light bulbs. \u00a0Because changed the f-stop I had to hold the shutter open a bit longer to 2 sec. \u00a0This is best achieved with a tripod because 2 sec is a long time in camera time. \u00a0The lights now have a warm glow against the darkness of the house.<\/p>\n

\"untitled-0128\"<\/p>\n

Same rules when photographing the city at night, close down your f-stop or aperture to a small opening which means a big number. \u00a0I shot this from the balcony of my hotel and used the railing as my tripod (and I had the strap around my neck at the same time). \u00a0My settings were: \u00a0ISO 2500, f14 and 1.0 sec.<\/p>\n

Reflections<\/h2>\n

Reflection of lights on the water is a beautiful thing at night time. \u00a0This can be done quite simply and can make your small home town look pretty or enhance the lights of a big city!<\/p>\n

\"untitled-0005327\"<\/p>\n

The lake I drive by quite frequently near my home and I thought the lights looked like candles glowing!<\/p>\n

\"untitled-0005327-2\"<\/p>\n

I rotated the photo and cropped off the grocery store and now we have candles!<\/p>\n

\"untitled-3136.jpg\"<\/p>\n

This was my first trip to Las Vegas and I stayed at the Paris Hotel so grabbing this reflection photo is a great memory from my trip! \u00a0It doesn’t matter though if it is a big city or your home town, lights and water always make a beautiful combination!<\/p>\n

People<\/h2>\n

Taking photos of people at night can be challenging because you want there to be a enough light to see the people and still have them in focus. \u00a0You could turn on your flash, but if there is a scene behind them you want to capture this usually doesn’t work. \u00a0When you turn your flash on in the dark it lights up what is closest to the camera and everything in the background is dark.<\/p>\n

\"untitled-4077\"<\/p>\n

Our family leaving Epcot and I love to get as many family photos as I can while we are on vacation! \u00a0The flash was off here because I wanted to be able to see we were at Epcot, but as you can see we are a bit fuzzy. \u00a0Settings were: \u00a0ISO 3200, f3.5 and 1\/25 sec. \u00a0 People are slightly fuzzy, lighting is right and you can see the background clearly so you know where the photo was taken.\u00a0\u00a0At some point you have to decide that it is good enough and capture the memory.<\/p>\n

\"untitled-4071\"<\/p>\n

This photo was taken at the same time and same settings as the one above, but it is sharper. \u00a0The reason being is because no one is moving. \u00a0No one was really moving in the other one but they are breathing, so they are moving. \u00a0The combination of the photographer and the subjects compounds the camera shake. \u00a0The only way to avoid this is a tripod and that is not always possible.<\/p>\n

Shadows<\/h2>\n

A fun photo to capture at night is shadows. \u00a0Instead of sun shadows, street light shadows!<\/p>\n

\"untitled-9520.jpg\"<\/p>\n

We were walking home from a fireworks display in our neighbourhood and the street light behind us created really tall shadows of our family. \u00a0Settings: \u00a0ISO 6400, f3.5 and 0.4 sec for shutter speed.<\/p>\n

\"untitled-9522.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Any movement is visible though at 0.4 sec shutter speed.<\/p>\n

Movement<\/h2>\n

Movement can be fun in night photos though and takes some patience. \u00a0Cottage time is always a good time for me to try these techniques because life slows down there and it is really dark!<\/p>\n

\"cottage-8835\"<\/p>\n

Sparklers around the campfire are great fun for the kids and me! \u00a0As you can see I exposed my camera for the sparkler which is bright which made my daughter blurry and dark. \u00a0Settings: \u00a0 ISO 100 f5.6, \u00a04.0 sec \u00a0The 4 seconds gave Lauren time to draw in the air and the camera captured this as motion in a still photograph.<\/p>\n

\"cottage-8855\"<\/p>\n

This photo was done a bit differently, but still captured motion. \u00a0I had my camera on a tripod and had my remote in my hand. \u00a0The settings were the same as above except the shutter speed was slowed down to 8 seconds. \u00a0This gave one of my children time to run around my husband and I with the sparkler. \u00a0The cool thing about this photo is that you can see us holding a pose, the light traveling around us, but you can not see the person running with the sparkler. \u00a0The reason for this is the camera was exposed for the light so you can see the trail of the sparkler, we held as still as possible and we are lit from the sparkler and the motion of the child running is a total blur!<\/p>\n

\"untitled-2754.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Another fun photo challenge at night is to photograph traffic. \u00a0Holding your shutter open and photographing cars moving gives an interesting effect on the headlights and taillights. \u00a0These cars were just starting to pull away from the traffic lights and I was on a pedway above the road using the railing as my tripod.<\/p>\n

Moon and the Stars<\/h2>\n

I love photographing the sky at night because it feels there is a whole other world up there and we have so much to learn! \u00a0It is all very intriguing to me! \u00a0These three photos below were taken within moments of each other with a tripod and but different exposure settings.<\/p>\n

The Big Dipper<\/p>\n

\"untitled-6995\"<\/p>\n

A) \u00a0Settings: \u00a0ISO 640, f3.5, 4.0 sec<\/p>\n

\"untitled-6992\"<\/p>\n

B) \u00a0Settings: \u00a0ISO 400, f3.5, 30 sec<\/p>\n

\"untitled-6991\"<\/p>\n

C) \u00a0Settings: \u00a0ISO 800, f3.5, 30 sec<\/p>\n

Which one do you like best? \u00a0Answer below if you would like to share your answer and why you like the one you do.<\/p>\n

One other tip when you are photographing the sky is set your camera to manual focus which is different than manual exposure. \u00a0So take off of automatic focus and set your camera to infinity on the focus ring. \u00a0I use a Nikon and mine uses an infinity symbol on the focus ring.<\/p>\n

\"untitled-6981\"<\/p>\n

When I am photographing the moon I start out with these settings and then play around with it. \u00a0ISO 100, f5.6 and 1\/200 sec. \u00a0Why have your ISO so low? \u00a0The moon is surprisingly quite bright when you point your camera at it. \u00a0 If you have your photo overexposed or too bright you will not see all of the shadows and craters on the moon’s surface. \u00a0A full moon is beautiful, but it is actually more fun to photograph a half moon because of the shadows.<\/p>\n

\"untitled-0443\"<\/p>\n

Having some tree branches in the photo can add some interest or a mood.\"untitled-0443-2\"<\/p>\n

Zoom in on the moon and you can see the craters on the surface.<\/p>\n

\"untitled-8309\"<\/p>\n

When you get away from the city and communities and get out in nature you may get lucky enough to capture the Milky Way. \u00a0I find when I am home in my backyard there are too many street lights, businesses and homes lighting up the sky to see the Milky Way.<\/p>\n

\"cottage-8697\"<\/p>\n

Some example settings to capture this are ISO 1000, f3.5 and 15 sec shutter speed. \u00a0Don’t forget to set your focus on infinity, set up your tripod and shoot towards the sky!<\/p>\n

Have fun in the dark and you never know what is going to show up on your screen! \u00a0\"untitled-0130.jpg\"<\/p>\n

\"sig_beth\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Snapping photos at night can be challenging and rewarding! \u00a0There are so many fun things hiding in the dark to capture – the moon, stars, shadows, lights, reflections …. \u00a0I find working in manual mode has made the biggest difference in success for me with my photos in the dark! \u00a0This post may get a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107021403,"featured_media":10497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[436,117068],"tags":[56000,723500084,16940,462166],"class_list":["post-10453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-photography","category-photography-tips","tag-creative-memories","tag-photography","tag-scrapbooking","tag-scrapbooking-products"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/creativememories.com/apps/thepages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/untitled-0128.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6NsZA-2IB","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":38502,"url":"https:\/\/creativememories.com/apps/thepages\/2018\/12\/21\/make-your-holiday-albums-complete-with-this-christmas-photo-checklist\/","url_meta":{"origin":10453,"position":0},"title":"Make Your Holiday Albums Complete with this Christmas Photo Checklist","author":"Creative Memories","date":"December 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"How beautiful is Christmas? The freshly fallen snow (in some parts of the country!), the decorated Christmas tree, the shimmering lights and the smiling faces of loved ones \u2014 it's all so visually appealing! The Christmas season is full of photo opportunities, and if you aren't careful, you may miss\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christmas"","block_context":{"text":"Christmas","link":"https:\/\/creativememories.com/apps/thepages\/category\/christmas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/creativememories.com/apps/thepages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Seasons-Greetings-Christmas-Card-Ideas-Creative-Memories-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/creativememories.com/apps/thepages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Seasons-Greetings-Christmas-Card-Ideas-Creative-Memories-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/creativememories.com/apps/thepages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Seasons-Greetings-Christmas-Card-Ideas-Creative-Memories-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/creativememories.com/apps/thepages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Seasons-Greetings-Christmas-Card-Ideas-Creative-Memories-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":105061,"url":"https:\/\/creativememories.com/apps/thepages\/2025\/06\/11\/featured-photographer-capturing-lifes-moments-with-leslie-plesser-of-shuttersmack\/","url_meta":{"origin":10453,"position":1},"title":"Featured Photographer: Capturing Life’s Moments with Leslie Plesser of Shuttersmack","author":"Creative Memories","date":"June 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome to the debut of our new series: Featured Photographer! Photos are at the heart of every scrapbook \u2014 that's why we're thrilled to shine a spotlight on talented photographers who have an eye for capturing those special moments in time. 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