Night shots tips

[allenlennon]

Me and a mate are Goin to go for a random drive tonight after work and Goin to bring my camera and tripod. Any tips for night photography. I'm going to do a shoot of Bathurst at night from mount Panarama and do those shots where you photograph a still object against moving traffic. Any tips on settings?

[Tygart]

Not from me other then a narrow aperture makes for a fun effect on city lights. :-D

[GrahamH]

Usually want a long exposure, so a small aperture and low ISO.
Use a secondary light source, if necessary, to illuminate the nearby static object (torch, flash unit, car headlights etc).
Depending on traffic levels, you can PP several shots together to make it look busier (try various blending modes, typically lighten to allow the brighter light streams to come through, or layers, or combination of the two).


For serious funk, tape a piece of card to the front of your lens (no adhesive on the glass if you please). The card needs a funky shape cut into it. Turns bright lights that are out of focus into similar shapes (e.g flying birds, alphabet, star shapes etc.).

Graham
(Lots more ideas available on request, don't want to bore here)

[FrankMi]

Hi Allen, consider looking at many of the fine night images posted here and elsewhere and when you see one that you particularly like, work at emulating that 'look' in your own style. Knowing what you want to get as a result can really hep you to ask the right questions. The results can be very rewarding! Hope this helps!