HOW TO: Taking night shots
![Image]()
![Image]()
![Image]()
When taking night shots, the first thing you should consider is if your camera is capable of taking night shots. Generally, there should be a mode with the picture of a Crescent Moon or a person with a Star. Other indications of night mode is Shutter priority mode. I cannot say what to exactly look for for each make of camera since each company has different ways of indicating "night mode" or "shutter priority mode.
*read your manual.
Now, if you're camera is capable of taking night shots, there is one thing you must or should have (I highly recommend):
1. TRIPOD! TRIPOD TRIPOD unless you have steady hands :
![Image]()
Let’s get started.
There are 2 ways of taking night modes:
1. Scene mode (Night mode) – which is often indicated by the crescent shaped moon or the person with a star.
2. Shutter priority mode – which you can manually adjust the shutter speed, but the aperture and exposure compensation are automatically adjusted.
The Modes are indicated in red
Sony
![Image]()
Canon
![Image]()
- I highly recommend you don’t use a flash. First off, you exclude the background of the picture and only focus on the foreground, and it just looks too amateurish. And lastly, you defeat the purpose of using night mode. Disable your flash.
TURN OFF Flash
NIGHT MODE (SCENE MODE)
- Put your camera on the tripod
- Go to Night Mode
- Set your white balance (if you can) – white balance adjusts the overall tone/color of your picture
- If you have a self timer, enable it now.
- Press shutter ½ way to focus
- Take the picture and the self timer should work now. The self timer prevents the extra shakiness / blurriness in the pictures
To adjust how bright or dark your pictures are, you can play with something called the exposure compensation which is often indicated by “EV”. For example, +2.0 EV or -1.3EV. If you want more light to come in, raise the EV towards the “+”. If you want it darker, select a setting closer to the “-“. In essence, what you are doing is increasing the shutter speed or decreasing it.
SHUTTER PRIORITY
- Put camera on the tripod
- Go to you shutter priority mode
- Set your white balance (if you can) – white balance adjusts the overall tone/color of your picture
- Select the proper shutter speed
- shutter speed is often indicated as followed:
15, 13, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3.2, 2.5, 2, 1.6, 1.3, 1, 0.8, 0.6, 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/8, 1/10, 1/13, 1/15, 1/20, 1/25, 1/30, 1/40, 1/50, 1/60, 1/80, 1/100, 1/125, 1/160, 1/200, 1/250, 1/320, 1/400, 1/500, 1/640, 1/800, 1/1000, 1/1250, 1/1600*, 1/2000*.
o Whole numbers (such as 1,2,4,8,15,30) are slower shutter speeds and the higher the fractions (such as 1/1600), the faster. In this case, we want a slower shutter speed, so select something appropriate. This will take a few shots to get the right settings that you want. Generally, most digital cameras will show the shutter speed as (8”) (kinda like eight inches, but the “ means seconds). The 8” (eight second) shutter does not always mean the shutter will stay on for 8 seconds. Beyond my knowledge, I don’t know why it doesn’t take the picture for eight seconds. For my camera, it usually stays on for about 12 – 18 seconds and that depends on how dark the objects are.
- Enable the self-timer
- Press the shutter ½ way to focus
- Press the shutter all the way to take the picture. The self timer should have enabled.
- Look at the picture and decide if that's what you want. Now adjust your shutter speed as necessary
- With Shutter Priority, you can also adjust the exposure compensation. For example, if you wanted a faster shutter speed, but still wanted more light – just raise the EV (exposure compensation) and lower your shutter speed accordingly.
OTHER NOTES:
- You don’t have to buy a $100 tripod. Just get one from Wal Mart for $20. You can also get the table top tripods, which I find very helpful for ground shots.
- If you don’t have a tripod, try resting it on something or use a shirt as prop until you get the right angle
- I suggest using the self timer for night shots for every shot. YES, it takes a lot longer, but you decrease the chance for extra blurriness in your photos.
- If you can get a remote (either infrared or cable) for your camera, I would invest in one. It makes the photosession go faster and rawks in uber cold weather.
Thanks to AccordTuner.com
When taking night shots, the first thing you should consider is if your camera is capable of taking night shots. Generally, there should be a mode with the picture of a Crescent Moon or a person with a Star. Other indications of night mode is Shutter priority mode. I cannot say what to exactly look for for each make of camera since each company has different ways of indicating "night mode" or "shutter priority mode.
*read your manual.
Now, if you're camera is capable of taking night shots, there is one thing you must or should have (I highly recommend):
1. TRIPOD! TRIPOD TRIPOD unless you have steady hands :
Let’s get started.
There are 2 ways of taking night modes:
1. Scene mode (Night mode) – which is often indicated by the crescent shaped moon or the person with a star.
2. Shutter priority mode – which you can manually adjust the shutter speed, but the aperture and exposure compensation are automatically adjusted.
The Modes are indicated in red
Sony
Canon
- I highly recommend you don’t use a flash. First off, you exclude the background of the picture and only focus on the foreground, and it just looks too amateurish. And lastly, you defeat the purpose of using night mode. Disable your flash.
TURN OFF Flash
NIGHT MODE (SCENE MODE)
- Put your camera on the tripod
- Go to Night Mode
- Set your white balance (if you can) – white balance adjusts the overall tone/color of your picture
- If you have a self timer, enable it now.
- Press shutter ½ way to focus
- Take the picture and the self timer should work now. The self timer prevents the extra shakiness / blurriness in the pictures
To adjust how bright or dark your pictures are, you can play with something called the exposure compensation which is often indicated by “EV”. For example, +2.0 EV or -1.3EV. If you want more light to come in, raise the EV towards the “+”. If you want it darker, select a setting closer to the “-“. In essence, what you are doing is increasing the shutter speed or decreasing it.
SHUTTER PRIORITY
- Put camera on the tripod
- Go to you shutter priority mode
- Set your white balance (if you can) – white balance adjusts the overall tone/color of your picture
- Select the proper shutter speed
- shutter speed is often indicated as followed:
15, 13, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3.2, 2.5, 2, 1.6, 1.3, 1, 0.8, 0.6, 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/8, 1/10, 1/13, 1/15, 1/20, 1/25, 1/30, 1/40, 1/50, 1/60, 1/80, 1/100, 1/125, 1/160, 1/200, 1/250, 1/320, 1/400, 1/500, 1/640, 1/800, 1/1000, 1/1250, 1/1600*, 1/2000*.
o Whole numbers (such as 1,2,4,8,15,30) are slower shutter speeds and the higher the fractions (such as 1/1600), the faster. In this case, we want a slower shutter speed, so select something appropriate. This will take a few shots to get the right settings that you want. Generally, most digital cameras will show the shutter speed as (8”) (kinda like eight inches, but the “ means seconds). The 8” (eight second) shutter does not always mean the shutter will stay on for 8 seconds. Beyond my knowledge, I don’t know why it doesn’t take the picture for eight seconds. For my camera, it usually stays on for about 12 – 18 seconds and that depends on how dark the objects are.
- Enable the self-timer
- Press the shutter ½ way to focus
- Press the shutter all the way to take the picture. The self timer should have enabled.
- Look at the picture and decide if that's what you want. Now adjust your shutter speed as necessary
- With Shutter Priority, you can also adjust the exposure compensation. For example, if you wanted a faster shutter speed, but still wanted more light – just raise the EV (exposure compensation) and lower your shutter speed accordingly.
OTHER NOTES:
- You don’t have to buy a $100 tripod. Just get one from Wal Mart for $20. You can also get the table top tripods, which I find very helpful for ground shots.
- If you don’t have a tripod, try resting it on something or use a shirt as prop until you get the right angle
- I suggest using the self timer for night shots for every shot. YES, it takes a lot longer, but you decrease the chance for extra blurriness in your photos.
- If you can get a remote (either infrared or cable) for your camera, I would invest in one. It makes the photosession go faster and rawks in uber cold weather.
Thanks to AccordTuner.com
