Taking photos at night

So on facebook this week @Hayz N Nat Peters asked - how do i take better night shots (i have camera set to "night/low light" & still the shots are crappy!!) Thanks mate :)

Ok well, first I want to say that all my answers are from trial and error of my own as well as learning from wherever I can! The main place being the internet! I type whatever I want to learn in the search engine and read until I get my answer!

I can not speak for each individual camera, so really the BEST thing I could say is really get to know your camera inside and out to get the best results, also try different settings on you camera and see for your self what works best for you - YES with point and shoot cameras you do have a little control over your settings! More then what you may think.

So here are a few tips that will give you an idea on how you camera can work in low light and hopefully give you information to taking better night photos.

Depending on what your subject is that you are photographing at night will depend on what you will do. 

What most point and shoot cameras will do when you put them on the night setting is the flash will pop up! Which is not always the best thing, the key is long exposures to let in more light that is avaliable, I will explain:

The shutter speed on your camera, the longer the shutter is open, the more light that enters your camera, therefore giving you picture more light.

Another way that you can help your camera with more light is ISO - ISO is how sensitive the image sensor is to the amount of light present, the higher the ISO the more sensitive it is and makes it more possible to take pictures in low light situatiuations. My Son's point and shoot camera goes up to 1600.

And another way you can help your camera with more light is by over exposing your images, again which is also possible on most point and shoot cameras.

With longer exposures it is important to have something to rest your camera on and also use your self timer - you need it as still as possible as it will pick up any movement.

So there you have it, you do have quite a bit of control on taking night photos - you just need to learn how your camera works and control these settings! I would recommend trying different settings on all of the above!

NOW...

If you are taking photos at night of people (like at a party or something??) and you want to be able to see them so you can upload them to facebook and tag them! Then I you will need a flash! chances are that you will not have an external flash that you will lug around like our sort! So what I can say here is learn the range that your flash covers and make sure that your subject is always no more then that distance away - if your range is 2 m and your subject is 3 m away of course it will not be the best. FOCUS! take the time to focus your image - it can take a bit longer in the dark. Take a few pictures of the same subject/frame, after all they are digital - you CAN erase them without spending any money on having to print them first! AND if you can, MOVE! find somewhere near where there is a bit more light - it can make a big difference just by having a little look around and moving slightly!

Also on most simple editing programs you can adjust slightly - again that is something else to learn!

I got out my son's point and shoot camera out for this particular question - as I realised that everyone does not have a DSLR. I took a few photos in the lounge with the lights off and just played around trying different settings. It was a bit of a learning experience for me as I did not have as much control that I normally do with my DSLR. Sorry I do not know the exact settings (I could not find them when I put them on my computer) but I roughly know what I did and its enough info to get the message.

Here are MY results:

So this was using the flash - He is well in range of my point and shoot flash - possibly a bit too close as he is quite pale. I did take a little longer to focus this too.

This was no flash, the light came from the kitchen light, she had to keep very still! If there was a little more light, or if I had slightly over exposed or bumped up the ISO it would have been alot nicer.

Again no flash and using the kitchen light - he moved as well (he never sits still!) so a bit of blur

Here is the same subject and showing you the different settings on my point and shoot camera.

This one was taken with a LONG EXPOSURE and NO FLASH, - 2 seconds and the camera was rested on a stool (the light in the lounge was off also) I set it on 2 second delay (so there would be no movement from me pressing the button!) As you can see the photo is true to what you would see with your own eyes - there was alot of light from the flames and with the 2 second exposure it was perfect as it did not light up too much. The background is dark, but still in focus and quite clean.

This was taken with NO FLASH just on and auto setting, now the flames still look pretty much the same (as the fire does give off alot of light) but the background is slightly dimmer and also quite grainy. Again the camera was rested on the stool.

This is with the flash - you loose the effect of what it actually is.

Ok so I do hope I have helped and not confused! As there is no real direct answer - only tips on what you can do to help, the rest is up to you!


Oh also I have done no editing on the photos.


Stacey


xox