Recently I’ve been really enjoying taking lots of night shots on my travels. I love how it can really bring out a different feel to city shots, make the clouds blur, give you long lines of moving light. It really makes for interesting images. Night photography isn’t the easiest thing to do though. If you don’t get it right you can be left with just the bright city lights and everything else is dark, or you can get a nice exposure but really grainy images.
These days most DSLR cameras have a high iso setting, my canon EOS 5D goes up to iso 1600 and my EOS 5D mk II can be expanded to iso 25′600 (the new EOS 1Ds mk iv can expand to an absolutely massive 102′400). With iso settings like that you can hand hold with a slow lens and take night shots, but they aren’t going to be that good. I haven’t used an iso setting of more than 3200, with the 5D mk II, I find that its OK for something that’s going to be in a newspaper or used as a small shot in a magazine, but anything to big and there is just too much noise.
To reduce noise for night shots and bring out colours more I always use a tripod and a shutter release cable to make for a nice steady shot. If you press the shutter release button you can get a bit of camera shake sometime, so I find a cable release is the way to go. Also, I tend to use a low iso, usually somewhere between 100-400, but sometimes up to 1600. I always use a low f stop of anywhere between f. 11 and f.22. At dusk when there is a still a fair bit of light, maybe a shutter speed of half a second can work, but once the sun is fully down I end up using long exposures, 10 seconds up to a few minutes. Sometimes it helps when you overexpose the shot a bit, maybe + 1/3 up +1, depending on the light levels you can get grainy shots if it’s too over exposed. Most of my L series lenses go up to f.22 which is really nice for night shots, I have seen shots by people getting excellent night shots with star circles where they use lenses set at f. 64 with exposures of several hours. That’s dedication for you.
Anyway, here are few shots with some information on the shots:
The Eiffel Tower:
Camera: canon EOS 5D
Lens: canon 24-70mm f 2.8 L lens, 24mm
iso: 800
f: 10
Shutter speed: 4 seconds
exposure: + 0
Shinjuku station (Tokyo):
Camera: canon EOS 5D
Lens: canon 24-70mm f 2.8 L lens, 24mm
iso: 100
f: 16
Shutter speed: 6 seconds
exposure: + 1/3
Hong Kong bay:
Camera: canon EOS 5D mk II
Lens: canon 24-70mm f 2.8 L lens, 29mm
iso: 1000
f: 16
Shutter speed: 6 seconds
exposure: + 1/3
Kowloon:
Camera: canon EOS 5D mk II
Lens: canon 24-70mm f 2.8 L lens, 24mm
iso: 100
f: 22
Shutter speed: 6 seconds
exposure: + 1/3
Hong Kong from The Peak:
Camera: canon EOS 5D mk II
Lens: canon 24-70mm f 2.8 L lens, 42mm
iso: 400
f: 16
Shutter speed: 10 seconds
exposure: + 0
The Kingdom of Gamo (where I live)
Camera: canon EOS 5D mk II
Lens: canon 17-40mm f 4 L lens, 19mm
iso: 400
f: 14
Shutter speed: 30 seconds
exposure: + 0
18 Comments
The shot of the local shrine is still one of my favourites (possibly because I know the place) because of the elements. The static serenity of the shrine contrasts with the almost perpetual movement of the trains; the old and the new together. Great shot.
Superb night shots. The 1st one of the Eiffel tower is an absolute winner. I did quite a lot of night shots with my previous camera but havent sone so much with the new one yet. Feel like I’ve exhausted Kyoto for night locations already.
Agree the shrine shot is class, it has mystery and angle I love the stars of light under the bridge and near the back of the train. All good though. Lucky Japan is a reasonably safe place to go walking arounds with expensive gear late at night also. Have you see the book Tokyo Damon (meaning Demon not yours truely) by Hideaki Uchiyama. Lots of night shots of this great metropolis.
Damon
The night shots are beautiful. Captures the imagination.
Paule
http://www.paulepictures.com
http://www.paulepictures.com/blog
Cheers guys. Yeah, lucky Japan is safe enough to go around at night with expensive camera gear, have never had any problems anywhere in Asia, lots of people stared at me in Paris, years ago in London whilst out and about at night the police came to ask me what I was up to as my actions were akin to a terrorist scouting out a location. Glad the didn’t beat me up and nick my gear.
Wow, Tokyo looks beautiful at night! Love all these shots!
Just love how you magnify the word Sharing, thanks again for this very instructive post and superb illustrations of the subject (Love Hong Kong Bay and Kowloon the most). I have no tripod yet neither shutter release but you really make me feel like getting some.
May i offer you something back to thank you ? It’s a quote by the great photographer Brassaï :
- “The night suggests, it does not show. The night disquiets and surprises us with its otherness ; it releases forces within us which by day are dominated by reason” ~
Have wonderful couple of nights this week-end, Will*
I like the multiplicity of your eyes on the night of the cities! Pictures I like to do and which also requires great patience! thank you for taking us in the beautiful lights in your country. Nice day to you.
Nice night view photos. I like a photo with bus stop in Hong Kong.
Now, I wanna take night view with your advises.
Spectacular night images with such great clarity and sharpness. Night images are among my favorite images and yours are truly stunning. Excellent work!
Wonderful light! I like the scenes that you have captured and some of the City shots with the skyline are incredible! Great work on these!
Very nice night shots Will… wonderful use of slow shutter speed! Very impressive effect and mood!:-) (PS. Trust you have had a great time in Hong Kong!)
Hi Will,
I really enjoyed your blog here. I’m still having troubles with night photography. Something of my tripod is missing and I can’t use it now. Thanx for sharing this with us. I’m in love with the eiffeltower and the kingdom of gamo shot. Keep it up!
i will see how i go on this weekend Will with some night shots of The Humber:) superb work fella.
If I have to choose I´d say the kingdom of gamo is my favorite, chased by The Hong Kong images.
I have a question though. Do you bring a light meter at occasions like these or is it just trial, error and some expertise in getting the right shutter speed. That´s how my trials go about, putting an index finger up in the air, look around. And then 1000,1001, 1002 …
Thanks for all the kind comments everyone.
Goran, I rarely use a light meter. I used to when I shot film on all manual cameras, but mainly just for portraits, now with digital I work mainly with aperture priority, shoot at about f16, overexpose by half a stop to one stop, then let the shutter speed take care of itself. I usually take several shots from the exact same place as well, even with all the settings, the varying ambient light always changes so the shutter speed always changes. Clouds moving exposing the moon, cars or trains going past, they all change the light.
Just looking at your blog and came across this image night photography. A little tip, no need to shoot at f16 with cityscape shots, everything is well within the DOF of F5.6. Next time, try it at f5.6, where lenses are typically the sharpest, and turn the ISO down 3 stops. Overall, you’ll have better image quality with no change in shutter speed.
MMAG, I shall give it a try. Thanks for the tip.