Night photography: how does it work?

If there’s one area that many people often overlook (myself included), it’s night photography. To be fair, we tend to assume there isn’t much to photograph at night because it’s simply too dark. When we travel, for example, we’re often too lazy to take the camera out after dark, preferring to wander around night markets or just take a break and get ready for the next day! Maybe you’re also looking for ways to improve your travel photos?

And yet, nighttime is often when light effects really come into play, creating some great photo opportunities. I’m thinking especially of people who live in cities, near tall buildings, illuminated bridges, or bodies of water such as lakes, ponds, or the sea.

From a technical point of view, if you’re new to photography, you probably feel like shooting at night must be complicated. And yes, it isn’t the easiest thing at first, but it can be learned and mastered. Your main enemy here will be, as you’ve probably guessed, the lack of light. So let’s look at how to capture a great night shot, covering camera settings, gear choices, and a few bonus tips.

As mentioned above, the main issue with night photography is the lack of light. You’re going to say: well, obviously, it’s night! So let’s see how we can compensate for that by adjusting the three settings that make up exposure in a photo:

• Slow the shutter speed down as much as possible: handheld shooting will quickly become limited,
• Open your lens’ aperture: in other words, use a smaller “f/” number. You’ll be limited by the maximum aperture of your lens,
• Increase the ISO sensitivity: raising ISO makes the sensor more sensitive to light, which lets you use a faster shutter speed. You’ll then be limited by the maximum usable ISO of your camera body. As a reminder, the higher you raise the ISO, the more noise you’ll get in your photo, which affects image quality.

These are the three main ways to compensate for low light. Each of these choices will affect your photo more or less noticeably: noise for ISO, reduced depth of field for aperture, or blur for shutter speed. But there is one magic tool that can help you avoid the limits of all three: the tripod!

If this sounds like gibberish and you don’t yet understand all the technical terms related to exposure, I suggest starting with the photography basics section of this blog. Just remember that the three elements that make up exposure are closely connected, and changing one setting will affect another.

Now let’s look at the main settings for night photography and how they affect your photo. The points below apply mainly if you do not have a tripod. Of course, with a tripod, you have much more freedom with your settings…

If the light is low, the first thing you’ll need to do is open your lens aperture as wide as possible (to keep it simple, choose the smallest “f/” number you can). As a reminder, going from f/5.6 to f/4 lets twice as much light reach your sensor. That means you’ll be able to shoot twice as fast as before (in semi-automatic mode, for example, the camera compensates for the extra light by using a faster shutter speed). See where I’m going with this? If you open up again from f/4 to f/2.8, you double the amount of light reaching the sensor once more, and so on.

Examples of classic night photos: an illuminated bridge and an architectural shot

Two limits:

1 – You will very quickly be limited by the maximum aperture of your lens. If you’re a beginner and using an entry-level lens, this will probably be f/4, f/5.6, or even smaller in terms of aperture,

2 – If you open the aperture wider, your depth of field will become shallower. In practical terms, less of your scene will be sharp overall, depending on where you focus.

The problem with shutter speed is motion blur. You won’t be able to get a sharp handheld photo below a certain speed, depending on how steady you are and the focal length you’re using. A stabilized lens can help you gain a little room, but let’s say that slower than 1/10 or 1/15 sec, your photos will usually be blurry anyway, and you’ll have no real choice but to use a tripod.

A quick aside: keep in mind the relationship between focal length (in mm) and the minimum shutter speed you can safely use. As a very basic rule, the two should roughly match. With a 300mm telephoto lens, for example, it’s better to shoot at around 1/300 sec. With an 11-18mm wide-angle lens, you may be able to get a sharp photo at around 1/20 sec. The longer the focal length, the faster the shutter speed you’ll need. You can imagine, for example, how difficult it would be to get a sharp wildlife photo at night!

The last part of the exposure triangle is the setting that can save you in certain situations. Since all the settings are connected, if you’ve opened your aperture as wide as possible (the smallest “f/” number) and your DSLR still shows a shutter speed that is too slow, you can compensate by increasing ISO. Going from ISO 400 to ISO 800, for example, gives you one extra stop of shutter speed, which means you can take the picture twice as fast.

The downside, of course, is the appearance of digital noise in the dark areas of the scene. Your photo quality will start to degrade, so the key is to find the right balance.

Let’s take a simple example: you’re in town at night, you’ve opened your aperture as wide as your lens allows, say f/2.8, and the camera shows a shutter speed of 1/4 sec, which is impossible to shoot handheld. You’re already at ISO 1600, which is the maximum limit for your camera. What happens in that situation? Well, you’re stuck, and all your photos may easily turn out blurry.

Not to mention that shooting at f/2.8 will probably leave part of your scene out of focus, which may not be what you wanted in the first place. At this point, your only real option is to use a tripod. The other possibility would be to have more suitable gear, which we’ll talk about below.

In night photography, automatic white balance can sometimes play tricks on you. If you shoot in RAW, this is not really a problem, because you can adjust it later in post-processing. Otherwise, don’t hesitate to try several settings on the spot to find the right white balance.

If you’re not yet familiar with focus and autofocus, I suggest reading the dedicated article in the photography basics section. Depending on the quality of your camera’s AF points and the situation, you may not be able to autofocus on your subject in the dark. In any case, remember to manually select your AF point instead of letting the camera choose for you.

I often recommend using the center AF point on your camera body, as it is often the most reliable and the easiest one for locking onto your subject. Start there. If you still can’t focus, switch to manual focus and adjust it yourself by turning the focus ring.

Focusing at night can sometimes be tricky depending on the quality of your camera’s AF points – Night market in Luang Prabang, Laos

As explained above, gear matters in night photography. Whether you shoot handheld or with a tripod, the general idea is the same. What changes is that, with a tripod, you don’t have to worry quite as much about your equipment. Why? Simply because, on a tripod, you can choose the settings you want, often the optimal ones: the lowest ISO, the aperture you need (f/11, for example, to keep the whole scene in focus), and a shutter speed adapted to the other two settings. Even if the camera gives you a 5-second exposure, you can still take the shot on a tripod. Without one, that becomes impossible.

For handheld photography, there are two things to keep in mind:

• The camera body: the better your camera handles high ISO, the faster you’ll be able to shoot, even if noise increases as you raise the sensitivity. On my 6D, I can easily shoot at ISO 6000 and still get good image quality. Back when I used my 500D, I was stuck at ISO 1600 and couldn’t get sharp photos in the middle of the jungle in Sumatra… sadly, my shutter speed just wasn’t fast enough.

Ideally, choose a camera body with a good number of AF points and solid autofocus performance. This will be really useful when focusing on your subject in the dark, where there often isn’t enough contrast in the scene.

Of course, it goes without saying that the more AF points and high-ISO performance your camera has, the more expensive it usually becomes.

Let’s take a closer look at three examples of good night photography gear: the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 (wide maximum aperture), the Canon 5D Mark IV (good high-ISO performance), and the excellent Canon 85mm f/1.8 (fast lens).

• Your lenses: for handheld shooting, the ideal is to have fast, stabilized lenses to increase your chances of success. Some are very expensive, but you can find small gems like the Canon 50mm f/1.8 or the 85mm f/1.8 at quite affordable prices!

The wider the maximum aperture of your lenses (again, a small “f/” number), the more light you’ll be able to let into your camera and the faster you can shoot, which helps limit unwanted motion blur.

Among the essential photo accessories for night photography, I would mention the following:

• The tripod: choosing one is not always simple, and you’ll need to adapt your purchase to your practice and the weight of your current or future camera gear. You can refer to my article on this topic in the basics section. Here’s, for example, a great reference.
• A remote control: it goes hand in hand with a tripod and is ideal for limiting movement when you press the shutter button. In the worst case, you can use your camera’s self-timer. It will also be essential for long night exposures. I personally use this one.
• Extra batteries: if you enjoy long exposures or shoot in the cold, having at least one spare battery is always a good idea.

Finally, here are a few recommendations and techniques to keep in mind to improve your night photography.

Blue hour is the time of day between daylight and night. It’s a short window that many photographers love because it often creates a very special atmosphere in photos. You can use specialized photo sites to find out when blue hour happens depending on where you are.

In the countryside without lights, you may not have much to work with at night, but in the city, there is plenty to do with all the light around you. Car lights, buildings, storefronts, fountains: you have almost endless subjects to play with. Be creative! Holiday periods are, of course, ideal for lights.

In cities, you’ll often find small bodies of water too. I’m thinking especially of parks, gardens, and places like that. You can often have fun playing with reflections in the water, for example during blue hour or with lights reflected from the surroundings.

If you’ve already learned how to shoot long exposures during the day, why not try the same technique at night? It’s a perfect time to let your imagination run wild. In the city, there are great subjects to explore, from lit-up carousels to passing cars and fountains. A tripod is mandatory here; there’s no way around it.

For fans of shallow depth of field, where you highlight a subject by blurring the foreground or background, night is a great playground. You can bring out details in the scene in front of you and create beautiful bokeh with blurred lights in the background, for example. It’s definitely a good opportunity to shoot moody images with those famous colored circles behind your subject. Around Christmas, you’ll have plenty to enjoy. Technical tips: open wide (your smallest “f/” number), watch your shutter speed if you shoot handheld (raise your ISO if you have to), and pay close attention to your composition so your subject stands out.

One last technical tip. I mention this often in my articles, but shooting in RAW gives you a little more room to correct mistakes made when taking the photo. For example, if you underexpose your photo a bit too much, it will be much harder to recover in JPEG, which is already a processed file. I wrote an article about the difference between shooting in RAW and JPEG.

That’s it; I’m coming to the end of this article on night photography. I hope you learned a few things. There would honestly be much more to say and many more details to cover, but the main idea is there. It’s a subject I don’t fully master myself, and I really need to go out more often after dark. What about you, is this a time of day you enjoy for photography?

See you soon,

Written by Sylvain PONS

I've been passionate about photography since 2010, learning as I went along. Today, I dedicate myself to guiding others in their choice of camera gear and sharing a variety of tips to improve their photography skills.

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