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Night photography is a great test of your understanding of the camera.
It is important to find the right settings to make sure the image doesn't become overexposed despite it's long shutter.
It is also important to make sure your focus is sharp which can be hard to do in the dark. I recommend using a flashlight to shine light on the area you would like to focus on and focus the camera manually.
If you want to show a start trail in the sky, how long do you want your shutter open?
All these are questions that may pop up when you do this night photography assignment.
Make sure you are in safe place where YOU are visible.
Set up your camera on a tripod, and play with the focus and settings until you are happy with the results. This may take a few tries, and that's OKAY!!!
Here are some examples of night photography.
This image was taken using a tripod, facing upward, with a long shutter.
This image was taken of a busy street at night using a tripod and long exposure.
This image was taken somewhere with many lights, NOT using a tripod, giving it that moved effect.
This image was taken with a tripod and long exposure. The light was painted in manual with a flashlight or laser.
Here are some examples of great photographers who use the night as their subject and. or setting.
TODD HIDO is a San Francisco based photographer who uses street lights and the SF fog to create moody night-scapes of the suburbs.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT!
Chris McCaw is also an SF based film photographer. On a camping trip in Joshua Tree National Park, he set up his camera to take pictures at night. He feel asleep and when he woke up in the morning had a happy accident waiting for him in the camera! Here are some examples of what happened:
The brightness of the moon burns a hole in the paper negative/ or film he uses! There are many reasons for this: the long exposure, the paper/ filmed used, the brightness of the moon. There is also the fact that he makes his own cameras and uses lens that are used for aviation photography, that means they are very big and magnify the light! This shouldn't happen on a digital camera, although I believe this could burn out the digital sensor!!
EXTRA!
Re-do your painting with light assignment form last year.
Painting with light is really simple and really fun!!!
You will need:
tripod
camera
flashlight
darkroom/dark setting
Set your camera up on a tripod in a very dark room or outside at night.
You will need to play with your exposure, but I recommend using F/16 or F/22 and adjusting from there.
Your exposures will need to be at least 10-20 seconds if you want to draw or write something. You will need to adjust your settings manually until you happy with the result.
* NOTE if you write something, try to write it backwards so it appears correctly in-camera.
Turn off all the lights in the room except for your flashlight (I like the smartphone flashlight!)
Press the shutter release button...you now have time to draw with the flashlight FACING the camera.
Because the room is so dark, the flashlight is acting like a paint brush made of light. Anywhere it goes, it will make a line in the image.
Here are some examples of painting with light.
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