Timing

Despite the title of "night" photography, the best results are usually achieved before nightfall. Dusk offers a nice balance between the afterglow from the sun as it drops below the horizon combined with the artificial lights of street lamps, office buildings and car lights.

When the residual daylight has completely gone, the contrast shoots up often leading to inky-black skies with just a few pin pricks of light.

Exposure times are considerably shorter at dusk compared to when fully dark. Times of a few seconds rather than minutes.

Tripods

Low light photography in general and night photography in particular require long exposures and that usually means a tripod is required. Choosing a tripod is a matter of balancing a number of factors.

The ideal tripod would be featherweight to carry long distances, rock solid even in gale force winds. It would fold down small enough to fit into your pocket and extend high enough to photograph a giraffe eye to eye (and cost no more than $50).

If you find one please let me know, in the meantime bear in mind that a tripod needs weight and rigidity. Buy the heaviest tripod that you are prepared to carry. A flimsy model is really only useful as an extra set of hands to hold the camera as you run around the other side of the camera and say "cheese". On the other side of the coin a tripod is totally useless if it weighs so much that you never take it with you.

For maximum stability, always extend the thickest leg sections first and only use the thinner ones when you really need to. Use the centre column as a last resort. Tripods that are made up of a lot of sections tend to be less rigid. Keep the legs well spread.

Some tripods have a hook on the bottom of the centre column. The idea is that you can hang a weight (e.g. you camera bag) from the hook, this pulls the tripod taught and makes it more stable. You can use a fold up canvas bag and fill it with rocks if you are out shooting landscapes.

Cable releases and timers

To avoid introducing shake when you press the shutter release it is good to use a cable release, this isolates the camera from any hand movement. In the days of film SLRs there was a standard and fairly cheap mechanical release, these days each manufacture has their own electronic version(s). They are more expensive but they work well and are a good investment if you are going to do a lot of low light photography.

If don't have one then put your camera into "self-timer" mode, then when you press the shutter button there is time for any movement to dissipate before the shutter actually opens. Some cameras have a choice of 2 or 10 seconds delay, if you choose 2 seconds be extra careful to press gently.

Some DSLRs also have the option to lock up the mirror, this stops any slight movement caused when the mirror slaps up at the moment of exposure.

ISO and Noise

When you are taking night shots it is tempting to increase the the ISO setting of your camera. However for maximum quality keep the ISO set low; around 200. If you set the ISO high you will get a lot of "noise" (random speckles of colour) in your images. Remember because you are using a tripod you can use longer speeds instead of higher ISOs.

Early digital SLRs generated a lot of noise even at low ISOs when using long exposures. (Noise is caused by the camera's sensor registering the heat generated by the camera's electronics and especially the battery) Later generations are much better. The Canon 40D for example can be used at 30 seconds with no problems.

Exposure Settings

In some ways night photography is easier for exposure setting than other subjects because for most shots there are a range of results that will look good. As long as you do not "burn out" important highlights and you avoid large areas of empty black, you can get a variety of exposure which work well.

Meter the scene as you would a daytime subject, take a shot, check the "Histogram" make sure you are getting detail in all important areas and if not change the aperture and shutter speeds as required. Remember that the playback image itself can be very misleading the captured image will look much brighter when viewed in the dark than when you get it back home. Be guided by the histogram while bearing in mind that it will tend to have a lot more values at the left hand "shadow" end of the scale with this type of subject.

(Note If you have used film in the past to shoot night shots you will be pleased to know that you no longer need to worry about "reprocicity failure". This made exposure settings very difficult because film became less efficient with long exposures, to the point where a measured reading of 30 second might need to be increased to several minutes. Digital cameras do not have this problem).

White Balance

Artificial lights have very different "colour temperatures" to daylight (or flash). Tungsten lights are much warmer (yellow/red). However these colours often just make the image look more interesting with outdoor images. Sodium lights have a strong green cast that can look ugly.

If you shoot RAW files (which I suggest you always do) you will be able to adjust the white balance when you do the raw conversions. If you are shooting Jpegs it is more important to get the white balance close to "correct".

Bear in mind that if you have a mix of light sources you will have to set the white balance to the best compromise.

Lenses

The longer the zoom you use the more any slight movement will be magnified and the more rigid the support needed. Some photographers will use 2 tripods with a Super-telephoto, one to support the camera and the other to support the lens. However you will not need to go to such extremes with any lens you are ever likely to use.

If your lens is stabilised you will probably need to switch off the stabilisation when you are using a tripod as strange things can happen if it is left on during long exposures. If in doubt check your lens' instruction manual.

Regarding filters, I would suggest just use your protection filter (UV or Skylight). You will notice when you stop the lens right down (use a SMALL Aperture e.g. f22) that specular highlights (e.g. lights on the Harbour Bridge) will automatically give a "starburst" effect.

Light

Of course light is the most important aspect in just about any photograph (as you may know photography comes from the Greek meaning "writing with light").

When shooting night images reflections can be very important; neon light reflected in a puddle, city lights reflected reflected in the harbour, moonlight on the sea. They add colour and interest and reduce the areas of black emptiness.

Moving lights are another great subject. Use car head and tail lights to create light trails. Compose you images to use the light trails to lead the eye around your photograph.

Flash

New photographers are tempted to reach for flash whenever light levels drop. Flashes are very useful but here are a few thing to consider;

"Flash falls off with the inverse of the square" Don't panic that just means that flash illumination falls off very rapidly e.g. if you double the distance between flash and subject the light is one quarter as bright, if the distance is four time greater the intensity is only 1/16th, if the distance is 10 times further the light is only ONE HUNDRETH as bright! We have all seen people trying to take flash shots of the Bridge from the Opera House. Bottom line is "It Don't Work!"

The Built in flash of a camera is positioned very close to the lens which is about the worst position to be lighting a subject from.

The colour of the flash is balanced to typical daylight so mixing it with tungsten light will effect what white balance you should use.

Having said all of that though, combining flash with long exposures can be a lot of fun. With the shutter set to for example 15 seconds you have time to do multiple flashes (using an off-camera flash) of different or even of the same subject which can give very interesting results. Try placing coloured gels over the flash to introduce funky colours to subjects within the frame.

Torches can also be used to paint with light during long exposures. Practice, Experiment, Have Fun!

What better place to shoot night photography than Sydney?