How to Take Better Night Photos

Do you like to take photos at night? I know I do. There's something magical about them - pictures of the moonlight sky and dazzling neon lights convey a special something that daytime photos can't. When I started out taking digital photos at night, boy, did I have problems! The issue is that many digital cameras do not perform very well under low-light conditions. To take good night photos, there are some tricks you need to remember - so here are a few of them.

A photo of Hong Kong at night

Tip 1: Use Long Exposures

The key to successful night photography lies in a long exposure. We’re talking about exposures measured in seconds. When a long exposure is used, more light is allowed into the camera, allowing the details in your night photo to be captured.

The problem with using long exposures is that you may shake the camera, resulting in poor pictures. The way around this is to use a tripod. I prefer to install a tripod with a shutter-release cable to ensure that I don’t jolt the camera at all.

Tip 2: Take Control Shots

One problem with digital cameras is that there are always some pixels on the image sensor which are bad. When taking day photos, these defects are not discernible. However, they are pretty obvious in night photos. How do we correct these? Here’s a simple way – take a control shot, then use image editing to subtract out those bad pixels.

This is how it works. The next time you’re out to take night photos, go ahead and snap a picture of Scene A, as you normally would. Then, when it’s convenient, take a photo of the exact same Scene A again, but with the lens cap on.

Now you will have two images, one night shot and one control shot (with the hot pixels). Load them up in say, Paint Shop Pro. Switch to the control shot and select Edit and Copy from the menu. Next, switch to the night shot and paste the copied image as a new layer. Then, select the new layer and change the Blend Mode to Difference and click OK. You’ll get the correct night shot with the hot spots subtracted out.

Tip 3: Try to Capture Motion

With a long exposure, you have many creative options when it comes to photography. This includes capturing motion. For example, have you ever wondered how those professional photographers shoot pictures of trails of car lights as they zoom down the highway at night? It’s all due to long exposures. Try to keep this in mind the next time you’re taking a night photo – you don’t have to restrict yourself to still images.

Tip 4: Play with the Aperture

In addition to shutter speed (which determines exposure time), you can play around with the aperture size of your digital camera. There are two scenarios here. If you set a long exposure, try to use a small aperture to avoid overexposing any stationary lights. in the picture. On the other hand, if you set a short exposure, try using a larger aperture to avoid any motion in your shot.

Tip 5: How to Use the Flash

As a general rule, I turn the flash off when taking night photos. There are some exceptions though – one specific example I can think of is trying to shoot a subject in the foreground, with motion trails of car lights in the background. In this case, bring along an external flash unit and shine it on your subject manually. Set a long exposure, then have your subject wait until the picture is taken.

Tip 6: When to Take Night Photos

When’s the best time to take night photos? I usually like to take them during dusk when colors and details are easier to capture. I’d recommend that you do some research on the evening before the photo shoot. Decide on the location, then come back the next day to take the photo at dusk.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this article has taught you some tips on taking better night photos. The important concept to remember is that a long exposure is need for good night photos. This means you need to keep you digital camera really, really still. Once you understand that, the quality of your night photos will definitely improve.

From: Basic-Digital-Photography.com

10 Tips on Landscape Photography

Here's a little article on landscape photography I hope you will find useful.

1. Always take a tripod (a good tripod). Yes, even on a bright, sunny day. Many times you'll want to use a very small aperture (big f number) to achieve great depth of field. Even on a relatively bright day, your shutter speed may not be fast enough at small apertures to be able to hand hold your shot. I take the time to make sure the horizon is straight, the subject is well placed, avoid distracting objects, etc. Make sure your tripod is steady. There's no worse feeling than being in front of that perfect scene with your camera on the tripod and noticing that your system is shaking a little bit because of the windy conditions.

2. Carry a cable release. The timer function on the camera is no substitute for a cable release, BTW. The cable allows you the release the shutter when YOU want to release the shutter, not 2 sec or 10 sec or 15 sec from when you want to release. The release makes it so you don't have to touch the camera at all which will definitely minimize camera shake.

3. Polarizer, neutral density filters, and graduated neutral density filters. The key to landscape photography is control of light. A polarizer will help take glare off the water and other reflective surfaces like leaves. It also gives some contrast to an otherwise flat, hazy day.

Neutral density filters will evenly stop a specified amount of light from hitting your sensor. Let's say you want to get that nice silky effect on a water fall but the day is sunny. If you just shot the image without a ND filter, you might not be able to slow down your shutter speed enough without blowing out the highlights.

The grad ND filter is dark on top and clear on bottom and there is a "gradual" transition from the dark to the clear area. Again, these filters come in different strengths. By placing the grad ND filter in front of your lens you decrease the amount of light reaching the sensor from the bright part of the scene (the sky), thereby allowing nice detail from the foreground to show through without blowing out the highlights.

There are 2 types of grad ND filters, hard and soft. Hard has an abrupt transition from dark to clear and the soft has a more gentle transition. If you're a beginner, I suggest getting a 3 stop hard and a 2 stop soft grad ND filter. All other filters are optional and I'm sure you'll experiment with them once you get these down.

4. Use a hyperfocal distance chart. Hyperfocal distance is the distance from the end of your lens you should focus at to get the maximum depth of field and still have infinity in focus (for a given f stop and focal distance combination). I always carry this sheet with me in my camera bag.

5. Know the weather conditions before going. Unless you own a sealed camera like the Nikon F5/D1 or Canon 1D/1V series, you'll want to protect your equipment from rain (perhaps a simple thing like a plastic bag and an umbrella).

6. Landscape = wide-angle lens. Personal preference, but many will agree with this statement.

7. Remember the 3 elements of a good landscape: foreground, midground, and background. Try to have something in these positions. This is just a rule of thumb...and you know what they say about rules...

8. If possible, try to avoid shooting in the mid-day... lots of harsh light and unflattering shadows around that time.

9. If you have a histogram function on your digital camera, use it! The LCD often gives inaccurate representation of the exposures. I rely on my histogram, not the little image of the scene I just shot to tell me my proper exposure. As a rule of thumb in digital, shoot for the highlights (as opposed to for the shadows, suggested for film). I'd rather have a slightly underexposed shot than an overexposed one in digital. Underexposed shots are much more easily corrected than an overexposed one.

10. Some people will use a digital camera first to see what kind of metering is needed to get the proper exposure, because there is instant feed back. Then they will set up their film camera with the same settings. Wonderful idea, I think.

Author: Gary Hendricks

5 Good Tips for Taking Kids' Photos

Here are 5 good tips for shooting photos of babies and children.

1. Get them to pose properly
Easier said than done. Getting children to pose for photos can be frustrating and can often result in your children appearing tense. Involving a toy or another person for the child to interact with while photos are taken often helps child subjects to display a broader range of emotions, especially of happiness, which is what you want.

2. Get down to the level of the child
Getting down to the level of the child will make them more comfortable and give you a better view of their features. If you are outside, wear clothes that you won't mind getting dirty so you can kneel down at any moment.

3. Use a camera that you can operate quickly
Using a camera that you can operate quickly and keeping the photography equipment to a minimum also helps you get a great shot before your child's attention wanders, as you can be sure they won't hold a fleeting pose while you change lenses.

4. Use a wide angle lens
Using a wide angle lens can often give a pleasant view of a baby, because their body parts are already a bit out of proportion and the perspective offered by a wide angle lens will exaggerate this.

5. Use natural lighting
Natural lighting coming from a window will also give a more gentle and nostalgic feeling to your photographs and will also react better with the skin tone of a baby.

Author: Gary Hendricks