Night Photography Tips for Beginners (with Examples & Camera Settings)
Over the years of I have learned to love night photography. If you’re new to photography night photography can be difficult to learn.
Since there is less light for the camera to capture you’ll be tested to know your camera and its settings well. I have put together a list of night photography tips that will jump start your photography.
Here are night photography tips:
Night Photography Camera Settings
1. Use a Tripod or Support Your Camera on the Ground
Using a tripod or finding somewhere to sit the camera securely is essential to night photography. Your camera will be capturing an image for multiple seconds so you will need to keep the camera steady so handheld isn’t an option.
Luckily there are plenty of affordable tripod options that range in side and quality.
If you’re looking for a bigger tripod you can pick up a decent one on Amazon for around $50.
- Quick shoe leg locking, giving a more convenient leg handling
But if you don’t want to carry a large tripod I highly recommend the Manfrotto Pixi Evo 2. I usually have this on the side of my backpack and it barely takes up any room.
- Adjustable legs and leg angles
Once you have mastered using a tripod you can look into more lightweight solutions like the MeFoto Globetrotter Carbon Fiber. Higher quality tripods typically are lighter and support larger cameras/lenses. If you are shooting with a 200mm for example you should look into the maximum load weight of the tripod you’re thinking of purchasing.
If you don’t have a tripod you can always find a ledge to sit your camera on. I often just sit my wallet underneath my lens and sit the camera on the ground.
Additionally if you’re a Peak Design fan like me you can also check out the new Peak Design Travel Tripod. Its small form factor will make it great for throwing into a bag.
2. Set Your Camera to Aperture Priority Mode
The label for Aperture Priority mode is different on brands but it’s usually (AV) on Canon or (A) on Sony and Nikon.
Aperture Priority mode will lock your len’s aperture to a specific f-stop number.
After learning how to use Aperture Priority you should switch to using full manual but I think this is a great way to learn the camera’s settings initially. This basically will lock your aperture to a specific f-stop and the camera will automatically figure out the rest of the settings.
3. Manually Set your ISO between 200 and 1600
Since you’re going to be using Aperture Priority mode your camera will automatically set the shutter speed and ISO. This won’t work for night photography since you want to get a clean image so you’ll have to set the ISO manually. This is one of the most important camera settings for night photography since this will enable you to take sharp images at night.
You’ll want to set your ISO on the lower end to reduce grain. Anything between ISO 200-1600 will give you a crisp image while taking photos at night. All camera’s noise levels differ so if your photo is grainy you should lower the ISO.
4. Set Your Aperture Low
Aperture Priority mode lets you lock the aperture to a specific number. Going as low as your lens can go is a good idea, so if you have the kit lens it’ll be around f/3.5 but anything below f/5.6 will do fine.
The lower you put the f-stop the more light you will let in which is essential for night photography. Also note that the lower your f-stop is the shallower your depth of field will be. So if your photo comes out blurry make sure it’s correctly focuses.
Your camera will automatically set your shutter speed once you have set these settings. If you slightly press down your shutter button you’ll see the shutter speed the camera will use for the photo. This is how long the camera will open the shutter for.
5. Set Your Shutter Delay to 2 Seconds
You could buy a remote control to trigger your camera to reduce shake but I recommend just setting a 2 second timer so your camera won’t get any shakes from when you hit the shutter release.
This is a convenient way to make sure your camera isn’t shaking without extra equipment.
Night Photography Gear
Here’s a summary of the gear needed while taking photos at night.
- Camera: A camera that allows you to manually set camera settings. (If you’re in the market the Sony a6000 is a great camera for beginners.)
- Tripod: A sturdy tripod or somewhere to sit the camera. (Neewer tripod for example.)
- Remote Trigger: To reduce shake while taking a picture you can get a remote shutter release to take photos with your camera. Personally I do not use one since most cameras let you do a 2 second delay which will reduce any shake.
Example of Night Photography Settings
Here are some of my favorite photos I have taken at night along with their settings. If you live in a major city cars passing by can be fun to photograph on overpasses and bridges. If you live in a rural area astrophotography is well worth the trip out of a light polluted area.
Long Exposure in New York City
- Camera: Canon 6D
- Mode: Aperture Priority
- Aperture: f/8
- Shutter Speed: 15 Seconds
- ISO: 100
Los Angeles at night from Griffith Observatory
- Camera: Canon 5D Mark IV
- Mode: Aperture Priority
- Aperture: f/2.8
- Shutter Speed: 0.6 Seconds
- ISO: 400
US Capitol Reflection in Washington DC
- Camera: Canon 5D Mark IV
- Mode: Aperture Priority
- Aperture: f/2.8
- Shutter Speed: 0.5 Seconds
- ISO: 100
Night photo at Union Station in Washington DC
- Camera: Canon EOS R
- Mode: Aperture Priority
- Aperture: f/8
- Shutter Speed: 2 Seconds
- ISO: 100
If you want to see more of my night photography check out this video I shot with my friend in DC. We explore the US Capitol at sunset and take night photos at other areas in the city.
Now that you know how to take pictures at night it’s time to go shoot. By taking more photos you’ll quickly learn your camera and settings for night photography. Just don’t get discouraged if your photos look bad at first, practice is the most important way to improve your pictures.
If you have any questions feel free to let me know in the comments.
Good luck with your night photography!
