Once the sun has set, most photographers pack up their equipment and head off to a nice warm meal and a warm bed. Still, it can be a wonderful experience to take beautiful pictures wherever you are in the world and to share them on social media applications like Instagram. Then you can
make a photobook from Instagram and you can print all your photo album. But night photography can also be notoriously difficult but much more rewarding. There are so many factors, so many challenges that come into play with night photography so that you can finally capture the perfect night shot. In this article you will find a few tips to help you capture the best night travel photo.
WHEN?
The hour after sunset is the best time of day to take night photos. At this time, the light hasn't quite disappeared yet and the sky takes on a range of indigo hues. This is known as the twilight or blue hour. You also get a similar light in the morning just before sunrise. The time is not really precise, as it depends on the time of year and the altitude you are at. In summer, when the distant northern or southern hemispheres become barely dark, the night may consist only of blue time. Conversely, closer to the equator, the sun may appear to simply fall behind the horizon and is immediately followed by intense darkness.
BRIGHTNESS
If you have a bridge or DSLR camera, you can easily control how the camera uses the available light. You should familiarize yourself with aperture priority, shutter priority, or switching entirely to manual mode. You also need to get used to changing the ISO.
Important: The first rule of night photography is to disable your flash in the camera settings. This may seem counter-intuitive, but nine times out of ten, adding white light to your scene will not improve your night pictures.
THE TRIP
For long exposures, you need to keep your camera as still as possible and the best way to do this is with a tripod. They obviously come in a range of sizes and weights, and for travel photography you want something as light and compact as possible. A gorilla handful is the ideal size to keep in your backpack all day, but may have difficulty holding larger SLRs in place. Alternatively, carbon fiber tripods are lightweight and can support the weight of larger cameras, making them a great option for travel photographers.
