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Use exposure compensation
The combination of the shutter speed, aperture and ISO setting is called exposure and determines the total amount of light and that your camera can capture, as well as its ability to freeze motion.
Some cameras allow you to fine tune your exposure once you have found the best settings for your camera. This is called exposure compensation. It is used to adjust for further variations in light conditions once you have found the optimum settings for your camera in a given situation without having to change your overall aperture and shutter settings.
Adjust your white balance
Your camera's white balance setting is like a built-in filter that compensates for variations in colour that are created by the type of light around you. While an automatic setting is fine for daylight photography, you may want to adjust your white balance manually to better reflect your lighting conditions at night.
To set your white balance manually, point your camera toward a solid white object (such as a wall or piece of white cardboard) and press the white balance control. Some cameras allow you to further tune the white balance by adjusting the red and blue levels. Please consult your camera's manual for specific instructions.
Although the white balance setting is designed to help ensure colour accuracy, you may want to use it to do exactly the opposite. Try adjusting your white balance to create a pleasing eye-catching colours in your photographs, even if they don't correspond to the colours that you see.
In fact, there's more than enough light for you to play with when taking photographs at night...
If you do adjust your white balance manually, make sure to check/adjust it when you go from one subject/location to the next, as it may no longer be the correct setting for what you're photographing.
Manually focus your camera
Your camera's autofocus may not work properly in low-light conditions (especially if your camera lacks a focus-assist lamp). You may want to focus manually to ensure the clearest picture.
One benefit of manual focus is that, if you're taking several shots of a single subject, you don't have to wait for your camera to automatically focus before you take the next picture. This means you can take more shots in a shorter time.
Bracket your shots
Professional photographers use a technique called bracketing to improve their chances of getting the perfect shot. Bracketing means shooting a picture at the recommended exposure then taking the same shot at the next highest and next lowest exposure in the hopes that one of the three will work well. It's a technique that is especially useful when there is too little or too much light available.
Most digital cameras have a bracketing mode that automatically adjusts the exposure level so you can take 3 to 5 shots in row to bracket a picture.
Experiment with different settings. Once you're comfortable with your camera's manual controls (or even with its built-in night mode), you can further explore the challenge of low-light photography by trying some of the following:
Use a tripod
A great way to improve your night photography is to use a tripod. A tripod will keep your camera steady and will give you further control over exposure by reducing camera shake, thus enabling you to keep your shutter open longer. Tripods come in several varieties, including table-top models that you can fit in your pocket.
If your camera has a remote control, use it in conjunction with your tripod to further eliminate camera shake.
Look for light
Even at night, you're surrounded by light, especially in cities. Streetlights, traffic lights, neon signs, office interiors and car headlights are just some of the types of light you'll find at night. And let's not forget moonlight and starlight. Dealing with the variety of available light is one of the challenges of shooting at night. With practice, you'll learn what settings work best with specific types of light.
Use reflections to your advantage
Some of the most spectacular night photography involves the use of reflections. Reflections not only give you more light to work with, but they also add visual interest to your photographs. Look for reflections on bodies of water, snow banks, windows, mirrors, cars, etc.
Night Photography Continued: [1] [2] [3]
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