The basics of night photography

Learning goal

You will be able to explain why the camera can see in the dark what the eye can't, through the sensor gathering light over seconds. You will prepare for night shooting with a tripod, a remote release or a self-timer, and settings you can find in the dark. Knowing why autofocus often can't find focus in the dark, you will focus by hand on a bright star or a distant light by magnifying the screen. Instead of searching for hours for the right exposure in the dark, you will find it quickly with a short test shot at high ISO and convert it to the real frame. You will use a red light to protect your eyes' adjustment to the dark, and think about your own safety in the field at night. When lighting a person in the darkness of night with a small, warm lamp, you will make sure their face and skin appear in their real tone.

The question

On the club's night walk, your friend is standing on top of a dark hill. Their eye can pick out only a few bright stars; everything else is black. They shoot a frame with the camera in hand: a blurred, jet-black screen. The club member beside them sets up a tripod, fiddles with the screen for a while and waits thirty seconds. On the screen appear thousands of stars, the orange lights of a village on the horizon and a faint band cutting across the sky from end to end. Does the camera see what you can't see in the dark?

Context

In the night lesson you met night photography that works with artificial lights, the sky and darkness after the sun has set, and the balance between the sky and city lights (Lesson 16.6). In the long exposure lesson you saw the technical problems of long exposure: the sensor heating up, the dark frame and light leaking through the viewfinder (Lesson 22.1). In the manual focus lesson you also learned to magnify part of the screen to pin down focus (Lesson 10.5).

The night track teaches going beyond the limit of the eye. The eye gathers light in a brief moment of a second and sees very little in the dark; the camera, on the other hand, can gather light over seconds, even minutes. That is why stars invisible to the eye, faint clouds and the lights of a distant village can appear in a frame. But this gathering asks for a tripod, patience and hands that know how to work in the dark. This lesson sets up the basic routine of night shooting.

Simple explanation

Why does the camera see more in the dark?

The eye gathers light in very short spans and sees anew every moment; it can't build up light in the dark. The camera's sensor, on the other hand, gathers light as long as the shutter stays open: a thirty-second exposure collects far more light than the eye sees in a moment. That is why faint stars and distant clouds that the eye can't pick out on a dark hill can appear in the frame. The price of this is stillness: for thirty seconds the camera must not move.

The tripod is the foundation of night photography. Pressing the shutter with a finger shakes the camera; a remote release or a two-second self-timer gives this shake time to die down. With the camera on a tripod, turning off image stabilization prevents its own small vibrations on some systems. In long exposure the sensor heats up and noise increases; the dark frame feature some cameras offer reduces this, but completes each frame in twice the time.

How are focus and exposure found in the dark?

In the dark, autofocus often can't find focus and hunts back and forth. You need to set focus by hand. The safest way is to find a bright star or a distant light on the screen, magnify the screen and turn the focus ring slowly until the star becomes the smallest, sharpest point. On many lenses the ring turns a little past the infinity mark; that is why turning the ring all the way often misses focus. Fixing the focus you found with a piece of tape keeps it from slipping during the night.

A test shot is a short exposure taken at a high ISO and a short time to find the right exposure quickly in the dark, then converted to the real frame. For example, if a test shot taken at ISO 6400 and four seconds looks good, you get the same brightness at ISO 1600 in sixteen seconds; lowering the ISO by two stops requires lengthening the time by two stops, that is, four times. This method keeps you from losing minutes in trial and error that each take half a minute; checking the histogram and the magnified screen confirms the result.

How do you work in the dark?

Dark adaptation is the eye slowly becoming more sensitive in the dark and being able to see fainter lights. This adaptation takes twenty to thirty minutes, and looking at a bright white light even once largely spoils it. Red light is the light of a red-colored torch or headlamp that spoils the eye's dark adaptation much less; night photographers find their settings and bags with this light. Lowering the camera's screen brightness also protects both your eyes and the eyes of those beside you.

Safety in the field at night matters especially: you need to see the place you will go in daylight, tell someone where you are, take spare batteries and warm clothes, and walk carefully on rough ground. If you want to add a person to a night frame, you can light them for a few seconds with a small, warm lamp. When this light falls on one side of the face, it can easily blow out light skin and leave dark skin underlit. Adjusting the lamp's distance or duration to the skin's real tone, and checking by magnifying the face on the screen, shows the person in their own color in front of the sky.

Visual evidence

On the next walk your friend brings their tripod, a remote release and a red headlamp. After reaching the hill they don't look at white light for twenty minutes; their eye slowly starts to pick out more stars.

They find the brightest star on the screen, magnify the screen and turn the ring slowly until the star is a point; they fix the ring with a piece of tape. They shoot a four-second test shot at ISO 6400: the exposure is good. They lower the ISO to 1600 and raise the time to sixteen seconds. In the frame appear thousands of stars, and on the horizon the orange lights of the village.

Selin from the club, her skin dark brown, stands in front of the frame, looking at the sky. Your friend holds a small, warm lamp softened with a piece of card to her side for two seconds. In the first frame her face is dark; when they bring the lamp a little closer and lengthen the time, her skin is warm and detailed, the stars behind her.

Common mistakes

Summary

The camera can see in the dark what the eye can't, because the sensor gathers light over seconds; this needs a tripod, a remote release or a self-timer, and stillness. Focus is found by hand on a bright star by magnifying the screen, exposure is found quickly with a short test shot at high ISO and converted to the real frame; the eye's dark adaptation is protected with a red light, safety in the field is kept in mind, and a person entering the night frame is lit with a small lamp according to the skin's real tone.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will shoot your first night frame with the basic routine.

1. Go to a dark place, a safe spot you have seen in daylight, with a tripod, a remote release or a self-timer and a red light, and wait twenty minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark.
2. Magnify the screen and focus by hand on a bright star or a distant light, shoot a test shot of a few seconds at ISO 6400 and shoot the real frame by converting the exposure to a lower ISO.
3. If you add a person to your frame, get their permission, light them for a few seconds with a small, warm lamp, and magnify their face on the screen to check that their skin neither went dark nor blew out.

Check yourself

• Are the stars small, sharp points?
• Did the exposure you converted from the test shot to the real frame come out right?
• Is the face of the person in the frame in its own tone in the dark?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. Why can the camera see in the dark what the eye can't?

• A) Because the sensor can gather light over seconds
• B) Because the camera has its own light
• C) Because the lens multiplies the light
• D) Because the eye doesn't see at all at night

2. How is focus found in the dark?

• A) With autofocus
• B) By turning the ring all the way to the end of infinity
• C) By focusing on a random point
• D) By magnifying the screen and bringing a bright star to the smallest point

3. If a four-second test shot at ISO 6400 is good, what should the time be at ISO 1600?

• A) Four seconds
• B) Eight seconds
• C) Sixteen seconds
• D) One second

4. Why is red light used?

• A) To brighten the camera's screen
• B) Because it spoils the eye's dark adaptation less
• C) To make the stars look brighter
• D) To save the batteries

Answers

1. A — As long as the shutter stays open the sensor collects light, while the eye sees anew every moment.
2. D — The moment the star becomes the smallest, sharpest point on the magnified screen is the moment focus is found.
3. C — When the ISO drops two stops the time grows two stops, that is, four times, and four seconds becomes sixteen.
4. B — Red light spoils the sensitivity the eye has gained in the dark much less than white light.

Summary card

• The sensor gathers light; the eye can't.
• Tripod, remote release or a two-second self-timer.
• Magnify the screen, focus by hand on a bright star, tape the ring.
• A short test shot at high ISO, then convert to the real frame.
• Red light, safety; in a night portrait, adjust the lamp to the skin.

Bridge to the next lesson

In the frame from the hill the stars are sharp, but the village lights on the horizon are burnt out, turned into orange smudges; the sky is jet black. The next evening your friend goes back to the city and sees that a little after sunset, while the sky is still deep blue, the lights of the bridge come on. The lights and the sky sit balanced in the same frame. How do you photograph the city at blue hour? The next lesson takes up city nights and the balance between artificial lights and the sky.