Problems encountered in Night Photography

[Francis247]

Having to read through the newbies section inspired me to start a thread to discuss about the Problems that one might faced during his/her journey on the route to Night Photography. Take your time to read through the following sections. If you have anything that you face previously and will like to share, just drop me a PM.

This article might be a bit lengthy. If you want, you can always move to the relevant section which addresses the problem you faced.

 

[Francis247]

Personal / Individual / Equipment

Safety – This is of utmost importance; personal safety should always come first followed by equipment safety. In the night, due to the lack of bright sunlight, accidents tend to happen quite easily because of poor lighting. Some time, because of fatigue as our bodies are not accustom to stay up throughout the night, our reflexes, responses and senses might not be so alert and that is where danger strikes.
E.g.
There are always dangers of traffic when you are shooting lights trails from cars when you are by the side of the road.
Shooting in deserted places, due to poor lighting and thick vegetation, you might not be able to see snakes in the bushes or scorpions in logs or even pot-holes which can make you trip and fall.

Security – Both personal and equipment. Try not to go to too deserted places alone in the night. You might not know if there are somebody who might have been eyeing on you and your equipment. Even in crowded places, always take care of yourself and your equipment from pick-pockets. Try to secure your equipment properly and always have a person doing a check to see if any equipment were left behind when moving from one place to another place to shoot.

Accessibility – Despite that the land area of Singapore is not really big, but it is still relative far to get to places. In other countries, it might be even worse. Unless you own a car or go on a bicycle or bike, accessibility might be a problem here at night when the bus and train (MRT) services come to a stop. You can always try to car-pool with photographers living around your area and arrange to go out to shoot. If not, you can always try taking a cab. One thing that I like to highlight is the respect for private and government properties. Do not trespass into restricted or prohibited areas.

 

[Francis247]

Conduct

Nuisance – Avoid creating a nuisance to people because night time is rest time for most people. Learn to respect others (both the living and the dead). Keep your noise level down. As mentioned before, have respect for private and government properties. Do not leave your litter behind and take nothing from the place or destroy the nature floral and fauna. As the saying goes, “Leave nothing behind but footprints and take nothing away except photos”. Be a good citizen and a good photographer with discipline and positive conduct.

Light Discipline – May it be torch light, flashlight or speedlight. Just like in the army, learn to observe light discipline in the night. The reason been, light can be quite blinding and damaging if shone directly into the eye in the dark because our pupil open up in the night. Light can have an adverse effect in night photography because stray lights can cause unwanted fogging or bright spots even though you might be standing behind your camera with your lights on. Unless of course, you are doing light painting, but even so, learn to control your lights to avoid problems like flaring (more of this in the later section) and “ghost” trail lights (non-intended moving with torchlight on). Careful not to shine your light or flashlight / speedlight into oncoming traffic as it may temporary blind the drivers in the vehicles.

Having to say so, a balance is needed for light discipline because of safety issue and also not forgetting the need to do some adjustments to your cameras and settings in the dark is quite a daunting task. Always have a torchlight with you, the size can depend if you want to do light painting.

1. Turn on the torch to do your settings and adjustment or even for auto-focusing and turn it off when not in use.
2. Before settling down on a new place, turn on the torch to check around for dangers such as snakes, pot-holes or etc.
3. Before moving from places to places, turn on the torch to check around if you left anything behind.
4. And when moving through thick vegetation or places that you cannot see well, turn on the torch.

 

[Francis247]

Weather

Cloudy – For those who are into astronomy, moon and star trails photography, a cloudy sky would pose more of a problem. What is flesh to one is poison for another. While some night photographers love to capturing cloud trails and using them as subject or background, a cloudy condition will means that the stars and moon will be hidden behind the clouds and we could not get them as clear and bright. For those who are into star trails, passing clouds might even cause broken lines in the trails. If the sky becomes too cloudy, it is quite hard to get good photos at times. So do look for a clear sky.

Thunderstorm and Rain – While been able to capture the wrath of nature could produce nice and interesting photos, but do not forget the fact that lightning can strike any time and any where. Learn to look for shelter if you are out in the open and protect your equipment from rain. Never turn your camera on if the hotshoe got some water as it will short circuit and kill the camera immediately. Do not seek shelter under a tree. Exercise extreme precaution in bad weather condition.

Snow, Ice and Winter – We don’t get any snow here in Singapore but in overseas, it is a different story. Snow and ice are effectively frozen water, so try to avoid getting your camera hotshoe covered with snow. One ill effect of the cold weather on your camera is that the battery tends to drain faster and the temperature differences between indoor and outdoor condition during winter period will cause fogging of lenses. Last but not least, temperature usually drips to quite low in the night during winter time so do wear proper warmth protection and avoid getting frostbite.

 

[Francis247]

Techniques / Technical
Exposure – Overexposure, Underexposure
Focusing
Flaring

This thread is still under-construction to share out more of the Problems encountered in Night Photography. Any one with any tips to share. Do feel free to PM me. I will lock this thread for easy maintainence. Thank you for your understanding.