How to Photograph the Night Sky
Many photographers pack up their gear right after sunset. However, the most magical time to make pictures can be twilight or night! Shooting at twilight and beyond allows the photographer to create beautiful story-telling imagery. Night transforms an ordinary scene into something extraordinary, providing a wonderful opportunity to expand your creative and artistic options. From cityscapes to landscapes, and from twilight to a starry sky, beautiful nightscape opportunities are limitless.
How to shoot Nightscapes
• Scout out locations first. It’s easier to determine and set up compositions before the sun goes down. You may want to shoot a golden sunset first, then wait for blue hour of twilight or night.
• Exposures will be long, you’ll need a sturdy tripod. I use a Feisol CT-3442 carbon fiber tripod, which is perfect for travel and everyday use.
• Keep it level. Use Live View or place a bubble level on the hot shoe of your camera,
• Cable release or self timer feature. Using a cable release helps prevent vibration being transferred to the camera by pressing the shutter. You can also use Mirror Lock-up if available on your camera.
• White balance. Try starting with 4000K, or Daylight (5000K) to see how it looks with your scene. The “correct” measured white balance may look a little lackluster, experiment, and see what works best for your composition.
• ISO Use the lowest ISO needed for the scene. The Nikon D3s is a stellar low light performing camera.
• Manual exposure. Set the aperture for the desired depth of field, and determine the shutter speed for the exposure.
• There’s an app for that. Light Tracker, Helios, Velaclock, Sunrise & Set, and for tracking stars on the iPad try Sky Walk.
• Lost the light, no worries. Go for a classic black and white image.
• Be inventive. Think about creative lens choices, angles and perspective. Make your shot unique and different.
Need some inspiration? Check out the Nightscapes portfolio on my website, http://www.deborahsandidge.com. Have fun shooting!
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Your work is beautiful, I receive every one of your post, the pictures you take inspire me in my daily work, your creativity and the handle of the light in each photograph is just amazing. Thank you very much for posting.
Jorge Gonzalez
Wedding Photographer
http://www.vivaexpressions.com
Hi Deborah!
Observei alguns de seus trabalhos, são fantásticos e muito inspiradores.
Aprecio a forma como executa longas exposições, conseguindo um excelente equilíbrio de luzes e lindas cores douradas.Parabéns pelo excelente conteúdo do seu Blog.
Jorge Rio
Excellent tips! And I agree with you – packing up your gear right after sunset should be a crime. I’ve captured some of my favorite images in dusk lighting 🙂
Thank you very much for your wonderful comments, very much appreciated! Marc – so interesting to watch everyone leave after sunset, when dusk is so lovely!