Question about photograpy at night?

Question

Ok, so I have a question, how is it possible to take a picture in the dark? Like of, just for example, a flower at night. http://www.matthewweathers.com/year2002/mexico_january/plants_animals/night_white_flower.jpg

with my little digital camera, it always comes out completely dark. Or, if I use flash, it makes it look like daylight anyway. Is it my camera or is there a technique?

Answer 1

Well, this picture was taken at night with a flash without ANYTHING in the background in the range of the flash. At least that's how it looks to me...

Answer 2

"Thumbs Up" to Dr. Sam & Sadie B. The Dr. for his answer, Sadie for the link.

There is a technique for non-flash pictures at night but it requires a camera that can be operated in Manual Mode, mount to a tripod, and accept a mechanical cable release. Actually, if the camera has a shutter speed of at least 15 seconds a cable release really isn't necessary. It doesn't require a high ISO or an especially fast lens.

1) Camera in Manual Mode

2) Mounted on tripod

3) Cable release attached

4) ISO @ 100 or 200

5) City skyline in distance, lit only by the city lights.

6) Compose the picture. Lens of your choice. My personal preference is a 70-210mm zoom with lens hood.

7) Check for any light sources that might be detrimental and move, if necessary, to avoid them. Compose again if needed.

8) Shutter on "B" or "T" unless it has a minimum 15 second time. If using the 15 second shutter speed you can use the camera's self-timer to release the shutter.

At ISO 100:

f5.6 @ 15 seconds
f8 @ 30 seconds
f11 @ 60 seconds

At ISO 200

f5.6 @ 8 seconds
f8 @ 15 seconds
f11 @ 30 seconds

If you used all 6 of the above settings you would have 6 identical pictures.

For an interesting effect, I'll compose at 70mm and then very carefully zoom in to 210mm. This requires a smooth touch since you don't want to jar the camera. Its a technique that can also be used for almost any subject at any time, day or night - with a sufficiently long shutter time, perhaps 2 seconds.

If you are fortunate enough to find a location overlooking a busy highway and with the city skyline in the background you can use the example exposures to create "light trails". Headlights will be streaks of white, taillights streaks of red.

Answer 3

Night photos are best taken at twilight. But when the light is completely gone then it is best to bounce your flash off of a reflective board out of eyesight of the camera. You could set up some diffused light in the background with a strong flashlight covered in cheesecloth as well as your flash, but you would need a blue filtre to take out the yellow of the flashlight. That or settle for the warm colours it represents as a background drop to the flashes cool light.
If you have control of your shutter speed and your aperture then you can set the camera to the light source, but you will need a tripod.
I do have a night scene on my blog taken of Water street to Montreal road. It was taken with an 35mm SLR and a fast film set on a tripod. You might want to take a look at it to see what you can get with film.
However ...what you have shown us at matthewweathers site is a striking photo. It is a nice eye you have there.

Answer 4

Question about photograpy at night?

Answer 5

Dr Sam has got it.

just use a low powered flash like in that image, so the flash doesnt illuminate anything in the backgroud

easy technique would be use the same fstop as the flash GN @ 100iso...........so gn22 use Fstop F22 and 1 meter of coverage will lite the flowert and not the background

really its simple, shutter speed dont matter when using flash for that type of shot, the flash/gn equation will work at any speed under the maximum sync speed of the camera body

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Answer 6

There are a lot of techniques that can help. I think the main thing is going to depend on whether you digital camera has enough adjustments available to compensate for a low light situation. Here is a link to a website that can give you some tips but most will depend on your cameras capabilities. Personally I use my digital camera for most photos but rely on my 35mm camera for shots such as the one you use as an example. I can adjust shutter speed and such to get what I need out of my camera. http://malektips.com/digital_night_photography_help_and_tips.html

Answer 7

This picture was probably taken with a digital SLR, where they set the shutter speed to a quick speed and a small aperture setting and had the flash on

Answer 8

What makes grass wet at night?

Answer 9

Need advice