I love the nightlife

Night portraits can be tricky, but with a few simple rules you can get nice shots. If you are just interested in the main subject using your camera on automatic with flash works fine; but if you are trying to include background details such as buildings, fireworks, lightning or similar lit subjects, your flash and auto settings just won't cut it.




This is where that tripod I keep talking about really comes into play.


The trick is to use a longer exposure to show the backgrounds whilst a burst of flash lights your subject.

You can see the difference in these two images one was taken on auto settings ( above ) and one was taken on manual with a 2 second exposure ( below ) to allow the camera a chance to pick up the casino lights and reflections in the water and a quick burst of flash to highlight my subject.



My camera has a pre-flash which aids my camera with focusing in low light conditions. And as with any shutterspeed under 1/60th of a second you really need to use a tripod or some form of stabilizer to avoid camera shake.

The Flash will eliminate any subject movement on a short exposure like 2 seconds.




Even a small pocket tripod on top of a wall or other surface will make a huge difference if you do not have a full size pro style tripod. If you don't have either try and get your camera on a solid surface and use the timer function if you have one to get rid of as much camera shake as possible. A small beanbag or sweater can help steady your camera on uneven walls etc.



This technique is great for those vacation shots where you want to show the nightlife as much as the subjects...Las Vegas is a good example. Vegas comes alive at night and I have often pulled out a tiny tripod when taking nightshots in Las Vegas because I didn't want to haul a full size one around and the areas are usually crowded.

Don't be scared to try something different, you may just surprise yourself. For these shots I didn't need my flash because I wasn't shooting subjects and depending on the amount of light you will find the shutterspeeds may vary.. if it doesn't work on automatic settings just try manual mode and experiment with speeds till you find one that suits the subject.






In this shot, because I wanted the water to be reasonably sharp to show the patterns I used a faster shutterspeed which cut back on the amount of light coming from the buildings behind.


Personally I like it that way because the emphasis is still on the water display and not on the buildings behind.

If your subject warrants it then using even longer exposures/shutterspeeds can create great effects from car tail and head lights. This doesn't suit every subject but if you happen to be up high above a highway or city scape it can be fun. It all depends on your camera and the features it has as to just how much creativity you can get away with.

Get to know your camera and experiment with different ideas and techniques. Just because my camera has some features doesn't mean your does.. but with a bit of creativity and trial and error experimentation, most of these techniques are adaptable. Automatic mode is great for most everyday shots but it limits you, if you can change your settings manually you should give it a try, it's digital it won't cost you anything to point your camera out of your front door and see how it performs. If you want to try shots like these; don't wait till you go on vacation or have a special occasion, practice now so that you know what your camera can do. I drag my hubby out all of the time to try new techniques on him or to find fun places to practice.... practice makes perfect !!

You don't always have a friend to take those romantic night shots ... or necessarily want anyone observing them ...so make good use of that timer button and tripod :) I can't emphasize enough how useful even the cheapest tripod can be.