Night Time Picture Taking

So I was really excited yesterday because it was the first time that I had been at the park at night in a long time. I don't have any night time pictures so I planned on taking a lot. I ran into problems right away and I don't know if I was the problem or the camera was a problem. First problem: I tried to take a picture of Millennium's beautiful lift hill all lit up... but when I took the picture it was a black screen. By the way, I was using a Fugi FinePix A205 digital camera. Problem number 2: when I take picture's of anything that was a bright light, say Giant Wheel all lit up, if I moved the camera the slightest bit the lights would blurr. If anyone has any tips for me on how to get by these problems I would really appreciate it.

Tripod, and shutter settings.

Basically, taking pictures at night without a flash requires you to have a longer exposure. In many cases the exposure will be between 1 and 4 seconds when taking a night photo without a flash. (A picture taken on a sunny day probably has an exposure between 1/500th of a second and 1/125th of second for the most part.) Because the exposure is so long, moving the camera the slightest bit gives you a blurred image. As a result, you should always use a tripod when taking night photography. If you are not very camera savy, you probably want to use the preset modes that your camera has. In most cases, cameras have a number of preset modes (ie: backlight, overcast, fireworks, night landscape etc.), using a night landscape mode (or the similar) will allow you to get the optimum settings out of your camera for the pictures you are about to take. When taking the pictures, quickly depress the shutter and release you hand from the camera to keep an movement from your hand/body from effecting the outcome of the picture. After using your night landscape mode, you will become more comfortable taking these types of pictures; you can then experiment with your camera setting on your own to create some even cooler photos.

If the picture you took was "black," chances are that you depressed the shutter, then quickly reangled you camera towards a dark area as the camera was still taking the picture, leaving your picture looking black, or your exposure is too short. On a side note, when taking pictures of fireworks, you should always use a 4 second exposure. Adjusting your ISO and Aperature settings can allow you to shorten or lengthen that exposure time.

Taking night pictures with an extended exposure definitely make for some of my favorite photos.

*** Edited 10/12/2006 2:02:10 AM UTC by DBCP***

Just like the problem I had this week in Niagara Falls. It's surprisingly difficult to get a picture from the hotel room window of the falls lit up at night. Using my Canon Digital Elph SD300, I had to use manual shooting mode and adjust exposure to max while resting the camera on a coffee table. I found that putting it on 2 sec. timer allows me to press the shutter, then hold the camera steady on the table before it shoots. I haven't seen my pictures with my Nikon N65 yet, I hope they're as good. I do trust that light meter. I really need to buy a tripod...

According to Fujifilm's website, the slowest shutter speed available in this camera is 1/2sec. and the widest aperture is f3.0 at wide-angle. That's slow enough for blur, but probably not good enough to make distant night shots show up real good. And bear in mind that when you zoom in, that aperture will change to f4.8 at best. Like DBCP mentioned, if there is a night shooting mode, use it. By the way DBCP, what equipment are you using? Just curious.

ohh I hate taking night photos I always seem to have problems.

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Cory Marshall

MilleniumMadMan said:
By the way DBCP, what equipment are you using? Just curious.

I use both a Nikon D-100 and a Nikon Coolpix-8700. On the somewhat seldom occasion that I shoot video, I use a Cannon GL2. *** Edited 10/24/2005 5:33:50 AM UTC by DBCP***

You can also set the camera on one of the many garbage cans throughout the park and angle the camera accordingly. That's how I took the following.

http://cpguide.photosite.com/~photos/tn/190_1024.ts1119650504000.jpg

http://cpguide.photosite.com/~photos/tn/215_1024.ts1119650606000.jpg

Yeah, garbage cans are so everywhere that they make great camera supports. I also have a little mini-tripod. With my older film camera I had an infrared remote shutter release, but it doesn't work with my digital 10D. I keep meaning to pick up the cabled version, but I don't do enough night stuff to keep it on my mind.

Yeah, mini-tripods and garbage cans work very well if you don't want to carry around a full-sized tripod.

I think it was mainly because I was in a hurry running throughout the park to get on everything I wanted before the season ended. Next year I will take all of those tips into considerations. Thanks everyone.