1st lesson The Art of Night Photography, George Brown College, summer 2012

1. Night and Low Light
Photography
Teacher
Paul Ti l l

2. Course Outcomes
31. Pre-visualize a photograph
with multiple light sources at night
after learning, from their own
experience gained during the field
trips, what does and doesn’t work
with night photography.

3. Course Outcomes
32. Choose exciting locations
based on their gained knowledge
of the vast subject matter suitable
for night work.
33. Use photographic equipment
at night with confidence.

4. Course Outcomes
34. Work with fundamental night
flash techniques such as rear
curtain and slow exposure flash
35. Choose the proper ISO,
exposure time, and aperture to
create the image of choice, leading
to an individual style and working
method.

5. Course Outcomes
36. Understand their toolbox and
what is available to help them for
night and low light photography eg
Image Stabilization and the very
high ISO ratings available. Be able
to make appropriate equipment
choices based on knowing the
state of the art as it stand right
now.

6. How is night different
from day
3 Less Light
3 Different directions of light
3 Mixed light (different colours)
3 And perhaps most important
of all…

7. HIGH CONTRAST
3 Often (but not always)
3 Brighter highlights
3 Darker shadows
3 Light sources in photo

8. So less light means
3 Slower shutter speeds (keep
those hands steady)
3 Wider apertures (careful
you’ve got it in focus)
3 Higher ISOs (could be lots of
noise and sometimes it’s not
as nice as film grain)

9. Shutter Speeds
The briefer the exposure the
less the..
3 blurring from subject motion
and
3 the blurring from our shakey
hands

10. The longer the focal length of
the lens
3 The more problem our shakey
hands cause

11. Hand held exposures
3 For Dx sensors
1/(focal legnthX1.5)=exposure time
Example 1/(200mmX1.5)=1/300
second
For full frame sensors
1/focal legnth)=exposure time
Example 1/200mm=1/200 second

12. But VR (vubration
reduction)
3 Will allow you to hand hold for
2-4 times as long
3For a full frame camera with a
200mm lens 1/100 sec to
1/50sec
3Doesn’t do a thing for subject
motion

13. Stopping Motion
3 1/10000 will stop streaming water into individual drops
3 1/8000 will stop most any motion
3 1/4000 high enough speed to take pictures while walking/
and freeze baseballs ie. 90mph
3 1/2000 will stop most motion
3 1/1000 will stop bicyclists and runners
3 1/500 will freeze a person jumping in the air ie. basketball
3 1/250 will stop some motion

14. Stopping Motion
3 A good guide but it depends on
how close to you are to the object.
3 The closer it is the faster it goes
3 (It’s about degrees per second not
k.p.h.)

15. Techniques for holding
camera steady.
3 Stop
3 Hold camera with both hands
3 Breath out and squeeze the shutter
release
3 Brace hands and body against solid
object
3 Put camera against solid object
3 A tripod

16. Surpise Quiz
3 The faster some thing goes
3 The longer the shutter speed(slow
shutter speed)
3 The shorter the shutter speed(fast
shutter speed)

17. F stops start making
sense
3 F stops
3 Are fractions.
3 f 2 is really1/2 and f4 is really 1/4
3 That’s why f 4 is a smaller hole than f 2
3 But the bigger the number the bigger
the depth of field

18. ISO
3 400 ISO is twice as sensitive as
200 ISO
3 But the bigger the ISO the bigger
the noise
3 And the less the resolution

19. So different colours of
light mean
3 Do I set the colour temperature or
let the camera do it’s auto thing
3 The colour is probably going to be
weird in a part of the picture
3 Maybe I can fix it in the
computer….
3 There is a answer but first

20. High contrast means
3 Might clip the highlights(do it
as little as you can really just
for bright lights in the picture)
3 I think it’s better to clip the
shadows(we’re used to not
seeing really dark things)

21. Expose for the
highlights
3 Check the histogram
3 And

22. SHOOT RAW
3 Keeps every bit of goodness
the sensor caught
and

23. And
3 And bracket
3 If it’s a static subject we can do a
HDR (high dynamic range) photo-
a photograph which is made up of
the two or more different
exposures of the same subject.

24. What do we photograph
at night
3 Well um, night
3 The way things look at night
(maybe things we don’t usually
think of as night photography
subjects-flowers, swimming pools,
birds, statues, parks,
supermarkets, rain, thunderstorms,
ice cream (my daughter Alice’s
idea)

25. Things we make
happen at night
Light trails, light painting,
multiple flash, long exposures,
the motion of things

26. And things that mostly
happen at night
3 Live concerts
3 Buskers
3 Sports
3 CNE and Theme parks
3 Neon
3 Restuarants and Clubs

27. Night of Dread
3 The annual Hallowe’en parade
from Dufferin Grove Park

41. Winter Panoramas
Illustrating some very mixed
light sources

50. Live Music
3 Illustrating the challenges and
charms of different venues