Camera College
The complete guide to modern photography
Marcus Hawkins
Photo challenge!
You could win a copy of Affinity Photo See page 77
Photographer and writer Marcus is a former editor of Digital Camera
You’ll need a tripod to take advantage of long, smooth exposures (15 sec in the main shot, versus 1/13 sec
Explore the art of night photography
Don’t let the shorter days of winter get you down – there are plenty of subjects that look great when they’re captured in the glow of twilight…
Daylight hours might be in short supply at this time of year, but there are plenty of opportunities to get creative with your camera after dark. Night photography is a little more technically demanding, of course, but it does allow you to show the world in a whole new light (whether that’s from the moon, a street lamp or your camera flash).
The most challenging aspect of shooting at night is exposure. There are lots of elements to juggle in order to get sharp, clean images. The camera’s shutter may need to be open for multiple seconds rather than fractions of them, in order to record an image. When you’re exposing a photo in the dark, you have some options. If you’re shooting in a town or a city where there’s plenty of ambient light, you’ll probably be able to stick with a semi-automatic shooting mode, such as Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority or Program. You can also use Manual for full control; if the shutter speed required to make an exposure is 30 seconds or less, the camera’s light meter will continue to function.