Night Photography is one of my favorite things to do besides [tag]wedding[/tag] photography. Every once in a while one needs a departure from doing the same type of photography.  It’s taught me a plethora about how to see light. In a way with night photography, the outdoors is your studio.

Titled, “Plastic Knife Fight.” Copyright Chris J. Lee 2007.

So I thought I’d share some tips.

1. Be Careful - Make sure you bring a friend with you. Your safety is very important.  It’s dark, you’re carrying expensive equipment and it’d be easy to just get your things stolen.  Also, never leave your camera unattended. If you can try to have a car around for your get-away. So you could run like a ninja. Hey, I’m a wuss I get scared easily. If you run into cops it might be useful to bring your business card too & always have a cell phone on you.
2. Bring a flashlight - When you’re doing night photography you can always add light to the scene. This can be helpful if the foreground is really dark. If its cold make sure you bring several flashlights. I’ll explain at number 9.
3. Keep warm - Usually it’s colder at night. Make sure you have some way of keeping warm. It’s not an issue in the summer but in the winter I’ve faced some harsh conditions. I’d definately suggest getting gloves. If you do get gloves make sure you’re able to push buttons with your gloves on.
4. Check the scene first - Shoot at 3200 ISO and a faster shutter speed before deciding to commit to a 10-20 minute exposure. This way you can check the frame.
5. Use a Tripod - If you’re going to use a long exposure make sure you have a secure tripod. It might even help to gaffer tape it up. I love my Bogen Manfrotto Tripod.
6. Take multiple exposures - If your camera has a bracketing try to bracket your properly exposed photo. Expose for the highlights then shadows and then use multiple layers to create one photo in photoshop. This way you don’t blow the highlights out of light sources.
7. Turn on noise reduction - On Nikon and Canon cameras there are  functions that turn on noise reduction for long exposures. Usually with long exposures, areas where the scenes are dark but continue to be exposed will add more noise. But beware usually the photos will
8. Shoot in raw - I guess this is very debatable on your workflow. But I love using raw because I can change the white balance in scenes where you will not know what the color temperature of the photo. Mixed lighting is very common in more urban scenes. Plus the file size provides you the ability to print very large prints.
9. Bring extras - Bring extra batteries. When it’s cold the batteries for your camera and flashlight usually drain much faster. I suggest using a crank flashlight. Those are helpful when you’re in a jam and can’t find batteries for your flash light. Also bring extra compact flash cards if you’re shooting raw. Sucks when you have a great shot but
10. Start shooting at sunset - Usually if you want really  super blue skies the best time to do it is right after the sun gets down. See below photo. This was shot right before sunset when the skies were orangish. Thats at least what my photo professor told me.