Beginner’s Guide to Nightscape Photography

Beginner’s Guide to Nightscape Photography

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Beginner’s Guide to Nightscape Photography

Known as the “Pearl of the Orient”, Hong Kong has one of the most beautiful city nightscape in the world! To many photo beginners, nightscape photography is a rather difficult topic to master. Check out this article for a complete beginner’s guide covering tips on camera settings, shooting methods and choices of equipment that will help you capture stunning nightscape photos with ease!

Camera Settings

Shutter Speed

Same as photographing in daytime, when we use a low ISO setting, a slower shutter speed is required in order to let in more light to the lens. When this is the case, shooting with a tripod and shutter release cable will help eliminate any camera shake that may cause a blurry image. Set the shutter speed according to the ambient brightness, which may range from several seconds to several minutes. Photographer can also specify a shutter speed to use and adjust other settings accordingly to achieve the optimal result.

Use of a slow-speed shutter in nightscape photography can achieve some special effect sometimes. For example, nighttime photo that captures the light trails of vehicles adds an interesting dimension to the shot.
Capturing light trails with slow-speed shutter
When photographing nightscape with water reflection, a slow shutter speed can create motion blur that smoothes out the water surface

ISO Setting

Although the environment is dark when taking nightscape photos, a low ISO setting is recommended (such as ISO 100). Extend the exposure time to create high quality photos with minimal noise.

Aperture

A larger aperture brings shallower depth of field – i.e. there are fewer sharp areas in an image, and vice versa. When taking photos of distant landscape without any foreground element, set the focus to infinity and the depth of field is no longer a problem. In general, we use an aperture of around f/8-f/11 to avoid vignette on the corners resulting from a large aperture while maintaining sharpness which will otherwise be lost if a small aperture is used.


White Balance

When taking photos of city nightscape, due to the mixed and changing light sources, it is hard to determine what is the “correct” white balance to use. To think oppositely, we can make use of the characteristics of white balance as an element for creation. A low color temperature will add a bluish hue to the image, conveying a sense of modernism and coolness. Conversely, a high color temperature will add a yellowish hue to the image and give it a splendid touch. Shooting in RAW format will give us the freedom to adjust to the ideal color hue during post-editing.
A color temperature of 4148K gives the image a bluish hue and a modern feeling
A color temperature of 14509K gives the image a yellowish hue and a splendid feeling

Focusing Method

Use of the camera’s Live View Mode is suggested as we can enlarge the image to check if an accurate focus is achieved. Besides, after setting the AF to infinity, we can turn off the AF (i.e. switching to Manual focus) to lock the focus point so that we do not have to re-focus every time we take a photo. To play safe, you should also check the images taken form time to time to ensure accurate focusing.

Aiding Equipment

Choices of Tripod

A rigid tripod is necessary when it comes to nightscape photography. Pay attention to the number of sections, height and material when selecting a tripod. Tripod with more sections is easier to store but is relatively unstable due to the larger number of movable parts.

The optimal height for a tripod is one that reaches the photographer’s eye level at its maximum (excluding the central pole) so that the photographer do not have to bend down to see the viewfinder to ensure comfort. When taking photos of distant scenery, whether the central pole is lifted up or not do not affect the composition much. A lifted up pole, however, will adversely affect the stability of the tripod instead. Therefore, some tripods dedicated for landscape use do not even have a central pole and can be made lighter.

As far as material is concerned, tripods made with aluminum and carbon fiber are two common types available in the market and each has its own pros and cons. The former is cheaper in price, easier to open and close but heavy; while the latter is more expensive, lightweight and easy to carry around. To give the tripod extra stability, we can hang some heavy objects to the hook attached. Find a tripod that works perfect for you based on your shooting preference and budget.

Other Accessories

Very often we find ourselves in the dark outdoor or countryside when taking photos of nightscape. Thus a headlamp is strongly recommended. It not only can help light up the path in the dark (especially on your return journey), but also a handy tool to aid focusing when taking close-up subjects. A headlamp is better than a torch for it can free both of your hands for shooting or other activities.

Recommended Shooting Locations

The Victoria Harbour is for sure the most famous location for nightscape photography in Hong Kong. In addition to this, there are many locations that offer stunning and special night views as well. Below are some nightscape shots taken at various places in Hong Kong. Enjoy and plan ahead for your next nightscape photo trip!
Devil’s Peak – facing Victoria Harbour
Devil’s Peak – facing Kai Tak Cruise Terminal
Devil’s Peak – facing Chai Wan
Oscar by the Sea, Tseung Kwan O
Braemar Hill – facing Victoria Harbour
The clock tower, Tsim Sha Tsui
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