Once upon a time, taking pictures at night meant that you absolutely had to have a flash; if you didn't use a flash, you definitely needed a tripod. Back then (oh, sometime in the last millennium), the standard film speed was ISO 100. Fast black-and-white (B&W) film (400 ASA) appeared on the scene in the 1950s, and 400-speed film hit the market in the mid-1970s. Those faster films certainly helped with low-light and night photography exposure needs, as did even faster films that followed.

To photograph at night with a film camera and then scan the negatives, positives, or prints later, you should use film with an ISO rating of 400 or higher. If you set your camera to a low film speed (say ISO 100) or load it with 100 B&W/color film, you will get handheld blur when shooting at night, no matter how steady you are.

Figure 10-7 shows a pair of neon signs. The top image was taken with ISO 200 film. Because of the longer shutter speed required by the slow film, the image is somewhat blurry — an error that would put off many potential buyers. In comparison, the neon sign on the bottom was shot with a faster film — ISO 400 — resulting in a clearer shot.

Figure 10-7. Use higher ISOs at night to eliminate blur when you're not using a tripod.

Because buildings, gates, and bridges are usually well lit (and dramatically lit, too), they offer some great opportunities to shoot without a flash, as you can see from Figure 10-8.

Figure 10-8. Get handheld shots with no blur when ISO is set to 1600.

Figure 10-9. Use available nighttime light.

As dusk approaches nightfall and you find yourself losing light quickly, you'll have to reset your camera at some point because the auto modes don't do all that well with variable light, like the light you get at night. You also need to watch out for surrounding light sources — flood lights, street lights, and car lights.

Here are the basic exposure controls on your camera that can help you successfully shoot at night:

Night dreaming

Folks like art that takes them to a different place and time. Night photos can change a viewer's mood, perhaps even transport the viewer to an anywhere-but-here mentality. Okay, so it's not nighttime in Paris everywhere in the world, but when people look at a picture of nighttime in Paris, their thoughts can drift to being somewhere else, perhaps sipping coffee in a café in Paris at night. If Paris isn't someone's idea of a nice place to be, try Rome, New York City, or a late-night stroll in a plaza in Venice, as shown here.

To be able to exploit wider aperture settings when shooting at night, pull out the fast film or set your digital camera to a fast ISO speed. Fast film and/or high ISO settings on your digital camera let you take night pictures without using your flash, which means you get more of the natural light from the surroundings in your picture.

Figure 10-11. Top: Clear image shot at low ISO. Bottom: Detail is lost at high ISO.

For a cool, grainy, mysterious effect, choose a setting above ISO 800 on your digital camera. Anything grainy, smoky, and/or empty (like empty chairs or shots with no subjects or one subject alone) will create a feeling of isolation, long considered a mainstay of humanity in many works in the art world. (For more about ideas for interesting photos, see Chapter 4.) As of this writing, Canon has a dSLR that you can crank the ISO up to 3200 (wow). See in Figure 10-12 how using a high ISO (1600 for this shot) introduces some artsy noise, which makes the picture more grainy and adds to the isolated effect.

Figure 10-12. Use a high ISO for intentional noise.

So when's the right time to use your flash at night for art photos? My advice: Take advantage of your flash only when you are capturing objects close-up.

Figure 10-13 shows that a flash was used to take pictures (really portraits) of Tikis in Honolulu. There was little light around for this shot so the flash provided almost all the Tikis' illumination. Sure, it's harsh light — bright and concentrated — but it can be a helpful art photo creation tool, creating a pretty cool effect, especially on the Tikis, which are made to look a little sinister in this instance.

Figure 10-13. Use harsh flash for an effect.

Here's another great way to be creative when shooting at night with a flash. You know those wretched red and green demon eyes you get when shooting people and animals with a flash? Take advantage of those night eyes and be aware of opportunities to capture animals of the night, like owls, frogs, or a cat on the prowl, as shown in Figure 10-14. (If your backyard is a bit short of wildlife, check out your local zoo.)

Figure 10-14. Sometimes green-eye is good.

Anything lit from beneath shows drama. If motion is involved, so much the better because your longer shutter speeds will exaggerate the motion to create some nifty other-worldly effects. Look for fountains as good examples of this, as in Figure 10-15. And don't forget how well lighted fountains photograph in B&W, too; read about B&W photography in Chapter 9.

Figure 10-15. Shoot fountains lit at night.

Here's a subject that's available most nights: the moon. Sure, it might hide beneath a cloud or change size, but photographing the moon — especially when it plays with the tiny droplets of water vapor illuminated by the clouds, as in Figure 10-16 — can provide you with some pretty stellar shots. (Get it, stellar?) If you can capture the moon reflecting off water or turn it slightly blue in Photoshop (more about that in Chapter 15) or by attaching a color filter to your camera (more about that in Chapter 11), you're on your way to a money shot.

Figure 10-16. Capture the (blue) moon with your own style.

How much light does a full moon give? Not a lot. A handheld digital camera exposure when shooting the moon will have blur unless

Figure 10-17 shows two shots of the moon — one at ISO 400, which is a fairly fast film speed but still not fast enough to eliminate the blur from the moon high in the sky with minimal ambient lighting from a few neon signs. The second shot shows the moon captured with better sharpness (photo courtesy of NOAA).

Figure 10-17. The moon clear and not-so-clear depends on how you shoot it.

Landscapes at night offer a different take on a standard shot, as shown in Figure 10-18. For sharp nighttime landscapes, experiment with the higher aperture range that your digital camera offers: that is, f/16 or f/22. Don't forget to make the moon your ally when shooting at night, too, both for the light it provides as well as being an important element when composing your shot.

Figure 10-18. The moon is your friend when it comes to composing shots at night.

If you want a clear shot without graininess in your image, bring along a small tripod when you're shooting at night. Think of this three-legged beast as your assistant who holds your camera steady so you get no blur.

Always look for water where there are lights. Water, with its inherent reflectivity, gives you a double chance to show off the beauty of the night, as in Figure 10-19. This amusement park ride delights twice over: once with its bright neon lights and again with its water reflection.

Figure 10-19. Show off the night with reflections.

Shadows at night can be harsh and egregious, making for a good opportunity to create a study in lines and patterns. Look for lit wrought iron gates and fences or heavily backlit scenes like in the left image of Figure 10-20. Look for weather nighttime opportunities, too. For example, get out and shoot at night (with ambient light, like from a streetlamp) when it's snowing — you'll get some great blur, especially when using slower shutter speeds. Lightning at night is very dramatic (see the right image of Figure 10-20), but I'm not encouraging you to put yourself in harm's way.

Figure 10-20. Strong shadows and lightning at night provide great photo ops.