Madrid at night and without black holes
To be able to portray a city in the dark as Brassaï did with Paris It is not something that can be achieved in a week or 15 days. But in a couple of nights yes we can hunt down a handful of great photos of the cities you visit. We propose you here three formulas easy to achieve. But we also take a look at equipment you need to take photos after twilight without much hassle.
How to photograph iconic places when everyone is asleep
Trying to take a photo in the middle of the night of a monument that is not illuminated will be very difficult for you. But if there are spotlights or artificial light on the street You can try. Especially if you have a camera that has a bright lens.
To do this you need a machine with manual controls, find a good point of view, select the aperture priority mode, choose the lowest value of all the possible ones offered by the lens, focus, hold the camera firmly so as not to transmit vibrations to it Y shoot while holding your breath -Yes, we are completely serious about that last one-.
With a good pulse and bright optics you will not be forced to use a high sensitivity. That way you will avoid the damn noise that appears when shooting night photos in automatic mode. Also, if you're lucky enough, you'll be able to do them with a speed high enough to avoid moving. Especially if your camera has optical image stabilizer (most do). In any case, to see if you have been successful, check the photo on the screen by enlarging the image. If you are not shaken you have triumphed.
If your camera lens is not bright enough you will have to use a tripod. With it you will be able to use the same sensitivity value that you use when taking photos in full sunlight. But you can also close the iris further to focus on a larger area of the image . Although it is better not to go overboard. The ideal is not to close it so much that we are forced to shoot with very long times. Well, that makes the image quality suffer. Try not to exceed 30 seconds of exposure to light if possible.
Tokyo, panoramic lights and shadows at dusk
How to pan in near darkness handheld Although it seems incredible to take panoramic night photos possible without tripod . But, as in the previous case, as long as we have a bright lens a. If you want to get a good result, you better forget to use the panoramic mode of your camera, if it has one. It usually only works well in sunlight. So we better cook our night panoramas on our own by taking several photos. Each of them must have several points in common so that we can merge them . Otherwise the application you use to create the final photo will not be able to process them. To make the different shots we will use the method that we have counted previously. Although with one important difference..
Once we have verified that the first image has sufficient quality, we must disable autofocus , switch to manual mode and do not refocus . We will also use aperture priority mode to keep the same value for all shots. We will not change the sensitivity value either. In this way we avoid differences in focus and texture between the images.
The keys to achieving a good result are that the common space that appears between shot and shot is large, that you just turn your body without moving from the place where you took the first photo and that you do not try to cover a huge area, because that can cause errors.
If we use a tripod the chances of screwing up are reduced, although it will take a little longer. When taking the shots, the tripod must remain static and you only have to turn its head carefully. Once we have the material ready, we just have to download it to the device with which we will make the panorama.
It is now when it's time to assemble that puzzle with the specialized application that we prefer. There are hundreds of them for computers, tablets and phones. We recommend that before you pack to leave practice a little in your city , because although once you achieve a good result you will see that the procedure is simpler than it seems, it is better to practice it a little.
Shoe shiners on the Boulevard du Temple in Paris
How to photograph completely empty night streets
The first photographed person in history was a Shoe shiners on the Boulevard du Temple in Paris . The photo, taken in 1838, showed that avenue deserted because the cameras of that time took several minutes to capture the light. Being that shoeshiner the only person who did not move for a long time managed to go down in history . With current equipment you will have great problems to achieve a photo like that in broad daylight without using special filters.
but at night is it possible to do something like this using a tripod . If the space you want to capture is not very crowded or there are still people in it, a shot with a time of 30 or 45 seconds will be enough. For this you must use the minimum sensitivity that your camera admits and close the diaphragm enough so that not too much light enters.
So what you have to do is frame, select the speed priority mode on the camera, adjust the time and shoot with the shot delay mode -with a couple of seconds is enough- so as not to transmit vibrations to the machine when shooting. push the button.
Samsung EX2F
The night owl photographer team
The layman usually thinks that the only remedy to beat the darkness with the camera is to activate the flash. But without a professional lighting system we will only be able to make a portrait in which the background is barely visible . To avoid such a thing, those who know their machine a little better increase the light sensitivity value.
The problem with this method is that although the result may look good on the camera screen, the disappointment comes when you see the photo on the computer or printed on paper. That is when it is discovered that the image has much less definition than the ones we shot during the day.
there is no better ally To prevent these two things from happening to you, you have to have a bright lens at hand. . The problem is that most compact cameras have lenses that falter in this aspect, something that also happens to the optics that come standard on SLRs. So if you still don't have a team or you plan to renew it, focus on choosing the optics well before buying. The important thing is that you look at its maximum diaphragm opening.
the new Samsung EX2F and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7 They are the compact cameras with the brightest lenses of the moment, since their maximum diaphragm opening is f/1.4 . That means that both machines capture about four times more light than another with a standard lens - a value around f / 2.8 is usually normal.
In the tests we have done with the Samsung EX2F we have verified that with a little pulse it manages to take surprisingly sharp photos at night. Especially since we have been able to choose a sensitivity low enough not to lose detail.
If you are one of those who use an interchangeable lens camera then you may be interested in objectives such as the Panasonic Lumix GX Vario 12-35mm f/2.8 ASPH . Although its brightness is lower than that of the camera lenses just mentioned, the lens maintains its maximum aperture value at all its focal lengths.
To this we must add that it is designed for cameras Panasonic and Olympus -with sensors as large as those of a SLR-. These allow raising the sensitivity beyond what is recommended in a compact camera without achieving poorly defined photos.
The other essential ingredient for night photography is the tripod. Since we know that it is terrible to have to carry it when we travel, it is best to find a small and light one . The Tanrac ** ZipShot Mini ** model weighs 255 grams, measures 23 centimeters folded, 71 cm unfolded and is capable of supporting even the weight of a SLR. If you are not convinced or you are looking for something very cheap, we recommend taking a look at those sold at ** Deal Extreme **. There you will even find some models for mobile phones at ridiculous prices.