Night Photos and Nighttime Photography

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nightscape photo of Carcassonne Castle at night

Carcassonne Castle At Night #6780
See more photos at Carcassonne, France Photos.

Annecy at Night #6235
This is a nightscape photo of Annecy, France
See more photos at Annecy, France Photos.

Carcassonne Castle at Night #6790

This is a photo taken in Ottawa, Canada at sunset.

nighttime photo of the Ottawa, Canada skyline after dark

Skyline #2986
This is a partial view Ottawa's riverfront skyline as seen at dusk from one of the parks along the Ottawa Riverfront. See more photos at Ottawa, Canada Photos.

sunset photo of buildings in Gattineau with lights

reflected in the Ottawa River

Sunset Reflections #2995
This building in Gattineau is reflecting the sun at sunset as seen from the Ottawa Riverfront on the Ottawa side of the river.

sunset photo of a building reflecting an orange sky

Building in Sunset #2997

Carcassonne Castle at Night #6802
Carcassonne Castle is a beautiful sight both day and night.

Bridge in Lagrasse, France #7052
This is a photo of the Lagrasse, France bridge. See more photos at Lagrasse, France Photos.

First, remember that the camera's light meter is designed to provide exposure for 18% gray. This means that any scene darker than an average - for example, a typical nighttime scene - will yield an overexposed photo if using the camera's meter. The camera wants to convert that dark scene to a lighter "18% gray". So, not only will a night scene be overexposed when photographing it using a typical light meter, but the point sources of lights - such as lights on buildings - will also be overexposed to the point of being totally burnt out. The solution to this problem is to use the light meter to measure exposure and then shoot the scene with exposure compensation or set the camera to manual exposure and underexpose the scene relative to the meter reading. For a dark night scene, try starting with two full f-stops less exposure and adjust accordingly from there. For good night time photos, keep your ASA setting low. To accomodate the necessarily long shutter speeds, a tripod is a must. This, of course, means that any moving objects in the photo will be blurred. To prevent camera motion during long exposures, we recommend using a remote shutter release. Further camera stability can be achieved by exposures that use the camera's mirror lockup function.

I have a small, but growing collection of nightscape photos. Nightshots of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Las Vegas, Nevada, Cusco, Peru and Detroit, Michigan are available. I also have sunset photos of Joshua Tree National Park, Lake Michigan, and Cairo, Egypt. Return to this page again to see new phots as they are added.

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Robert Stephens
TheWorldinLight Photographic Gallery

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All photographs are the property of Robert Stephens and TheWorldinLight Photographic Gallery. Unauthorized reproduction or use is prohibited by US copyright law.