Sep 11
23
Beat the Heat With Night Photography
This weekend’s photography tip will help with an alternative to shooting under our late Summer heat & humidity. I like to get out at night for photography in downtown Naples and you can too wherever you live. Sound interesting? Here are techniques you can use to dodge the sun & take great pictures at night:
Beat the Heat by learning the basics of night photography. 5th Ave Naples photo by Gordon Campbell www.swfloutdoorphotography.com.
Long Exposures
Learn to operate your camera in Shutter Priority mode and you can experiment with everything from long exposures of things like local piers where the water will take on a smoky look to more urban scenes where you’ll paint the foreground with red & white ribbons of light from the cars that go by. The whole trick is to compose well then let the camera do the magic. Tip: reduce your ISO to its minimum, use a tripod and a remote shutter release or self timer. Get creative.
Sharp Well Lit Subjects
Let’s sat there’s a bridge like by Cape Coral, Marco or Sanibel and you’d like a sharp night time shot accented by the surrounding light. I’d now switch to Aperture Priority and close down to f11 or so thereby gaining lots of depth of field while letting the camera calculate the speed. Same routine when you execute the shot- minimum ISO, a steady rest & no shutter vibration. Tell me where you’d set up such a shot in Southwest Florida!
Blurry & Sharp
Perhaps my favorite night time set up is to choose an attractive background to focus on for razor sharpness and clarity, usually in Aperture Priority mode to get that desired depth of field then blur a fountain or other water source in the foreground- the results can be striking like the shot here on 5th Ave in Naples.
This is a class I regularly teach often in conjunction with my friend Peggy Farren of Photography Naples. Contact me if you’d like to learn more about great photos after the sun & the thermometer go down.. If you try yourself, let’s hear how it went… Gordon.
Professional Photography from Ft. Meyers & Sanibel to Naples, Marco Island and the Everglades.
gordon@SWFLOutdoorPhotography.com
239-776-4743
copyright 2011 Gordon Campbell/Southwest Florida Outdoor Photography.
Are you interested in taking pictures in SWFL, looking for ideal locations and scenes for your next personal, group or business shoot? This e-book presents The Images of SWFL and beyond!