Creating night photography compositions can be very satisfying. Whether on a warm summer evening, or a winter night when the chill makes all the lights twinkle, taking photos at night is fun, and an excellent way to explore the capabilities of a camera. All that is required is a sturdy tripod and patience.

Taking photos at night requires a bit more planning than in the day time. Shooting at night takes more time, and invariably more fiddling with the camera. Moreover, the subject has to be right. The photographer needs to decide how to compose the image with the light available, determine which areas of the composition are the brightest, how to balance the light by placing the camera in such a way as to create an image that has the right mood, and feel.

Night photos with a point and shoot

While the ability to capture images at night is usually available with more advanced cameras that provide a way to control the length of time the shutter remains open, some cameras provide a "night scene" mode that also has some possibilities, as long as the photographer pays close attention to setting the camera properly.

In most cases, the night scene mode available on point and shoot cameras is intended to capture photos of people standing in front of a city skyline at night. To achieve this, most night scene modes will automatically set the flash to a slow synch which leaves the shutter open for a short while after the flash has fired and use some form of red eye reduction. For a night landscape, the flash needs to be turned off. With night scene modes when the flash is turned off, the exposure time available to the camera may extend, depending on the camera model, into a range covering from 2 to 8 seconds. With these types of cameras, although the camera remains in charge of deciding the aperture and the shutter speed, a couple of other controls are probably available to the user.

The need to control focus in night photography

The Auto focus system of many point and shoot cameras can have a problem focusing under low light. In this situation, some models will default to infinity focus, but not all. However, if the camera has a landscape mode (effectively an infinity focus) that can be used concurrently with the night scene mode, obtaining a correct focus should be possible.

The need to control exposure in night photography

The fact that the camera automatically selects the shutter speed precludes any type of control over the length of the exposure, generally the most critical element for night photography. In addition, fully automatic cameras tend to under estimate the length of time the shutter should remain open during night shots, as the accuracy of their metering is not as good under low light as it is during the day. Often, the resulting photos can be quite dark, as in the example shown at right.

Auto Exposure, 2 seconds at f2.8

Two alternatives are generally available to increase the brightness of the image with point and shoot cameras. The first is to increase the sensitivity of the sensor.

Pushing the camera to 200 ISO will, for the same exposure time, produce a brighter and more interesting image. A further boost to 400 ISO would also increase the brightness, but will also introduce more noise into the image. Since different cameras will respond differently to increases in sensitivity, experimentation will be necessary.

Auto Exposure, 2 seconds at f2.8 and 200 ISO.

A word of caution is in order here. Some camera models preclude changing the ISO in the night scene mode to ensure that noise is kept down. A check of the user manual should help determine what is possible.

The second way the image can be brightened a bit is by increasing the exposure compensation, but the effect tends to be subtle. Setting a compensation of +1EV, or even more, under these conditions can force the automatic exposure system of the camera to use the slowest shutter speed.

The need to control color within night photography

At night, the primary source of light is usually the surrounding incandescent lighting. Setting the camera's white balance to that particular setting tends to reproduce the colours of the lights more accurately.

Auto White Balance	Incandescent White Balance

As can be seen in the images above, the Auto white balance will normally produce warmer colours, and incandescent, cooler colours. It remains however, a matter of personal taste.

Still, it should be understood that the majority of point and shoot cameras have a limited capability to take shots at night, and that models that have a few additional capabilities will generally produce better photos.

A full feature camera is best within the night photography universe:

To take night photos, the camera should have a shutter speed range that extends to a minimum of 15 seconds, and provide control over it. It should also be able to capture noise-free images at 100 ISO or below, and produce images with only minimal noise at 200 ISO. In addition, the camera should also be equipped with a noise reduction system, either automatically engaged below a set shutter speed, or manually selected, which will process the image to eliminate as much of the noise as possible.

As with many things in photography, some guidelines can be offered to take night shots, but much of the results will depend on the camera being used, and the subject being photographed. What follows are some suggestions for settings that we have found to work well with a number of cameras.

Because taking night photos is fairly time-consuming, and the opportunity time, weather, etc. may not present itself very often, it is a good strategy to capture multiple shots using a variety of camera settings.

First the Program mode should be avoided. Program modes, even those of cameras with advanced metering systems and which offer multiple shooting modes will usually produce similar results with night photos as those of simpler point and shoot. Most program modes are designed for day time use, or for flash. So the best results will be obtained with either the Manual shooting mode, or the Shutter priority (S), also called Time Value (Tv), modes.
Shooting a series of photos is better than just one

In the images below, we start with a specific aperture, in this case the brightest the camera has to offer and a 50 ISO sensitivity which is the least prone to noise, and progressively increase the exposure time with each shot.

4 seconds, 50 ISO.	8 seconds, 50 ISO.

15 seconds, 50 ISO.	30 seconds, 50 ISO.

Working methodically, it is possible to find the best image: the one that both captures the subject and fits the taste of the photographer.

If the camera offers the possibility of very long exposure times, an additional series of photos should be captured, but this time at a much smaller aperture.

60 seconds, 50 ISO.

Generally, using apertures such as f8 or f10, will produce a better image when the focus is set to infinity. The image will have better edge to edge sharpness than it would at a wider aperture.

Assuming the camera is capable of long exposures with a small aperture, an additional series of images should be captured as shown above, but with much longer exposure times, starting with 5 seconds, then 15 , 30 seconds, 1 minute and 1.5 minutes if the ISO is relatively low. (At a higher ISO value, the time for each exposure can be shortened.) A Bulb mode is practical for this and each shot can be timed with a watch.

Exposure: 1 minute at f8 and 50 ISO.

However, while the use of a small aperture is desirable for landscape photos, be it at night or during the day, the reality is that most compact digital cameras have limited maximum exposure times which often precludes this choice as a smaller aperture requires a much longer exposure time.

A final note. The LCD screen should not be relied on at night to judge the true brightness of the image. The LCD screen is back lit and therefore always presents a brighter image than has actually been captured. Moreover, at night, when the eyes become accustomed to a dimly lit environment, the image on the screen can appear to be even brighter, and in turn become even more misleading. Indeed, if possible, the screen's brightness should be turned down when the camera is used at night.

As always, the only sure way to determine what works best for a given camera is to experiment, learn from the experience, and have fun while experimenting.