8

CHAPTER
NIGHT AND LOW-LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY / City Lights

The key is to get a good middle starting point,

then get a series of exposures that purposely over-

and underexpose that middle exposure. The way

to do this is to set the camera to aperture priority

mode and the metering to matrix metering. Once

you have the exposure that you want, adjust the

settings to a –3 exposure and take a shot, then –2

and take a shot, then –1, and so on until you

have seven images. Then create an HDR image

using one of the software packages available. In

Figure 8-16, I used Nik Software’s HDR Efex Pro

to create the final image from the seven expo-

sures that I took of the sign.

darker. So, I took shots of the building using
both methods so I could decide which one I liked
better later.

HDR

Photographing neon signs offers a great opportu-
nity to use High Dynamic Range photo processing,
called HDR. By taking a series of exposures and
combining them into one, you can get both the
neon and the surrounding areas in the same expo-
sure without over- or underexposing either. The
only problem is that the image might start to take
on a fake look if the processing is pushed too far.

ABOUT THIS PHOTO A local Mexican fast-food restaurant. Taken 1/250 second, f/2.8, and ISO 1600.

8-15

HDR is covered in more detail in

Chapter 2.

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