10

CHAPTER
NIGHT AND LOW-LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY / Low-Light Landscapes

ABOUT THIS PHOTO The tuna boats were docked, and thanks to a very still night, they could be captured in low light without the boats
moving. Taken at 131 seconds, f/22, and ISO 400.

10-12

You can use equivalent exposures to determine
what your setting should be by first setting your
camera to get the shot in as little time as possible.
Then you can adjust the exposure settings to get
the final values, and take the photo with a little
more confidence that it will come out as you want
it to. I have always loved photographing at the
beach, even at night. This lifeguard hut in Figure
10-13 sits unused, as this image was taken at 9:30
pm on a moonless night, even though the color
and exposure make it look like it was taken in the
morning hours. The image was color corrected to
make the sand look natural.

There is still a fair amount of guesswork to be

done because there is no reliable way to meter a

scene to get this result. The idea here is to make

sure that the night sky no longer looks like the

night sky. Settings will change as the moon waxes

and wanes and with the amount of light pollution

in the image. The steps to get an approximate

exposure are as follows:

1. Set the aperture as wide as possible.


2. Set the ISO as high as possible.