Night Photography

Night Photography

Released October 2012
Publisher(s): Focal Press
ISBN: 9781136097256

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Book description

Night photographers have one big thing in common: a true love of the dark. Rather than looking at night photography as an extension of daytime shooting with added complications, they embrace the unique challenges of nocturnal photography for the tremendous wealth of creative opportunities it offers. That's just what this book does. But if the idea of setting out into the deep, dark night with just your camera (and maybe a cup of coffee) gets your creative juices flowing, dive right in. Lance Keimig, one of the premier experts on night photography, has put together a comprehensive reference that will show you ways to capture images you never thought possible. If you have some experience with photography and have always wanted to try shooting at night, you'll learn the basics for film or digital shooting. If you're already a seasoned pro, you'll learn to use sophisticated techniques such as light painting and drawing, stacking images to create long star trails, and more. A chapter on the history of night photography describes the materials and processes that made night photography possible, and introduces the photographers who have defined night photography as an artistic medium. A chapter on how to use popular software packages such as Lightroom and Photoshop specifically with night time shots shows you how to make the final adjustments to your nocturnal creations. In this book you'll find history, theory, and lots of practical instruction on technique, all illustrated with clear, concise examples, diagrams and charts that reinforce the text, and inspiring color and black and white images from the author and other luminaries in the field, including Scott Martin, Dan Burkholder, Tom Paiva, Troy Paiva, Christian Waeber, Jens Warnecke and Cenci Goepel, with Foreword by Steve Harper.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Halftitle
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. Steve Harper: Foreword
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. Contributor Biographies
  9. Introduction: Why Night Photography?
  10. 1. The History of Night Photography: From Daguerreotype to Digital
  11. 2. Night Photography Equipment
    1. Camera Choice
    2. Lenses
    3. Tripods
    4. Cable or Remote Releases
    5. Lens Shades and Flare Blocking Devices
    6. Other Equipment Basics
    7. Dressing for Night Photography
    8. Guest Contributor Troy Paiva: Access and Permission
  12. 3. The Basics of Night Photography
    1. Many Variables
    2. Being Prepared
    3. Composition and Subject Matter
    4. Composing and Focusing
    5. A Constant Aperture
    6. Hyperfocal Focusing
    7. Contrast and Dynamic Range
    8. Light Sources and Color Temperature
    9. Weather
    10. Flare
  13. 4. Film-Based Night Photography
    1. Film Types
    2. Reciprocity Failure
    3. Which Film to Use?
    4. Determining Exposure
    5. A Frame of Reference for Bracketing
    6. Black and White Film
    7. Controlling Contrast Through Exposure and Development
    8. Divided Developers
    9. Guest Contributor Tom Paiva: Large Format Color Film at Night
  14. 5. Digital Capture
    1. Optimal Exposure
    2. The Camera Sensor
    3. Histograms
    4. The Flashing Highlight Indicator
    5. Dynamic Range
    6. Expose to the Right
    7. Set Image Quality to RAW
    8. Native ISO Settings
    9. White Balance
    10. Minimizing Noise at the Source
    11. Long-Exposure Noise Reduction
    12. High-ISO Noise Reduction
    13. Highlight Tone Priority, Auto Lighting Optimizer, D-Lighting, and Picture Styles
    14. Other Camera Settings
    15. Camera Settings for Night Photography
    16. Summary
    17. Guest Contributor Christian Waeber: What If It Moves?
  15. 6. Night Photography Imaging Workflow
    1. Basic WorkFlow Procedure
    2. Memory Cards, Backups, DNG, and Keywords
    3. Adobe Lightroom for RAW File Development
    4. RAW Processing Procedure
  16. 7. High Dynamic Range Imaging
    1. Guest Contributor Christian Waeber: Basic HDR with Manual Layer Blending
    2. HDR with Enfuse
    3. Summary
  17. 8. Moonlight and Star Trails
    1. The Changing Nature of Moonlight
    2. Determining Exposure
    3. Photographing the Full Moon
    4. Photographing by the Light of the Moon
    5. High-ISO Exposure Testing
    6. Star Trails versus Star Points
    7. Stacking Images for Longer Star Trails
    8. Using Dark Frame Subtraction
  18. 9. Light Painting
    1. What is Light Painting?
    2. Light Painting and Exposure
    3. High-ISO Testing and Light Painting
    4. Determining How Much Light to Add
    5. Guest Contributor Cenci Goepel and Jens Warnecke: All That Shines
    6. Color
    7. Guest Contributor Scott Martin: In the Absence of Light
  19. References
  20. Resources
  21. Subject Index

Product information

  • Title: Night Photography
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: October 2012
  • Publisher(s): Focal Press
  • ISBN: 9781136097256