Nikon® D5000 Digital Field Guide

Chapter 12. Night and Lowlight Photography

In This Chapter

• Preparing your shot

• Concerts

• Nightlife

When the sun sets and the light becomes low, a whole new world of photography opens up. You can capture many different aspects and portray the world in a different light, so to speak. Taking photographs in low light brings a whole different set of challenges that are not present when you take pictures during the day. The exposures become significantly longer, making it difficult to handhold your camera and get sharp images. Your first instinct may be to use the flash to add light to the scene, but as soon as you do this, the image loses its nighttime charm.

Preparing Your Shot

Almost any type of photography can be accomplished in low light, from landscapes to portraits. Each type of photography has slightly different techniques and accessories, but the goal is the same: to get enough light to make a good exposure and to capture the delicate interplay between light and dark.

Concerts

The type of low-light photography that I deal with the most is concert photography. This type of photography can be the most difficult to deal with. The lighting is erratic at best and can throw your meter off, resulting in over- or under-exposed images.

The performers are often moving around, necessitating a fast shutter speed to freeze them, but the light is low and so the ISO needs to be increased in order to get a fast enough shutter speed. This represents all of the worst shooting conditions that you encounter ...