Looking to improve your night photography? Here are 7 tips for capturing sharp, intriguing, and well-balanced photos.

Use a Wide Aperture

Using a wide aperture (a lower f-stop number) allows more light to enter, helping capture more details. A lower aperture lets light hit the sensor effectively.

Slow Your Shutter Speed

Slowing your shutter speed lets more light hit the sensor but increases the risk of unwanted motion blur. To minimize blur, mount your camera on a tripod and use a timer to avoid shaking the camera.

Here are two examples of my night photography. The first photo was shot with an aperture of f/5 and a shutter speed of 1 second. The second photo demonstrates long exposure night photography with a shutter speed of 1.5 seconds.

Use a Tripod or Stabilization

Tripods are essential for low-light photography and long exposure shots. They reduce motion blur and allow slow shutter speeds to capture more light.

Increase ISO

Increasing your ISO should be a last resort when shooting at night or in low light. Higher ISO settings can introduce noise into your photos. While ISO helps brighten your image, raising it too much results in loss of image quality.

Shoot in RAW

Shooting in RAW allows your camera to record more detail than JPEG files. RAW captures a wider color range and more shadow detail, giving you greater flexibility when editing.

Utilize Light Around You

Use lights in your background to add emotion and drama to your photos. Incorporate car headlights, streetlights, phones, flashlights, or any light source to enhance the mood of your images.

Edit

Edit your photos to reduce noise and motion blur, as well as to brighten and sharpen your images. Editing helps bring out the emotion and detail in your night shots.

With these night photography tips, you can learn to shoot stunning photos at night and develop the skills to capture the emotion in every moment.