So if you want to shoot at night, it is always better to get a tripod, otherwise sharp shots are almost impossible. But this is also one of the more challenging types of photography to get right. Use the Multi-controller to select the Night Portrait mode and then press Set. See below for the video walk through of this technique as well. Your first night photography session after reading this instructable should easily net you 200-300 pictures. A basic understanding of the functions of aperture and shutter speed take on mind-expanding dimensions at night, when stopping down your aperture can turn street lights into starbursts and setting your shutter speed to bulb offers you the ability to capture the unseen. All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. Today I decided to practice night photography in the city, because I have trouble to take decent night photos without tripod. Make sure you also control your breathing, inhaling as you take an image and exhaling once it has been taken. You may be able to drop the shutter speed to very slow if this feature is available for your camera lens. His work has been shown in galleries worldwide and he has over 15 books on photography. How to Shoot Sharp Digital Photos Without a Tripod. Keep an eye out for interesting street scenes or night scenery. But unfortunately at 2500 ISO there is going to be a lot of noise. However, long exposure photography required extra gear. Turn your manual focus to infinity (∞ symbol on your lens). I could just take my tripod with me, but I still don’t have a decent bag for it, and anyway, I think it should be possible without a tripod in some situations. Taking night photographs at Disney without a tripod can be a lot of fun and very rewarding. There are two main aperture settings for night photography. This will create a long exposure effect that you may not be able to get if you are shooting at night without a tripod. Let me review the important points for you: And voila. Select them all, then go to Edit > Auto-Align Layers. Producing good images taken at night without a flash almost always requires post production processing. You can then use the Stack Mode functionality in Photoshop to blend the images together. Wide Aperture = More light. This feature allows the lens to pick up light at lower shutter speeds and produce clearer images. Night photography is nothing like your regular day photography. First, we will explain the easiest approach: how to capture a still image of the stars. If you enjoyed this tutorial and want to learn more about how to use Photoshop, check out Serge’s course Photoshop for Photographers 2017. Post Processing Tips. Then you are going to select your layer and go to Layer > Smart Object > Stack Mode > Median. Or Gozal has been an amateur photographer since 2007. Below we’ll show you our favourite settings for shooting at night without a tripod to ensure we still capture details without losing our images to noise. This article was co-authored by Or Gozal, a trusted member of wikiHow's community. You don't need a cable release to capture night … Start with an ISO of 800. In this photo I was on the Academia Bridge in Venice, the place to be to catch the sunset. This article was co-authored by Or Gozal, a trusted member of wikiHow's community. These lenses are great for their sharpness even at low light. Set a high ISO, 800 or 1,000 is a good starting point. Use this if your subject will benefit from a shallow depth of field for example, a lit fountain in front of a building where you want the fountain to be in focus and the building slightly blurred. If I had done a long exposure the light reflection in the water would have made big blots of light which is very catchy to the eyes and creates a lot of contrast, which I don’t like. Try out your camera's manual setting. My shutter speed was 1/25th of a second at 2500 ISO, and I set my camera on high speed burst mode, which allows the camera take several shots quickly. Got to Layer > Smart Object > Stack Mode > Median or see which setting works best. Select the layers and convert to Smart Objects. You need a camera that you can shoot in manual mode. Proper technique goes beyond simply setting the camera on a tripod. Once you have done that, right-click select Edit In > Open as Layers in Photoshop. Serge’s mission is to help photographers take better photos and pursue an artistic career. But you need to know a few things, so I'll give you some suggestions if you find yourself in a nighttime photography situation without … It’s the appeal of capturing that right moment. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. So to show how noisy this photo is, let me do my basic retouching. Your camera will likely have an ISO button on top or on it back, but failing that you’ll find a control in the … There are 11 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. If you don’t have your tripod with you, or you’re trying to make do without one, you still have some options for low-light photography. Even with better ISO sensitivities in today’s digital cameras, camera movement is the arch enemy of the night photographer and the tripod is just the first step in keeping your images sharp. Your camera will be capturing an image for multiple seconds so you will need to keep the camera steady so handheld isn’t an option. Also, to achieve these slower speeds you'll be using, without introducing camera shake, you’re going to need a tripod. When you photograph in this mode, the camera captures images in the JPEG format with Large image quality. Use a wide aperture. Her work has been published in, most notably, National Geographic and Stanford University's Leland Quarterly. Night Photography Equipment You May Need. So this is a good way to avoid noise in a low light situation where you don’t have a tripod. Here you can select all the layers again, right-click and select Convert to Smart Object. If you enjoyed this article, you might also like... Fun 5-Second Photos - Using Long Exposures ... 6 Tips for Shooting Long Exposure Night ... 6 Tips for Getting Consistent Results Shooting ... Set your camera on Continuous Shooting Mode (burst). Learn more... Night photography can be a fun activity for amateur photographers who are trying to expand their skill set. For the image above, I had a zoom lens on so the widest I could open up my aperture was f/5.6. September 18, 2016. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/a\/ab\/Do-Night-Photography-Without-a-Tripod-Step-1.jpg\/v4-460px-Do-Night-Photography-Without-a-Tripod-Step-1.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/a\/ab\/Do-Night-Photography-Without-a-Tripod-Step-1.jpg\/aid8081746-v4-728px-Do-Night-Photography-Without-a-Tripod-Step-1.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"