Welcome to Adorama TV my name is Marcin
Lewandowski and in this episode of the
Viewfinder
we'll look at night photography. When
talking about night photography or
photographing at night we're not
necessarily talking about
astrophotography or long exposures it's
also not always tied to architectural or
landscape photography. When photographing
at night,
imagine that you're working on a movie
set or in a darkened studio and look at
all the different light sources
available, as if they were your own
personal studio setups. Dark creepy
alleys, flickering lights and danger
lurking at each corner? Night photography
can be dodgy in some places so stay safe
I recommend partnering with a fellow
photographer. Locations for night
photography can look significantly
different and for example shooting in a
brightly lit Berlin Mitte and a small
polish village of Ostrowite will have
distinctly separate visual impacts. This
episode is more like a brainstorm
session and that's to better translate
how I feel when I go out for a late hour
photo walk with friends from time to time.
I really enjoy a night stroll with
another photographer, it's a good time to
have a chat about photography but also
see how other photographers brains
operate. Some of the things I always pay
attention to at night are non-existent a
daytime hardly noticeable or even
interrupting like for example sodium
lamps which give out a color of
incandescent bulbs on steroids. During
the day it would be a nuisance and a lot
of white balance acrobatics, at night
however they become almost magical and a
pleasure to use as a source of light. If
you can also find one that can be used
as a singular source the magic will
happen almost instantly. A strong
contrast and interesting color can be
used in their natural version but also
notice how it translates very nicely
into black and white, due to its almost
duotone look.
Night is not just about the solitary
sodium tubes though and I really like
using street lights for bokeh
experiments. Sometimes just to create
interesting patterns in themselves, and
sometimes to use these patterns as
background for portraits or to be used
for multiple exposure experiments. Night
is actually a great way for finding
empty spots around the city that are not
that visible during the day while at
night they become illuminated by
artificial lighting. We can play around
with what's impossible in daylight and
go for a completely science-fiction look
by overexposing things.
We're simply photographing in a way that
leaves a lot of darkness for the viewers
imagination. What to do whrn you want to
see something that's not lit at night?
A simple solution is to bring a tripod and
at least one strobe. Set up your camera
for a longer exposure and flood your
subject by firing the flash multiple
times. This can create really unusual
lighting that would be possible without
a photographer's intervention and if you
want something even more special, why not
go for light painting which is a
separate topic in itself. As you can see
night can offer us photographer's a studio like
environment where a lot of unusual
effects are possible, simply thanks to
the scarcity of light. At the same time
it's completely different to a studio
because of the amount of space we have
to play with. As with all photography
imagination is the key here so feel free
to mix some of the ideas suggested and
embrace the darkness.
Subscribe to our channel for more and
check out the Adorama Learning Center
for some cool tips and tutorials. This
was Marcin Lewandowski for AdoramaTV
I'll see you next time.