Natural light,
street lights, low-light or almost-no-light - you decide!
Dusk is usually a time of warm
colours, and dawn of cooler colours. Both periods can be surprisingly brief, with the
quality of light changing rapidly. Be prepared to act fast, despite the apparent
tranquility of the moment!
Night skies often come out rather
black and featureless; even with cityscapes, some colouration in the sky will liven up the
picture enormously.
For colour, slower films give richer
more saturated tones - ISO 50 or 100 - but… see the next point.
You'll almost certainly be facing
long exposures - several seconds, perhaps a minute or more. While fast films and wide
apertures may help, some kind of camera support is essential. A tripod is best, but just
standing the camera on a wall will work too.
You'll also need to avoid jogging the
camera when taking the shot. If you don't have a remote cable release, use the self-timer.
At night, you can even use a piece of dark card in front of the lens.
Most modern internal metering systems
handle long exposures, but bracket by at least a stop, and lean towards over-exposing
especially if there are some bright artificial lights in the field of view.
Long exposures can give some great
effects with moving subjects like car tail-lights, or anything in motion that is brightly
lit. In reverse, people passing in front of brightly lit shop windows can be neat.
Silhouettes against colourful skies
look impressive - expose for the sky.
Water in the foreground will reflect
sky or artificial light, adding interest and mood - anything from a lake to a puddle or
wet cobblestones.
With slide or colour print film,
adding filters can add subtle - or not so subtle - impact.
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