Why I got into Night PhotographyTo begin, let me just define ‘night photography’. Basically, the general consensus to night photography is that the photographs are taken between dusk and dawn. Basically it means that when people are asleep, you’re awake like some weird nocturnal creature. I dare say that night photography is probably one of the least ventured into areas of photography. Often you hear people claim that they are ‘nature photographers’, ‘wedding photographers’ or ‘street photographers’, but it’s hard to find someone who actually claims to be a ‘night photographer’ (by the way, ‘hard to find’ does not equate to ‘zero’). People often pack their camera gear after sunset and head home for dinner, in turn neglecting what the night can offer.
Nonetheless, there is growing attention given to night photography lately, and many are beginning to venture into night photography. The reason for this growing trend? The birth of the modern day Digital Single Lens Reflex (aka DSLR) cameras; going digital means you can afford to keep retaking your shots without wasting film, and deleting all your ‘failed’ attempts on the spot. Thank God for modernisation! It seems that going digital makes people more willing to try new stuff out, so modernisation is good! (Stop being a Luddite!)
I believe that the perception of people towards night photography is that night photography requires much skill and is very difficult. As in any form of photography, skill is a necessity, unless you’re just a ‘point-and-shoot’ kind of person, but that is beside the point. Nonetheless, I dare claim that night photography is in fact one of the easiest form of photography, that is after you get the hang of it. Usually, your subject would have the same amount of light (i.e. the lighting conditions for your subject does not vary greatly). This basically means that when you don’t like the photographs from one of your shoots, you could always head back down to that same location, and chances are that the lighting conditions would be the same. Having that same amount of lighting for your subject would thus allow you to keep re-shooting the subject.
If you’re shooting in the city, chances are that the lights will make the place look like day, but your lighting conditions would remain somewhat similar. For example, if you’re shooting a skyscraper, and you’re unhappy with the shot, you could always take your time and change your camera settings to get your ideal shot. When you’re at home doing post processing, and you still can’t find any photographs that you like, you can still head down to the same skyscraper and take it again. I mean it’s almost impossible for the entire skyscraper to be relit in a different colour, unless the government seeks to like remodel and relight the whole city or something.
However, lighting conditions do change when you consider shooting nature photographs in the middle of the night. Nature photography at night is dependent on the brightness of the moon, or whether the moon is present at all in the first place, the presence of clouds, the weather conditions etc. I mean the sky at 8pm is very different at 1am. Don’t believe me? Stay up late one night and take pictures of the sky at that time. Don’t want to stay up at night? Then you can’t be a night photographer. (It’s obvious why you can’t be a night photographer if you are not willing to stay up late right?)
Now on to the real stuff, what really got me into night photography? I think night photography is the most interesting form of photography; at least it is true in my reality. (I wouldn’t really care about other people’s reality would I?) Night photography offers one key effect: seeing things in a different light, literally. Often, if not always, things that you see in the morning or in the afternoon, would turn out drastically different than when you see them at night. It is the night that brings out the true nature of creatures, revealing the werewolves amongst the humans. (Wait, this doesn’t make sense here.) What I mean is that in night photography, the contrast between ‘dark’ and ‘light’, ‘dull’ and ‘bright’, ‘evil’ and ‘good’ (wait, not this one either) is strongly presented. The brighter areas are emphasized in night photography, but the shadows are also much stronger in night photographs as well. What night photography does is that it effectively brings out obvious contrasts, which are less obvious in most other forms of photography. (Note again that I’m not discounting the contrast that other forms of photography entail, but what I’m saying is that contrast is brought out most strongly in night photographs. Then again, this is my opinion, that’s why the title is ‘Why I got into Night Photography’ and not ‘Why Other People got into Night Photography’.)
Besides seeing things in a different light, night photography enables the photographer to play god. Then again, other forms of photography also allow the photographer to play god, so what is so special and unique about night photography? Simple, artificial lighting. This would be the only form of photography where the photographer has control over all sorts of weird lighting and effects. What I mean here, is that the photographer has the ability to create (literally) different effects with lights. Ever heard of light painting? Basically the photographer ‘paints’ light for the photograph, and creates certain effects that can only be captured in the dark. (Of course, you can establish similar effects with a studio, turn off all the lights and ALAKAZAM, you have a dark room. But that isn’t really fun isn’t it?)
I think a most beautiful thing about night photography is the beauty that the night offers. The night is often associated with images of coldness, emptiness, and lifelessness. Those are extreme words in my opinion. What the night offers is serenity and calmness, very much different from the hustle and bustle of the afternoon. What night photography does, is that it captures this stillness in a succinct manner, and makes the ‘lifeless’ night become very much alive. (This is with respect to nature photography in the night.) Of course, if you’re doing photography in the city, that’s a different scenario, cause ‘the city never sleeps’. Like seriously, it’s all bright at night in the city, so it’s not really still. So what’s there to shoot in the city at night? Like I mentioned above, night photography in the city is to capture the pretty neon lights and artificial lights.
But like any form of photography, there are night photographs that have been ‘shot to death’. So, what to do when the scene has been ‘shot to death’? I think this is where all hardcore photographers will know what I’m going to say, find a different angle, a different perspective to shoot your subject. Focus on the minute details, such as the weird looking gate, the crack in the wall a corner of the window etc. Don’t always go for THAT wide angle shot whereby every single other photographer on earth has probably taken that picture as well. Like in any form of photography, night photography is about art and expression. What the photographer seeks to do, is to record a mere story of the scene.
As a closing note, here’s an article by Steve Harper with regards to night photography (
http://www.thenocturnes.com/resources/harper.html). After reading this essay, if you feel like grabbing your tripod and camera and going out at 2am to photograph the night life by all means go and explore the night! People often say ‘seeing is believing’; so similarly, you got to go experience shooting in the night to understand what joy it gives!
