Friday - It's Black and White

How Did You Get That Shot? Taking Photos At Night

The second part in the 'How Did You Get That Shot?' series is about taking photos at night.

I have found that during my first 365 project and even into my latest project, many of my photos have been taken at night. At first, I was not confident at all with taking photos at night. But with a little practice things started to get better.

Here's the things I use for night photography:

1.  A tripod or a stable surface to place the camera.
2.  A remote shutter release or self-timer.
3.  A light source.

Today I'm going to talk about what I use as a light source.

At home I find the brightest light is in my kitchen, but it alone is still not strong enough to light my subjects.

My go to light source is a torch / flashlight.

I usually place the light as close as possible to the subject without letting it appear in the frame.



In the image above, you see that the torch is so close to the ice it is almost touching it. Below is the result.



Below is another example. The torch was placed a little further away this time to avoid too much light reflecting off the forks.





To get a lighter background you could place the subject on a white board with another white board behind it.



You could also use your phone or tablet as a light source. The image was taken using the SoftBox Pro for iPad app. I simply opened the app, selected the type of light I wanted to use and placed the subjects on the iPad.



Here are some more night time photos:













Have fun creating!