One of the best time to take photos is at night, especially if you live in a big city! There are so many places to shoot, like famous stores, restaurants, business signs, city lights, colors and even people dressed nicely wearing expensive outfits and fancy jewelry. What are the ideal settings for night shooting?
First of all, you will need a good lens that has an aperture of at least 2.8 but what I would choose is f/2.0 or even higher, f/1.4! Sony e-mount lens Sigma 30mm f/1.4 Contemporary is the sharpest lens for Sony mirrorless cameras! This lens costs around $330 but you can also use a 50mm f/1.8 from Sony that cost around $250. Both will do the job for you.
If you want your photos to be clear you need to shoot wide open at 1/250th. Sony a6500 has im-age stabilization that gives you plenty of help if you have shaky hands. If you own another cam-era brand you will definitely need to have a lens with image stabilization because Sigma lenses don't have image stabilizer and your photos will not be that clear.
Keep your ISO low between 100-3200. The most you can use is 6400 not above that. This will keep the noise of your images low. If you see on your computer that your images have too much noise you can use an editing software to lower the noise manually by adjusting the clarity option and noise reduction. This will somehow help you remove the problem.
Another thing you should consider is to find places with lots of light around you. If you are in the dark and you’re shooting something that’s far away, your image will be dark except if you use a tripod and allow your camera to capture more light by leaving the shutter speed to 1 sec or more. This will make your image brighter but you have to be careful not to produce too much noise. Keep the ISO lower than 1600.
If you want to take photos of people walking by, you will have to be quick and surround yourself in a lot of light. This will allow you to have fast shutter speeds and freeze movement. If possible, take a darker image by using faster shutter speed and then you can edit it afterwards. This will give you clarity and the people won’t look like ghosts!
I am a fan of natural light but if you think you can use the flash to take a photo, you can! Just don’t be that close to the subject and try not to flash directly to what you’re shooting. Some cam-eras allow you to turn your flash upwards so you can spread the light over the area you’re shoot-ing than making your subject completely white!
Although, it is best to shoot in ideal conditions but we are not that lucky every time we go out. Nevertheless, it is possible to improve your results with a good photo editing tool, like Lightroom or Pinnacle's Studio. I understand photography is quite an expensive hobby and that many photographers have a limited budget. However, there are many opportunities to get a genuine software's licence with a discount. Search for pinnacle coupons or pinnacle studio promo code and you will find some great deals. Qetes.com/pinnacle-studio-coupon will englighten you more on that matter.
Don’t be afraid to shoot in the dark. Some of the best photos are taken in the dark with a few lights and a little bit of motion, even if there are people or vehicles passing by. The more you shoot and try different settings, the better your photos will be. Now go out and be awesome!
Stephen Dinos is a professional photographer working for the Ethnos newspaper and a professor in a photography school in Athens, Greece. He also blogs in international photography websites where he shares his expertise.