Night photography

The Skyline of Singapore as viewed at night

Night photography refers to photographs taken outdoors between twilight and dawn. Night photographers generally have a choice between using artificial light or using a long exposure, exposing the scene for seconds or even minutes, in order to give the film enough time to capture a usable image, and to compensate for reciprocity failure. With the progress of high-speed films, higher-sensitivity digital image sensors, wide-aperture lenses, and the ever-greater power of urban lights, night photography is increasingly possible using available light.

History

In the early 1900s, a few notable photographers, Alfred Stieglitz and William Fraser, began working at night. The first photographers known to have produced large bodies of work at night were Brassai and Bill Brandt. In 1932, Brassai published Paris de Nuit, a book of black-and-white photographs of the streets of Paris at night. During World War II, British photographer Brandt took advantage of the black-out conditions to photograph the streets of London by moonlight.

In the late 1970s, Steve Harper taught the first college-level course on night photography at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco. The legacy of this program has led to San Francisco becoming a center of night photography.

By the 1990s, British-born photographer Michael Kenna had established himself as the most commercially successful night photographer. His black-and-white landscapes were most often set between dusk and dawn in locations that included San Francisco, Japan, France, and England. Some of his most memorable projects depict the Ford Motor Company's Rogue River plant, the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station in northern England, and many of the Nazi concentration camps scattered across Germany, France, Belgium, Poland and Austria.

During the beginning of the 21st century, the popularity of digital cameras made it much easier for beginning photographers to understand the complexities of photographing at night. Today, there are hundreds of websites dedicated to night photography.

For a more complete history of night photography, refer to Lance Keimig's A History of Night Photography.

Subjects

• Astronomical objects - moon, stars, planets, etc. See astrophotography.
• Streets, with or without cars
• Abandoned buildings and artificial structures lit only by moonlight
• City skylines
• Factories and industrial areas, particularly those that are brightly lit and emitting smoke or vapour
• Fireworks
• Nightlife or rock concerts
• Bodies of water (lakes, rivers, canals, etc) reflecting moonlight or city lights
• Thunderstorms
• Amusement rides

Technique and equipment

The length of a night exposure causes the lights on moving cars to streak across the image

The following techniques and equipment are generally used in night photography.

• A tripod is usually necessary due to the long exposure times. Alternatively, the camera may be placed on a steady, flat object e.g a table or chair, low wall, window sill, etc.
• A shutter release cable or self timer is almost always used to prevent camera shake when the shutter is released.
• Manual focus, since autofocus systems usually operate poorly in low light conditions. Newer digital cameras incorporate a Live View mode which often allows very accurate manual focusing.

Examples

• 
  Rainbow Bridge viewed from Odaiba
• 
  The Garden of Five Senses, Delhi
• 
  Amusement rides

Significant published night photographers

This section includes significant night photographers who have published books dedicated to night photography, and some of their selected works.

• Brassai
  • Paris de Nuit, Arts et metiers graphiques, 1932.
• Jeff Brouws
  • Inside the Live Reptile Tent, Chronicle Books, 2001. ISBN 0-8118-2824-7
• Alan Delaney
  • London After Dark, Phaidon Press, 1993. ISBN 0-7148-2870-X
• Neil Folberg
  • Celestial Nights, Aperture Foundation, 2001. ISBN 0-89381-945-X
• Karekin Goekjian
  • Light After Dark, Lucinne, Inc. ASIN B0006QOVCG
• Todd Hido
  • Outskirts, Nazraeli Press, 2002. ISBN 1-59005-028-2
• Peter Hujar
  • Night, Matthew Marks Gallery/Fraenkel Gallery, 2005. ISBN 1-880146-45-2
• Rolfe Horn
  • 28 Photographs, Nazraeli Press. ISBN 1-59005-122-X
• Brian Kelly
  • Grand Rapids: Night After Night, Glass Eye, 2001. ISBN 0-9701293-0-0
• Michael Kenna
  • The Rouge, RAM Publications, 1995. ISBN 0-9630785-1-8
  • Night Work, Nazraeli Press, 2000. ISBN 3-923922-83-3
• William Lesch
  • Expansions, RAM Publications, 1992. ISBN 4-8457-0667-9
• O. Winston Link
  • The Last Steam Railroad in America, Harry Abrams, 1995. ISBN 0-8109-3575-9
• Tom Paiva
  • Industrial Night, The Image Room, 2002. ISBN 0-9716928-0-7
• Troy Paiva
  • Lost America: The Abandoned Roadside West, MBI Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0-7603-1490-X
• Bill Schwab
  • Bill Schwab: Photographs, North Light Press, 1999. ISBN 0-9765193-0-5
  • Gathering Calm, North Light Press, 2005. ISBN 0-9765193-2-1
• Jan Staller
  • Frontier New York, Hudson Hills Press, 1988. ISBN 1-55595-009-4
• Zabrina Tipton
  • At Night in San Francisco, San Francisco Guild of the Arts Press, 2006. ISBN 1-4243-1882-3

See also

• Light painting
• Long exposure multiple flash photographic technique

External links

• The Nocturnes night photography site
• Common Obstacles in Night Photography by Sean McHugh at Cambridge in Colour
• Short notes discussing the meaning and technique of night photography by David Baldwin
• Focus: Nocturnes Sarah Thornton Maps the Axes of a Photographic Genre
• Photography for night owls How to take photos in the style of Brassai
• Night Photography Guide Tutorial by Adam Currie