ABSTRACT
Photographing at night requires one to look at the world from a different perspective. Night photography should not be considered merely an extension of daytime photography because night light transforms the known world into something unfamiliar and strange. In much the same way that moving into the studio after photographing outdoors with natural light demands a different approach, photographing at night requires many different considerations. Of course, your photographic skills and knowledge will serve you well, but there are surprises ahead, many new things to learn, and exciting discoveries to be made. Because the light at night is such a huge part of what makes nocturnal photography special, scouting locations during the daytime is of limited value. Returning to a location at night to photograph a scene observed during the day can lead to disappointment because the circumstances at night may make the photograph you envisioned impossible to take. Conversely, scenes that must be photographed jump out at you at night but go unnoticed, or simply don’t exist, in the daylight. Night photography presents numerous technical challenges, but also countless opportunities.
