What a time to live for photography! Advances in technology, combined with price reductions and the “device wars” that brands wage against each other continue to make the highest quality imaging hardware ever more accessible to everyone. People. This market process continues to make it possible for us to minimize the image quality sacrifices we used to make when shooting in less than optimal conditions.
In the field of street and cityscape photography, some important advancements in the market are becoming particularly useful for those of us who prefer to shoot after dark, a time when the Dynamic interference between light and shadow can dramatically increase the impact of your photos. There’s a big difference between the lazy quiet of a city in the midday heat of the sun and the buzz of life that kicks into action when the sun goes down, igniting the nightlife and bringing individuals to life. Colorful objects and neon lights into our scenes.
I’ll detail the advancements that have made city nightlife photography more and more accessible to me and everyone else, and walk you through my workflow to reduce quality images during your pursuit of night shots.
Device
At one point, the most popular digital cameras among amateur photographers were often things like the Canon Rebel and Nikon D3XXX series of cameras. Their low price, combined with the kit lenses often bundled, make photography easy for everyone, but their low-light performance is never great and they lack one key feature. for nightlife photography: in-body stabilization (IBIS).
The introduction of IBIS in affordable, compact mirrorless camera bodies such as the Sony a6500 or a6600, some Fujifilm cameras, and many four-thirds microphone options have placed this valuable technology in the hands of consumers. budding street photographer, and the ability to shoot handheld at shutter speeds of 1/15 sec or less has become invaluable for both minimizing the use of high ISOs (and reducing the inherent noise that comes with it) ). This opens up more possibilities for expressing motion in your scenes while keeping a discreet, highly portable camera setup.
Sure, you can take a tripod around and the value of a really solid tripod when it comes to night photography can’t be underestimated, but if you’re like me, you want to be able to keep the profile low for a while. while remaining mobile and free from the clutter of devices as we explored the features of a city at night. Maintaining a low profile can prevent you from being a target for robbers and, perhaps most importantly, will reduce the camera’s ability to recognize people who may appear in your photos.
The value of a modern, compact mirrorless camera for this type of photography extends beyond the use of IBIS. By ditching the mirror and using an electronic viewfinder, mirrorless cameras make manual focus lenses much easier through the implementation of focus aids such as peak focus and zoom. digital age. This can be done through a quick, classic glass adjustment or using one of the many native mount manual focus lens options that have exploded onto the market with the popularity of these cameras. Mirrorless images allow them to be used with ease.
It’s the new explosion of manual focus lens options on the market that provides another important reason why people can embrace handheld night photography more. With all this new, affordable lens selection, there are plenty of super-fast, affordable options out there. Once upon a time, f1.2 was considered extremely fast, but a bunch of f/0.95 . lens happened on the scene. Brands like Mitakon, Loawa, Voightlander, TTArtisans, and 7Artisans have all released relatively affordable f/0.95 manual focus lens options for a multitude of APS=C cameras, and even a few options for the whole world. frames, which used to be the only way to extremely high-priced transparent glasses.
These super-fast lenses, such as the 7Artisans 35mm f/0.95 that I attached to my IBIS-packed compact mirrorless camera, the Fujfilm XS-10, let you shoot in low light conditions. best, while keeping your ISO relatively low-end. Any resulting noise is extremely well managed by modern mirrorless cameras, at least by comparison standards with their affordable DSLR predecessors. The combination, with the addition of a Rokinon 12mm f/2 for wider shots, allowed me to say goodbye to city tripods.
Additionally, this kind of speed can also be achieved using a focal length reducer, or “reducer”, to give fast vintage glasses an extra stop of light. Some brands make them, and some even allow you to continue using autofocus, such as Viltrox Speedbooster autofocus and adapter, allowing you to convert full frame Canon EF glasses to APS-C lenses, while increasing its speed by a notch. It also offers the same field of view on an adaptive full-frame lens as you’ll find on its native full-frame camera. For example, mounting my Sigma 50mm f/1.4 resulted in an image that a non-enhanced 33mm f/1 lens would have produced if it were an original Fuji X-mount lens. However, the autofocus aspect can be hit or miss, especially in low-light settings, which makes me prefer using a super-fast manual focus lens with the native mount, especially the when the current import price is too low. I bought my 7Artisans 35mm f/0.95 for just over $200, a fantastic value for the investment it used to be.
Even lenses that fall into the more traditional fast-paced range, such as f/1.4 and f/1.8, can serve you well. I’ve used both my beloved Fujifilm XF 35mm f/1.4 and Rokinon 12mm to produce excellent results, although sometimes that requires me to raise the ISO to higher levels, such as ISO 3200 or even 6400. Luckily, my little Fujifilm camera still performs well at these noise levels, and modern noise reduction software like DXO PureRaw and Topaz Denoise AI can be of great help when you’re dipping your fingers. foot into high ISO waters.
Techniques and Workflows
Once you’re properly equipped to shoot the streets at night, your next step is to get the most out of the gear you’ll be using. If equipped in a similar way to myself or my recommendations, you will find some adjustments to your photography process will be required. The biggest thing will probably be adapting to manual focus lens use, but fortunately, modern manual focus aids such as peak focus and aforementioned digital magnification are available. The above makes the process relatively straightforward and, in my opinion, simpler than trying to rely on autofocus in low light. The manual focus process slows you down a bit, which I find to be a boon to my goal of purposeful creativity in my photos. When I compose and focus manually, I pay more attention to my scene and at this point, it makes me really think about my composition, timing, and settings.
The lights and colors of the city add sparkle, and the game of shadow in the dark versus light adds drama, and when you combine it all with a cool theme, what do you have? are excellent photos with a minimum of sacrificed image quality and high city mobility.
To get the most out of my IBIS-equipped camera, I would vary the shutter speed dramatically to contrast the dynamic nature of the movement with the rest of the cityscape, remaining the same as long as you hold your hand steady. , even at a shutter speed as slow as 1/5 second. For example, I can show an ambulance passing by in streaks of red while the city around it is constant and sharp, with skyscrapers in the background, office lights sparkling in the background. God.
If you’re the type of person who likes to spruce up your nightlife shots with a short break at one of the many pubs or clubs buzzing with nightlife in the city, you’ll be in for a treat. The themes are very interesting and colorful, and your quick glass will let you capture it with good results. Some of my favorite street portraits and people are centered around the many waterholes that exist in the cities I visit. I find people who go out enjoying the streets and bars at night are generally in a good mood and more open to taking their portraits or simply less interested in you taking authentic photos.
By retaining a compact, lightweight and portable setup, you also make it much easier to cover the ground in the city. While I regularly walk around the city, one of my ultimate secret weapons for maximizing the ground I can cover is my electric bike, the City Grounds Crew Dart 2.0 EBMX, for allows me to get in and out of a situation quickly and navigate the street city at record speed. In addition, public transport vehicles can offer their own selection of interesting subject matter material. Without using a regular bike, bus, or subway, I’ll just park somewhere safe, walk until I can’t go anymore and Uber back to my vehicle. I encourage you to cover as much ground as possible, as it will only expand your number of keepers each night. It’s not uncommon for me to return home from a night out in the city with over a dozen photos that I’m proud of, thanks in part to the ground I’ve covered, and more so to the sheer number of animal photo opportunities. taste increases. found after dark.
When you draw a city with your camera, an important tip to remember is to think vertically. If you’re just glued to street-level scenes, you’re likely to miss a lot of footage. Looking up at the balcony, where it can be inhabited and illuminated, creates a striking scene in the dark night sky with its brilliance and sometimes people, who always don’t notice you and your camera due to the difference difference in verticality between you. Conversely, try to find high vantage points to shoot from the illuminated city streets and skylines. Usually, tall parking garages will have an accessible roof, as well as observatory decks in some skyscraper or even an old tall hill from which you can look down. When you have a high vantage point, consider taking multiple photos to stitch together into one panorama.
When I get home from a night of entertainment, it can be very rewarding to go back and review the images you have taken and see how the magic of the city night transforms into photo form. I believe that the better a photo is from the outset, the more it can improve with gloss, so even though my setup allows me to take sharp photos with minimal noise, I usually deal with it. Manage your favorite photos through Lightroom and Topaz Denoise and sharpeners, providing even more quality and creative intent to images.
Through this workflow, I was able to produce nighttime images that I am very proud of over and over again. I can’t think of a time when I went out shooting at night that I didn’t come home with some serious keepers. high impact images.
