Night Time Photography

[JDM_EK3]

As of late I've been getting into digital photography. I've always enjoyed taking pictures, but I've been getting really into it as of late. Now day time photography isn't that bad, I'm not really having any issues with that. But when it comes to night time, everytime I import an image into Paint Shop Pro it comes out quite dark. Now what are some methods I could do to brighten this photo up?

I know of the brightness/contrast feature, but if someone could explain it, as well as other methods to improve the photo that would be awesome.

[cmM]

shoot RAW !!!
That way, you have a couple stops to go up in exposure.

In photoshop, you can use levels to bring out more colors from the shaddows. Also, use high ISO... noise can be taken care of...

http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=37510&highlight=
(night time photos taken by me this past weekend.)

[blinking8s]

take it properly? shoot RAW...

i dont know paint shop pro, if an image turns out too dark I play with the channels and levels in photoshop, but normally I am rarely far off from the shot I was trying to take at night, just needs slight color correction and the little things

[JDM_EK3]

So instead of shooting JPGs, shoot in RAW file format? How is that going to change a difference in the lighting?

[Penguin_101_1]

This is how I understand it: RAW has better quality so when you change it in photoshop it will look better. I would however shoot it with a flash or long exposure at f/2.8 or lower (don't know what camera) to let in more light. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[Ken Fong]

When taking the picture, try not to include bright objects if you do not need it in your composition since they will 'compromise' your range. For example, if you shoot a street scene with a street lamp glaring into your lens, the bulk of your image will be on the far left of the histogram, while the street light is going to hog up the right side, which is the most valuable part of your curve. When shooting a street scene at night and there are some bright streetlamps, keep the lights out of your composition (and use your hood), or use a graduated neutral density filter to bring the street lights 'closer' to the rest of your image with respect to the histogram. It may not seem like a bright picture at night, but the range difference between a light or moon and the subject can often be too huge for your camera to handle.
And like the others have said, shooting in RAW will give you extra lattitude for corrections. My understanding is that exposure correction in RAW brings back REAL data; adjusting brightness and contrast only lightens or dims existing pixels, but you're not really ressurrecting any data. I'll fix this statement if someone corrects me.

[ndh]

I got some good tips for low-light photos (specifically, the noise that shows up when you brighten them) in this thread (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=34101).

A friend who is an excellent film photographer gave me another tip: if you can't avoid having bright lights in the shot, play a flashlight beam over the foreground subject for part of the exposure time so that the subject won't be buried in the left (dark) part of the histogram. I haven't tried it yet...

[nosquare2003]

Would you post an example with Exif info?

[Big_B]

I tried it for the first time at the weekend. Here are my attempts. Shot with ISO 200 (I think - it was 400 if not), f 4.5, Shutter 5 seconds.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sam.blackie/Pictures/July/slides/DSC_1913.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sam.blackie/Pictures/July/slides/DSC_1907.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sam.blackie/Pictures/July/slides/DSC_1917.jpg

[blinking8s]

thats pretty good...

http://willduncan.net/pics/dc/ has some night shots I took in it...they were all shot in jpg though, RAW gives you more fallback with exposure in case you do not take the shot correctly, that is its main advantage, being able to save the picture, plus it will have a lot less grain in it, since there is no jpeg compression from the camera...

good luck, taking pictures at night is fun, use your imagination

[Bodryn]

I have long experimented with time exposures taken at night; last fall I made nearly a dozen using my little Canon A70; you can set it for manual settings and then you can set the timer for 15 seconds, the lens aperture to f/3.5 and the ISO for 100, 200 or 400. If there is a full moon out you will likely get photos that look like they were taken in broad daylight - they may even be overexposed; you can also get photos of the stars that show constellations quite well. One problem is that especially at ISO 200 or 400, you will get some noise in the photos. Also if you are shooting within a city, the ambient lighting will probably show up surprisingly bright in your photos. If shooting in the country try for some degree of moonlight.

All you need is a tripod and use those maximum settings mentioned above. For better quality, use lower ISO ratings.

I used to do this with regular film, taking time exposures of up to 20 minutes. With digital it is FAR easier because you can check your results immediately! :)

JASC Paint Shop Pro can help with photos that turn out too dark, but you may not have much need for it.