Who's Doing It
While almost every photographer has at least attempted a "night shot" at some time or other, a relatively small number have devoted their photographic and creative skills exclusively to photographing at night. In the late 1970's on the West Coast more and more work (a lot in color) began to surface by photographers such as Steve Harper, Richard Misrach, Arthur Ollman and others. Steve Harper began teaching college level courses and workshops dealing exclusively with night photography or "Night Light". As a result, a substantial body of work was done in Night Photography by photographers from the Bay Area in the 1980's and continues to be done today. Michael Kenna moved here from England and through most of the 80's focused on night photography, also offering workshops on the subject. Arthur Ollman went on to head the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, where the exhibition, "Night Light, A survey of 20th Century Night Photography" is currently appearing.
Timing
While a "true" night photograph would be taken an hour or so after dark, excellent results can be obtained at dusk or shortly after. The overall light is a more even balance of artificial and natural light and the mood is definitely of the night. Thus, exposures for night photographs range from a few seconds to ones that are 5 to 8 hours in length. The latter exposure time would generally take place in a traditional landscape setting, far from urban areas (and any ambient light).
Film
Any Tungsten balanced film (Ektachrome 160. Fujichrome T64, Vericolor type L, etc.) is good for most color night work. Most are transparency films, i.e. they produce positive slides for viewing and/or printing. With their tungsten color balance of approx. 32000 Kelvin they render most scenes in a "natural" way. That is, the sky is blue, the grass is green, etc. The B/W film most commonly used is Tri-X (now T-Max 400) or its Ilford/Agfa/etc equivalent. With these films, a little less development (10-20%) is usually in order due to contrastiness of scenes.
Exposure
Reciprocity failure refers to the breakdown in the relationship of exposure (time/aperture) to the density build-up in the negative or transparency. Normally films react with predictable results in this regard. When exposures run much beyond the normal range of the film - let's say 1/500 second down to 1/4 of a second, adjustments need to be made.
Suggested reciprocity failure factors: (Tri-x)
Meter Reading |
x-factor of |
= corrected exposure |
1 sec. |
1.5 |
1.5 sec. |
2 sec. |
2.0 |
4 sec. |
3 sec. |
2.5 |
7.5 sec. |
4 sec. |
3.0 |
12 sec. |
10 sec. |
5.0 |
50 sec. |
20 sec. |
6.0 |
2 min. |
40 sec. |
7.0 |
4 min. 40 sec. |
80 sec. |
8.0 |
10 min. 40 sec. |
10 min. |
11.0 |
2 hours |
- Keep accurate records of all exposures. You learn from your mistakes as well as your successes. Don't go out each time, only to have to "re-learn" the basic info that you need. Night photography as a learning experience is cumulative, much like the exposures involved. A sample exposure log is included.
- Invest in a timer with an audible signal, and maybe built in illuminance.
- Get a good industrial strength "Thermos" (unbreakable) for warm drink. It gets cold out there after an hour or so!
- Consider a MagLite flashlight as well as a small pocket flashlight. The MagLites are focusable and come in various power/brightness ratings, depending on number of power cells used. You can "light" a whole night scene with one!
This article was originally published as part of syllabus for the "Ten Years of Night" Workshop, held February 23, 1991 in San Francisco's Lincoln Park