Night-Time Photography.

Try photographing moving traffic so it records as a series of colourful streaks.   Hold the shutter open for about 20 seconds at f5.6 Look for colourful reflections from neon signs in puddles, car paintwork or wet tarmac, and move in close to create eye catching abstracts. Try photographing things like illuminated signs through multi-image filters or double expose the shot to create wacky special effects. Neon signs outside shops, night-clubs, pubs, cinemas and hotels make great pictures if you move in close and concentrate on their brilliant colours

A tripod and cable release are essential for night photography because you will inevitably be working at long exposures and will need to support the camera to prevent camera shake For total control at night you need a camera with a B (bulb) setting which allows you to hold the shutter open for as long as you like If it is a windy night, hang your camera bag over your tripod to increase its stability Fast film, such as ISO 400 and above is ideal when you want to to take hand-held pictures of dimly lit subjects but still maintain decent shutter speeds

Avoid including bright lights in the frame at night.  They will fool your camera into underexposing, burn out and may cause lens flare Always bracket your exposures a good two or three stops under and over what the meter says to be sure of getting a few frames spot on.  With print film it is best to err on the side of over exposure Film tends to behave strangely when exposed for longer than one second, and needs more light than your meter indicates.  This is called Reciprocity (see special notes below) Strange colour casts may also appear on your pictures when you work at long exposures, but don't worry - they can actually enhance the final result.

	Time at f5.6
City at night	15 secs
Fair/Amusements	1/2 sec
Floodlit buildings	2 secs
Bright city street	1/2 sec
Shop window	1/2 sec
Neon signs	1/15 sec
Moonlit landscape	4 mins
Picture of Full moon	1/500 sec

At long exposures the film needs more light than you would expect.   The table below shows how many extra stops you are likely to need. (each stop = 2X exposure time)

For an exposure of > 1 sec 10 Sec 100 sec B/W film +1 stop +2 stops +3 stops Colour slide +1 stop +2 stops +3 stops Colour print none +1 stop +2 stops

Try zooming during a long exposure - this technique works particularly well with subjects like neon signs or floodlit buildings Try moving your camera around so that everything records as blurred streaks Mixing a burst of electronic flash with a long exposure is an ideal way of lighting things close to the camera, like people, while still recording detail in the scene