Thanks to Brian Hellyer, one of our members, for contributing the notes below about making night shots without using a tripod or flash.  The links to the books he gives may be browsed for free and contain some of his own images and are best viewed full screen with a good internet connection.  Do remember to control your camera exposures otherwise the camera tries to make the scene as bright as day, so either use manual or dial in negative exposure compensation to keep shutter times short…

“It is possible to take acceptable night pictures without the encumbrance of a tripod, and without using flash. This is particularly true of street scenes in towns and cities where there is plenty of artificial lighting – and that will be so in the run up to the festive season.

One example you might look at is from the Missenden Photographers ‘Monopoly’ series…

www.blurb.co.uk/b/6159541-monopoly-at-night-2

The full book may be previewed.  All of the images in this book are hand held shots.

Similarly our little book ‘In the Night’ is composed only of digital images from compact cameras…

http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/3888685-in-the-night

The technical quality will clearly be less than might be obtained from a long exposure in a medium format camera on a solid tripod, but this sort of use of a digital compact can be very effective in capturing the mood or spirit of a place a night, so long as you do not want to make very large prints.  A certain fluidity can even add to the image.

Where available light is insufficient a powerful torch or even car headlamps can help create an image, although even the light from a single street lamp can produce something interesting.

BH

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