Finding nighttime, Neon Sign’s and low-light subjects is pretty easy and even ordinary things you might not notice during the day can become quite interesting after dark–simple things like walk lights and even the local fast food joint are all worthwhile design ideas. If you want to get a little more adventurous and add motion to the nighttime mix, things like traffic patterns and carnival rides can turn into extraordinary images when combined with a long exposure. In summertime, almost every town and city has an annual fireworks display that provides great opportunities for night shots.

For your inspiration we have showcased 30 Stunning Neon / Night photography Examples and Tips And if you’re really ambitious, you can create your own light and motion pictures with things like sparklers or flashlights.

Introduction to Night Photography

Just when the sun has set and you thought it was safe to go back to the couch after a hard day of shooting, suddenly night falls and a whole new world of subjects is illuminated. From the jack-o-lanterns on your neighbor’s front step to the bright lights of Broadway to the neon signs at the local diner, the night is full of color and light and all you need to capture it is a tripod, a lot of memory card space and a pioneering spirit.

The set-up

The first thing to do is stop your camera automatically firing its built-in flash. Then once it’s off, find a way to keep your perfectly still, which is usually impossible if you are hand holding it.

Long Expoures vs High ISO

With the camera held firmly in place you can fire the shutter and make the most of the long speed. But don’t think it’s always that easy. Often night photography has huge areas of the scene in darkness with occasional illuminated areas, such as spotlit buildings, moonlit trees, fireworks, fairground illuminations, neon signs etc.

Neon signs

Neon signs are one of my absolute favorite subjects–they’re bright, they’re colorful and a lot of them are very retro looking which I find fascinating. Photographing neon is incredibly simple because your matrix meter reading is usually very accurate and you can be off by a stop or two and you’ll still get great photos.

White balance

One final thing to be aware of is colour casts as scenes with different types of lighting in them can end up having coloured tints to them if your white balance isn’t set correctly.

Zooming

If you’re looking for a fun way to add a twist to your night shots, consider the old “zooming” technique that was so popular back in the film SLR days. It’s a simple technique and with digital, of course, you can see the results of your experiments right away. The technique is simple: just set a relatively long exposure (at least 1/15th second) and then zoom the lens from one extreme to the other during the exposure.

Examples of Neon / Night Photography

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