Street photography tip: Night photography on the streets?
Saturday 4 January 2025, 16:32 by Michiel Heijmans | 2,402 views | 5 commentsThis article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.
Night photography is very common in landscape photography, but street photographers usually stay indoors when it gets too dark. You often have to rely on high ISO settings or a tripod because you are shooting at slower shutter speeds. But the city is a photogenic place at night too.
Teach yourself to work with the available light. Neon lighting and illuminated shop windows create a playing field for silhouettes and portraits that you cannot make during the day.
If you are lucky, it will have just rained. The puddles that form reflect the light, creating atmospheric, dark photos with bright colours.
Shopping streets and stations are good places to try, as you are naturally more likely to encounter people there. Go out just after night has fallen, during the blue hour. So many possibilities!
About the author
Michiel is professioneel straatfotograaf en geeft workshops en lezingen over straatfotografie. Hij schrijft columns voor Focus Magazine en is erg actief op Instagram. Daar vind je dagelijks inspiratie en tips voor je eigen straatfotografie!
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5 comments
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Donald Willemsen wrote on Saturday 4 January 2025 at 17:16 | replyMichiel, it's a shame that in the story above you don't say anything about the white balance that is best to use in those dark conditions. Especially since, as you yourself already indicate, you work with various colors of light.
Translated from Dutch. -
Michiel Heijmans
wrote on Monday 6 January 2025 at 11:35
| reply
Hey Donald, you will rarely hear me mention anything about white balance in my stories in these kinds of situations. In street photography I usually have it set to auto - because it can ALWAYS be adjusted properly in post-processing. Another exercise I’ve been applying regularly lately is to lock it at 5500 and then adjust it in post-processing. That’s something the English photographer Sean Tucker also does sometimes and I have to say it’s interesting to play around with. But 99% of the time it really is set to automatic!
Translated from Dutch. -
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Donald Willemsen wrote on Monday 6 January 2025 at 12:40 | reply
Michiel, thanks for your response. You can indeed use AWB and correct it afterwards. But you also know that many people photograph in JPG, and then the story doesn't hold up. I myself now always photograph in raw and adjust the white balance afterwards. The color temperature does determine the atmosphere in the photo, though, and with all kinds of colored light in the city you can also work with different color temperatures and thus create different atmospheres.
Translated from Dutch.
It was with that knowledge that I came up with my question. Not only aimed at raw photographers, but also at JPG photographers. In my opinion, the latter are better off setting a certain color temperature value depending on the atmosphere they want to have in the photo.
I think your choice of AWB is a logical choice. -
Michiel Heijmans
wrote on Monday 6 January 2025 at 19:26
| reply
Absolutely. For now, I'll just stick with Raw after all
Translated from Dutch.
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