1. Select a creative subject. You might choose a romantic cityscape or the boardwalk at night. You may find favorable opportunities in shooting fireworks or other light shows. Don’t forget about bridges and other structures that may be lit at nightfall.

2. Begin with the night mode setting. Until you are comfortable with your camera and its settings, practice photographing nighttime scenes and subjects with your camera’s presets.

3. Elongate the exposure time. A longer shutter exposure will help you to capture sharper nighttime images.

4. Don’t erase imperfection! Blurry and out of focus images make for a unique, artistic touch. Remember, you can always delete images later, but you can’t recreate the opportunity very easily.

5. Allow a tripod to do the dirty work. Affix your digital camera to a tripod for ultimate stability and elimination of camera shake. It is vital to keep the camera steady if you want to capture the best shots.

6. Consider shooting without a flash. Switch between a flash and settings based on your proximity to the subject. Close subjects may benefit from flash whereas distant subjects will not. Where you have natural light, such as a full moon, overhead streetlights or bright city lights, consider shooting without a flash. You can also take photos during or just after sunset for a beautiful glowing hue.

7. Be camera-happy. Take as many photos as you like, and then take some more. If you shoot a large number of photos, you are sure to have more “keepers” than if you merely shoot a handful of each subject.

8. For situations with limited light, adjust your ISO to a higher setting. This enhances your digital camera’s sensitivity and thereby reduces blur.

9. Gradually increase your settings for best results. This is known as “bracketing,” a technique photographers use to adjust and modify their cameras’ settings without making any drastic changes. After you take a number of photos with each different setting, you’ll be able to examine the images on the computer and determine the best programming.

10. Shoot at different angles. In addition to standard horizontal and vertical angles, get a little bit creative. Shoot wide shots for landscape and city line images and vertical shots for tall subjects. Experiment with aerial shots from atop bridges, buildings and other structures. If it is a warm evening and you are in a safe, clean location, lay on the ground and take a shot upward. Modify your angles until you find the ones that best suit your shooting style.

Many people consider nighttime photography to be a tough facet of digital photography to master. Low lighting calls for modified settings on the camera, and multiple shots to achieve the best possible image. Take your time, practice and you’ll soon discover your own talents in nighttime photography.

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