Tips for Shooting Night Skylines 22 North Photography
Here are some tips for getting the best skyline shots:
(1) Timing is critical. Try to shoot about 30-45 minutes after sunset or about 30 minutes before sunrise. Why? You want to shoot at the time when the sky is about as bright as the city lights. This will give you the most dramatic sky possible and will give you a nice shot of an illuminated skyline. If you shoot earlier, you could be stuck with a sky that is too bright or buildings that are too dark. Similarly, don’t wait until the sky is pitch black, because you will end up with a black or dull gray look, often with some noise and undesirable light artifacts. Check out the picture that is attached, which was taken of the Chicago skyline about 40 minutes after sunset.
(2) Use a tripod. If you are going to shoot at night you will need a long exposure, so you have to use a tripod.
(3) Do not shoot in Auto mode for this! Your camera will tend to boost the ISO setting, which means that you will have lots of undesirable noise. You want to shoot at ISO 100 if possible, and adjust the shutter speed and aperture accordingly. If you are shooting a relatively flat skyline, like in the attached picture, you can use a wider aperture. I like to shoot between f/8 and f/11, because this usually gives you the sharpest image. Then adjust the shutter speed until your in camera light meter says that you are good to go.
(4) Be careful with HDR. Night shooting can be a good opportunity to use HDR. However, it really is not necessary if you are shooting when the sky and the buildings are at the same brightness. Often, HDR at night will tend to unnaturally brighten the sky and you will lose that deep purple tone. At sunset, I like HDR. Too long after sunset, however, it might not help your image.
(5) Shoot in RAW and adjust white balance. You should be using RAW mode so that you can adjust the white balance. Your image will have all kinds of lights in it, from tungsten and fluorescent building lights, to halogen car lights, to the natural light of the sky, so you might get some wacky results if you leave it to your camera to select the WB. If you shoot in RAW mode, you can and should adjust the white balance in post editing according to you taste. Personally, I like to decrease the color temperature in post-editing to give the sky a deeper blueish-purple tone (se attached picture), but it depends on you taste.
Good luck!
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