Are you as good a night photographer as you will ever be?
If your answer is yes, then, as the contemporary cliché goes, you’re doing it wrong. As with any art, “mastering” photography is not a goal, but rather a perpetual process. You are never as good as you will someday be—and that’s a good thing. Endless are the ways to grow and improve.
That growth happens naturally, as you work past your first 10,000 worst photographs, and then past your next 10,000 worst, and so on. But that growth, as well as the direction of it, can also happen deliberately. You can decide what to work on, and how to do that work. You can set destinations for your talent, and you can choose the roads that get you there.
The new year is the perfect time to do all of that. When the time comes to change the calendar on the wall, I also like to think about how I can better my photography skills in the year ahead. Each January I think about one big thing I’d like to learn or improve upon, and I keep it in mind on shoots throughout winter, spring, summer and fall, all in an effort to take some control over how I get better.
If you’d like to take this task on for yourself in 2020, below are six ideas for progressing in night photography. Choose one and focus on it in the year ahead. Then, at the end of this post, I’ll make you an offer.
1. Learn a New Technique
I think of photography techniques as tools, and the set of techniques learned as my toolbox. The more tools in my box, the better I can take advantage of different light conditions, different landforms, different weather, and so on. The more tools I have, the less often I need to turn away from a challenging photographic opportunity.
So every year I try to focus either on some new (for me) technique, or I try to hone a skill that I want to better master, or I push the boundaries of how I use a strategy so that I can create new ideas or aesthetics in my photographs.
For example, two years ago I realized that all of my light painting involved adding light that was a warmer color temperature than ambient, because I love that contrast. But I loved it so much that light painting that way became a habit rather than a conscious shot-by-shot choice. So my goal for 2018 was to work on using color temperatures that blended with the ambient light. I did that all year, and got good enough at it so that now my second nature is to always choose which strategy I prefer, rather than to default to one or the other.
Last year I chose another goal. I realized that I was always shooting night scenes at high ISOs. Of course sometimes that’s necessary, such as when photographing star points. But I shot at high ISOs almost all the time, for several reasons. Some of them were good, but my most honest reason was because I was intimidated by investing larger swaths of time and wasting those investments on mistakes. There are many advantages to slowing down at night, so in 2019 my goal was to break that habit and shoot long any time I could. I wanted to become more confident in an approach that would yield better images.
Last summer I photographed Badlands National Park with Matt Hill for a few days. In the past I would have likely defaulted to shooting this image with a short star-point exposure or by stacking a series of short exposures to create the trails. But in the middle of my “long-exposure 2019” commitment, I opted for a ten-minute shutter speed, which allowed me to use ISO 100 for better image quality. Nikon D5 with a Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens, light painted with a Luxli Viola. 10 minutes, f/5, ISO 100.
What’s my goal for 2020? Using hyperfocal distance is the best way to ensure accurate focus in a night photo, but the technique isn’t easy. I understand hyperfocal enough to use it, and even enough to teach it. But it’s not a habit. I can’t employ it from implicit memory. By the end of this year, that will have changed.
2. Try a New Camera
Last spring I was able to play with the best-in-class high ISO performance of the Nikon Z 6 in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, as well as a couple of times since. I’m looking forward to using one even more in 2020 so I can grow better accustomed to the intricacies of mirrorless. Nikon Z 6 with a Nikon 14-24mm lens. 8 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 6400.
We all know that we should practice using our camera so well that we can operate it in the dark. (That goes double for night photographers, because we need to do that literally.) While that is great advice, there’s a downside—routine is not the most fertile ground for creativity. Research is clear that having obstacles between inspiration and output pushes your mind into more creative places.
One of the ways to harness this idea is to use a new camera. Buy something new to the market. Or something very old from a previous owner. Or rent something you’re unfamiliar with. Or borrow your friend’s favorite camera. Then let the challenge of learning to use it open new creative channels in your mind. Pushing your brain always comes with benefits.
Moreover, using a new camera exposes you to new features that your current body might not offer. Perhaps it’s sharper autofocus, or in-camera focus stacking, or better live view, or cleaner high ISOs, or so on.
I’m a DSLR guy. The ins and outs of using one are embedded in my process, to the point where using something else is a hindrance. So in 2020 I intend to become more comfortable using a mirrorless camera—in particular, the Nikon Z 6, which Gabe Biderman recently dubbed the best camera for night photography. I have no intention of switching permanently, but I’d like to learn the different technology so I’m comfortable using it when doing so is advantageous.
3. Try a New Lens
If you really want to stretch creative boundaries, try an “extreme” lens like the Nikon 8-15mm fisheye zoom. But be warned: It can be addictive—good luck getting it off your camera. Nikon D5 with a Nikon Fisheye 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. 30 seconds, f/3.5, ISO 6400.
Adopting a new lens not only changes where you stand to make a photograph, but it can also change how you see. Have you ever found yourself in a rut when shooting? Changing lenses is one of the quickest ways out. And adding a new type of lens to your arsenal is one of the best ways to start seeing scenes differently.
Perhaps try a superwide rectilinear, such as the Irix 11mm. It will force you to get closer to your primary subject and adapt how you use your backgrounds. Or test something with a crazy-wide aperture and shallow depth of field, like the Nikon Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct. Or experiment with using a macro at night and tackling all the logistical changes that brings to your workflow. Or get really crazy and create with the deliberate distortion of a lens like the Nikon 8-15mm fisheye zoom.
4. Go Outside Your Box
Look at your photos from the past few years and identify patterns. Then, this year, break them.
For example, if you notice that you always shoot from eye level, then start every composition with your camera on the ground. If you always shoot star points, then aim for more star trails. If you always shoot landscapes, try urban scenes. If you always light paint from the side, try using backlight.
This list of examples could go on forever. For every way to do something in photography, there’s also a different way. Find it and try it. You might discover a whole new approach to creating photographs. Or not. Either way, working outside your norm will give you fresh ideas for your usual fortes.
Last spring I traveled to Borrego Springs, California, to co-lead two of our workshops with Lance Keimig and Atlas Obscura. I had no interest in shooting the place—I was there strictly for work. But once there, I quickly fell in love with seeing and photographing the desert sculptures. The subject matter is completely outside the box of what I’m usually drawn to, and that was a good thing, because shooting it was a creative push for me. Nikon D5 with a Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, light painted with a Luxli Viola. 10 minutes, f/5.6, ISO 500.
5. Travel to a New Location
Traveling to new places can be wildly stimulating. You’re seeing new things, which leads to photographing in new ways. The mind gets excited by new input, and anything that fires your synapses in a different order will be good for growing your artistic self.
If you’ve lived your whole life in New England, travel to Arches National Park and see how quickly your inspiration soars. If you frequent the southwest, head to the peaks of North Cascades. If you’re always shooting mountains, try the primal environment and wildlife of the Everglades. If wildlife and flat landscapes are your main gig, head to the forests of Shenandoah.
Want to branch out of photographing the U.S.? There’s a big, beautiful world to explore with your camera. Go shoot the standing stones of Scotland’s Orkney Islands, or the shifting sands of the Sahara, or the continent-edge sea cliffs of the Nullarbor Plain, or the urban art and architecture of Barcelona.
In 2019 I was able to photograph Devils Tower National Monument for the first time. Being able to spend a week in a new location catalyzed my creativity. Never had I shot so many stitched night panos, but it was a perfect location for that technique, so I got a lot of practice. Nikon D5 with an Irix 15mm f/2.4 lens. Nine stitched images exposed at 20 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 6400.
6. Reshoot an Old Location
Just as valuable as visiting new places can be revisiting old ones. You may think you know a place, but the more you go, the more you’ll realize you don’t know.
For one thing, you will be different. You will know more about photography than you did last time.
Moreover, the weather will be different. The light will be different. The clouds, the trees, the flowers, the leaves, the stars, the moon, the palette, the hues—everything can and will change. There’s always a new way and a new time to see an old place, and finding that will push the boundaries of the work you produce there.
(For more on this idea, see our blog posts “Revisiting Locations Can Lead to Seeing with New Eyes” and “How Revisiting Locations Can Improve Your Night Photos.”)
Since the mid-1990s I’ve visited and photographed Cape Cod National Seashore so many times that I couldn’t even count them, and that includes shooting at Highland Lighthouse. It would be easy to think I’ve run out of ways to photograph it, but this past October, different weather and some group light painting led me to a take I hadn’t done before—and now this is one of my favorite images I’ve ever made there. Nikon D5 with a Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens, and light painted with a Luxli Viola. 30 seconds, f/4, ISO 1600.
Use 2020 to Grow
So there you go. Above I offered some ideas. Now here I offer a promise:
In the Comments section below, or in the comments on our Facebook page, tell us how you plan to push your creative self this year. Pick one big thing to focus on, and keep it in mind as you shoot during the next 12 months. You don’t have to do it every time out, and you don’t need to do it for every shot—just make that goal part of your routine so that you begin to develop a true mastery, thereby creating a new tool that you’re comfortable using whenever you need it in the future. At the end of the year I’ll get in touch with everyone who responds, we’ll follow up on how it went, and I’ll write another blog post featuring your stories.
Are you comfortable with how you will pursue night photography in 2020? Then get out of that comfort zone now. Pick a way to grow and see the new heights you can reach in a year.
