Putting Pictures to Paper: How Printing Can Make You a Better Photographer

Last year Gabriel Biderman wrote a post about making printing part of your photographic process. I loved it. Then this past week our partners at Bay Photo Lab hung out with us during our night photography workshop at Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Both of these things brought my thoughts back to my earliest days of photography, and got me thinking about why we printed then and how the print compares to the modern digital equivalent. It also led me to thinking about how printing is more than just another way to show our images in yet another medium. Printing can actually make you a better photographer.

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Patrick (above, at left) from Bay Photo visited our workshop in San Francisco last week, to help spread the word about how important printing can be to improving photography skills. Me (right), more than a few years ago, loading my 4x5 camera with film—in the days when a print was the only final format.

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A World of Myriad Media

Printing was always a huge part of my creative process. An image wasn’t complete until I mounted and framed the finished print and shared it with others. So how does that differ from today?

Well, these days we share our work a bit differently. For many, the final destination may very well be Facebook, an iPhone or an Instagram account. The share is so much faster. Immediate. And share we do. Perhaps we even overshare.

This rarely happened before—because printing took so much longer (and was much more expensive and time-consuming), it was inevitable that we wouldn’t be able to show as much of our work. Only the best images made it out of the darkroom or returned from the lab. This made us much more selective about what we presented to the world.

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Modern tech has now made it fairly easy for us to us get our images in front of others. This ease, in turn, has made it tempting to share a lot more images. In many ways, this is good. It gets us out shooting, which provides the practice we need to get better, hones our skills at seeing light, and helps us improve our composition skills.

The downside is feeling compelled to put out images even when we know they are not our best. Today’s climate certainly rewards those who share frequently. But we have to remember the old adage: You are only as good as the weakest photo in your portfolio.

The majority of anyone’s images are just that—kinda weak. No one makes awesome images every time they pick up their camera. Most of our work is simply the attempt at making stunning images, but the true masterpieces are far between and few.

That being said, photography is one of those art forms that has many uses. As such, many of us don’t strive for a masterpiece with every exposure. A selfie in front of the Lincoln Memorial means something completely different than the same shot without you in it. There are as many reasons to take photographs as there are to share them. We just need to consider which work we want to share, how we want to share it, with whom, and for what reason. Your family will be most forgiving of technical errors in an image showing your vacation in Europe, while the audience at the coffee house may be decidedly more critical, and the visitors at a gallery more critical still.

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Chris Nicholson recently made a 40x60 Bay Photo Xposer print of one of his Big Bend National Park images—just to put in his living room.

So, Why are We Printing?

To my mind, there are three good reasons for making a print:

1. To celebrate your masterpieces.

They are not easily achieved. Be proud of the hard work you’ve invested to create them. There is no reason to make prints of every snap you’ve made. But it’s really nice to honor your best pieces by creating prints of them. Putting them in books or placing them up on your wall will ensure they live on.

2. To slow yourself down.

It will take extra time, knowledge and money to make prints, so you will want to be selective. You will want to be more deliberate during the culling process. Really get in and examine your images. For each photograph you’re considering committing to paper, ask yourself:

• Is it sharp?

• Is the light right for the scene?

• How was your timing?

• Could you make a better photo if you returned?

When you’re spending more time and money on printing your photos, you may find you become much pickier.

In 2010, Lance Keimig printed for a Simmer Dim exhibit at New England School of Photography, showcasing his work from Scotland.

3. To become a better photographer.

Yup, creating prints will make you better. How? Through attention to detail. A good-size print won’t hide the flaws in your photo. In fact, it may highlight them. It’s beyond frustrating to spend a lot of money to get a large print made only to find out that there’s a technical problem with the shot—that it’s out of focus, for example, or that you missed a bunch of dust spots in the sky.

On the bright side, this type of lesson really hits home. It teaches you to be more careful so that the same mistake will not happen again. (On the other hand, when simply replacing an online photo with a fixed version, the inconvenience barely registers. No pain, no gain.)

Printing as a Way to Improve

Another part of the problem of oversharing our less-than-stellar work arises from the way we view the images. The small screens of the phone and tablet—and the small sizes of the images shown on them—do a great job at hiding imperfections. They don’t hide poor composition or uninteresting imagery. This makes it difficult to ascertain the quality of craftsmanship. We can cheat, or we can post images that we wouldn’t otherwise show. As it turns out, it’s not hard to hide poor technique on an iPhone.

The print however, can shed an extra ray of light on laziness and negligence.

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Attendees of our 2018 Sloss Furnaces workshop had their favorite images printed for an exhibit at the national historic landmark’s visitor center. Photo © Ron Clemmons.

Now, take that same less-than-stellar image and try to make a print.

• Does it look the same?

• Does it have the same impact?

• Will it stand up to the continued scrutiny of being viewed every day?

• Is it as good as you thought it was, now that you see it large?

Making prints will make you a better photographer. The person who spends time perfecting the craft and paying attention to detail will ultimately produce far better photography.

And I don’t mean just technically superior imagery. I also mean more meaningful photography. The whole process of slowing down and working in a more meticulous manner will not only benefit your technical chops, but it will also improve your composition and seeing skills. That, arguably, is even more important.

As Gabe says, “Seize the print!”

Tim Cooper is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night. Learn more techniques from his book The Magic of Light Painting, available from Peachpit.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

Photographing Phantoms: How to Capture Ghosts and Spirits in Night Images

“Darkness falls across the land, the midnight hour is close at hand.”

— Vincent Price

I recently spent an incredibly fun night at the historic Sleep Hollow Cemetery in New York with the B&H Video team and the wonderful model @seashellspells. Our mission was to make an educational video on how you can create “ghosts” and “spirits” with long exposures.

You can view the video below, and then read all about how I approach making “ghost” images at night.

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Humankind has been fascinated with spirits for a very long time. And that includes photographers. Some of the first photographs ever made focused on “spirit photography,” which was incredibly popular from the 1860s until the early 20th century.

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Figure 1. Haunted Lane, by Melander & Bro, 1889. A well-choreographed image taken during the height of spirit photography.

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Figure 2. Brown Lady of Raynham Hall. One of the most famous ghost photographs of all time, taken by Captain Hubert C. Provand and Indre Shira on assignment for Country Life. This “ghostly image” is on the negative and was probably created by long exposure and movement.

Early in my career, I was influenced by the modern photographer Duane Michals, who created beautiful and whimsical storyboard tales that often incorporated spirits.

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Figure 3. The Spirit Leaves the Body, 1968. Duane Michals was the master of double exposures to create apparitions in his story telling.

Of course, we’ve all seen a ghosting effect in some of our images—when our exposures get longer and a person moves through. But rather than the effect being an accident, how can we control it and bring these “spiritual beings” into existence?

Ghostly Gear

No specialized camera gear is needed. Any body and lens that has manual controls and manual focus options will do.

A tripod is key—you need something solid to put your camera on so you can capture the spirits moving through the frame. A Vello Shutterboss II or remote release will help you achieve exposures longer than 30 seconds, which can be very helpful in darker scenarios.

Another item is something we don’t always use as much in our regular night work: a flash. While you can use flashlights and LEDs to create more abstract ghosts, a flash is a must for “capturing” a spirit with more detail. Take your flash off your camera and trigger it by hand or with a wireless remote—this will also create more depth to your scene.

Finally, a neutral density filter will help you attain longer exposures, especially if you want to “catch a ghost” during the day.

The Boo Basics

First, figure out your base exposure. You will need dim conditions (or that neutral density filter) to achieve a long exposure. Whether you turn off all the lights in the room or go outside during the day or night, you will need an exposure between 10 and 20 seconds to form a proper ghost (Figure 4).

Think about mass and time. If you have a 10-second shot and your model moves out of the scene after 5 seconds, the camera will continue to expose and you’ll be able to see through their body. If the model stays for more time, they will be more solid; if less time, you’ll see through them even more.

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Figure 4. I always start with putting the model in the image for half the exposure and then adjust accordingly. Here we see the model in the 10-second shot for (from left to right) 5 seconds, 3 seconds and 2 seconds. I liked the 3-second shot the best, but the 2-second could be interesting to use if I wanted something more ethereal. Nikon Z 6 with a Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4 lens at 30mm. 10 seconds, f/5.6, ISO 6400.

Background Considerations

Be aware of your background and choose contrasting clothes according to your goals. A couple of examples:

I created one of my first ghost photos back in the film days (Figure 5). I had the model dress in a white slip and we photographed in a recently abandoned house during the day. I was able to obtain a long exposure of 10 to 20 seconds by stopping down my aperture. I directed her to move from sitting on the bed to touching the black dress hanging on the wall. Because she moved around, her mass wasn’t in one place too long. But just as important was that most of the room was light-colored, just like her clothes, so she appeared in the image only when she was standing in front of the darker background of a dress hanging on a wall (Figure 1).

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Figure 5. Pentax K1000. Approximately 10-second exposure on Kodak TriX 400 film.

My next stab at making a ghost was a self-portrait at the Circus Maximus in Rome (Figure 6). This fared much better. The steps were white marble and my clothing was darker. The exposure was 3 minutes and I sat on the steps for half the time.

Note that my ghost is fairly sharp. No one can stay still for 1 second, let alone 1.5 minutes. I was able to achieve this two ways:

1. Sitting on the steps with my arms on my lap provided a very stable position for me to hold still and count to 90.

2. I’m small in the image. If your model is larger in the composition—either because you’re honed in with a longer lens or because you place them closer to the camera—then any movement will be magnified.

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Figure 6. Self-Portrait Ghost. Pentax K1000. 3 minutes on Trix 400 film.

Let’s return to Sleepy Hollow (Figure 7) for a few more examples about backgrounds.

I asked our model, Christine, to wear her dark green dress against light grey walls. She stood still for 5 seconds and then walked out of the frame. The total exposure was 10 seconds. Look at the lower portion of the image—her dress blends into the dark background because the contrast is similar. But the ghost of her pops out in the areas of higher contrast (i.e., her skin and where the dress is against the lighter brick background).

I liked that shot, but Christine isn’t very sharp in it. So for the second attempt, I had her lean her body against the brick wall. This stabilized her form and made her a clearer spirit during half the exposure.

Christine then changed into a lighter outfit that provided further contrast against the background and made her pop even more.

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Figure 7. All images shot with a Nikon Z 6 and Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4 lens at 30mm. 10 seconds, f/5.6, ISO 3200. Model was in the scene for half the time, or 5 seconds.

Along the same lines, always be aware of the sky, especially in overcast conditions and in bright urban areas. When the sky is the background, it can be challenging to create a ghost in front of it. Figure 8 provides a more extreme example and is definitely something we need to be aware of to either avoid or embrace. Note how much detail we can see in the white dress against the darker background, but that same detail disappears into a silhouette against the bright sky.

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Figure 8. Nikon Z 6 with a Nikon Z 14-30mm lens at 30mm. 13 seconds, f/5.6, ISO 3200. Model was in the scene for 5 seconds.

Experiment with Spectral Movement

Ghost photography can be even more fun when the spirits move within the scene. We gave this a try in Sleepy Hollow by having our spirit rise from the grave (Figure 9). Christine lay down for half of the 10-second exposure and then sat up and stayed still for half. The first shot didn’t work out because of the background interference—her ghost was blending too much into the statue behind her. I readjusted my composition and we experimented with the timing of her various movements.

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Figure 9. Nikon Z 6 with a Nikon Z 14-30mm lens at 14mm. 10 seconds, f/5.6, ISO 3200. Model was in the scene for 5 seconds.

Another way you can create an eerie sense of movement is by adding “multiple personality ghosts.” You can do this a few different ways.

Have your spirit stand in two places during the exposure. Experiment with time, but a good starting point for a 10-second exposure is to have the model stand in one spot for 4 seconds, move in 2 seconds, and hold the second position for the remaining 4 seconds.

Another way to do this is with multiple exposures, which you can shoot in a single frame if your camera has a multiple exposure mode.

I had a lot of fun with my grandparents one day with my Mamiya C220 film camera (Figure 10). Once I metered the scene and figured out the exposure, I divided the shutter speed in half and took two shots that would equal the whole exposure. We used this multiple exposure technique to create a ghost of my grandmother surrounding my grandfather.

I then took the multiple-exposure strategy to the next level by creating an image in which you can see through my grandmother’s hands to her face. I did this by opening the shutter when her hands were over her face, then, while holding her head very still, she lowered her hands. This proved to be a very effective layered image.

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Figure 10. Using multiple exposures can be an effective and easy way to create ghosts. Mamiya C220 film camera.

Most modern cameras have a multiple exposure mode that does all the metering for you. You select how many images you want to take, it figures out the overall exposure. The cool thing is that once you take the first shot, you can often see that image on the LCD before taking the second shot—that way you can be very precise with your layered composition.

Freezing Phantoms with Flash

You can also create multiple versions of the same ghost, as well as a more defined ghost, by using a flash to freeze your model. Instead of having them hold still for seconds, you can just pop the flash, have them move to the next position and pop the flash again, or have them walk out of the scene.

The flash creates highlights that will be reflected back and forever etched into the image. You still need to be aware of how a bright background can eat through your ghost, but I find that the flash opens up many creative opportunities for storytelling in a single long exposure.

To start, I generally set my flash to its lowest power and then adjust accordingly. In Sleepy Hollow, for the first exposure (Figure 11) I discussed with Christine the idea of creating multiple ghosts in the same frame, advising that each pose should be different, and that they should be interacting. We did a walk-through of the positioning so she could familiarize herself with the space that she had to work with. I moved around the scene as well to make sure the flash would be evenly fired at the same distance and angle.

Figure 11. Nikon Z 6 with a Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4 lens at 18mm, with a Profoto A1 flash. 20 seconds, f/5.6, ISO 1600.

We decided to challenge ourselves with a triple flash ghost shot that added depth to the scene (Figure 12). For this 30-second photograph, we started with the closest position so that I could ensure it was focused and sharp. I popped my Profoto A1 flash at level 5, at a 45-degree angle and 10 feet away. Christine then moved to the predetermined spots in the background, carefully spaced so there was minimal overlap of the ghosts. We adjusted the flash to power 4 and kept it at the same distance and angle for each pose.

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Figure 12. It was important to have a more powerful burst of flash on the closer ghost and slightly less in the more distant ghost. This helps us layer the scene better. Nikon Z 6 with a Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4 lens at 16mm, with a Profoto A1 flash. 30 seconds, f/5.6, ISO 1000.

Putting it all together

When working with models and creating ghosts, you need to be a director. Talk through your vision of what you want to convey. You and your model should bounce ideas off each other—it is definitely a collaborative process! You’ll need to direct the movement, call out the seconds and, as discussed, be aware of the background. Do you want to create contrast to give more detail to the spirit or less contrast/movement to form something more ethereal?

Let’s put it all together and reconstruct how we created what ended up being our favorite shot of the night. We used time, movement and flash to create a very unique and elegantly eerie spirit!

During the 20-second exposure we started by popping a flash on Christine in the distant position. She then used the remaining time to walk slowly toward the camera and then stopped right in front about 1 or 2 feet away. She held that position for 3 to 4 seconds. It took a few attempts, but I’m thrilled with what we created (Figure 13—the unlucky ghost number!).

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Figure 13. Nikon Z 6 with a Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4 lens at 30mm, with a Profoto A1 flash. 20 seconds, f/4, ISO 1600.

Wrapping Up

As the nights become longer, I hope this inspires you to do a little ghost hunting of your own!

Share your spirits with us in the comments below, on our Facebook page, or by tagging #nationalparksatnight on Instagram.

Note: Want to learn these techniques and more during a hands-on workshop? Our Night Portraiture in Catskill workshop is the perfect match!

Gabriel Biderman is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night. He is a Brooklyn-based fine art and travel photographer, and author of Night Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots (Peachpit, 2014). During the daytime hours you'll often find Gabe at one of many photo events around the world working for B&H Photo’s road marketing team. See his portfolio and workshop lineup at www.ruinism.com.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

A Grave Collection: Five Nighttime Photos of Cemeteries

Halloween. The time of year when fright seems right. Ghouls and goblins, phantoms and fantasy—crisp leaves floating from trees, a frosty chill in the breeze—all meld to make us feel unsettled … uneasy … unsure of what lingers in shadows.

That, of course, can scare up our creativity and inspire us to photograph subjects that by nature seem to belong to the night. And one of the obvious choices is cemeteries.

Last year Lance Keimig wrote about “Working in (and with) the Dead of Night,” which explored topics such as photographing in rural versus urban graveyards, modern versus historic sites, seeking proper permission, safety, lighting and more. This year, we decided we’d each choose one of our favorite cemetery night images and share the story behind it.

So come with us, into the boneyards at night, above the tombs, amid the doom of Allhallows Eve. We promise: There’s nothing to be afraid of in the dark. (Except for intervalometers. They can be kind of scary.)

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Greenwood Cemetery

by Gabriel Biderman

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Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York. Fujifilm X-T1 with a 10-24mm f/4 lens. HDR blend of seven images made at f/8 with different ISOs and shutter speeds.

History and proximity have made Greenwood Cemetery one of my favorite places to photograph.

The idea of a large modern cemetery that we are all familiar with did not exist in America until 1831. In fact, the transition from small family plots to “rural cemeteries” ushered in the era of our first public parks. That’s right—cemeteries like Sleepy Hollow, Greenwood and Woodlawn were known for their rolling hills, winding paths, extravagant stone work and scenic views, and were visited by the masses for their peaceful sylvan feel in a quickly industrializing age. Ironically, these sprawling cemeteries would later inspire more green spaces like Central Park and Boston Common.

I’ve long been fascinated with these elegant outdoor museums and their dichotomy against the modern urban landscape. And I’m not the only one—the statue of Minerva in Greenwood Cemetery was placed at the highest point in Brooklyn facing and saluting her sister in the sea, Lady Liberty.

One night, I wandered around Greenwood looking for more intriguing intersections between the bright lights of the living and the darker city of the dead. That’s when I found this scene. According to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, obelisks have been a powerful symbol since ancient times, and they were often raised in pairs “keeping with the Egyptian value of balance and harmony; it was believed that the two on earth were reflected by two in the heavens.”

This is one of my favorite pictures of Greenwood, taken soon after the completion of One World Trade Center. Balance and harmony.

Burial Hill Cemetery

by Lance Keimig

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Burial Hill Cemetery, Plymouth, Massachusetts. Canon 5D Mark II with a Nikon 50mm f/1.4 lens. 43 seconds, f/2, ISO 320.

Somehow I often find myself wandering alone in graveyards at night. I’m not inclined to dress in black––the goth look or lifestyle doesn’t really suit me—but I do find solitude in these somber places. I’m not prone to getting creeped out, so spending some time wandering among the stones, taking time to read the inscriptions and wondering about the lives of those who ended up below my feet, is at once stimulating and relaxing.

There are so many beautiful graveyards I’ve visited in my travels: Hólavallagarður in Reykjavik, which probably contains half of the trees in Iceland in a couple of square blocks; Père-Lachaise in Paris, the final resting place of Molière, Chopin and Jim Morrison; Sleepy Hollow in Tarrytown, New York, of Headless Horseman fame; or any number of churchyards in the west of Ireland with their gorgeous Celtic crosses.

I think my favorite has to be Burial Hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts. This cemetery—in the place where the Pilgrims established the first permanent colony in North America—is rich in history and is the final resting place of many of the Mayflower passengers and descendants. It’s also quite photogenic and contains a fascinating collection of well-preserved headstones dating back to the 17th century.

The stone pictured above marks the grave of Joshua Bramhall, who died in 1763. The exceptionally spooky carving on the slate is unlike any other I have seen in any Colonial New England cemetery.

I used a 50mm lens at a wide aperture for shallow depth of field, and a low camera angle to come in tight on the stone with minimal distortion. I lit the stone from directly above with a Coast LED flashlight to emphasize the carving and the lichen. In addition to the frightening face with the crazy hair, also interesting to note are that the carver’s guidelines are still visible, lightly etched into the slate to mark the place where the inscription would go.

Clonmacnoise Monastery

by Matt Hill

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Clonmacnoise, Athlone, Ireland. Nikon D750, Zeiss 15mm Distagon f/2.8 lens. 91 seconds, f/4, ISO 100.

My wife Mabel and I were on tour around Ireland, driving spontaneously from place to place and finding a bed-and-breakfast each evening wherever we were. It was a simply magical way to experience the west and north coasts of this beautiful island nation.

We were so enchanted with the countryside that we decided to skip cities and drive straight from the Giants Causeway back to the west coast. We saw that the monastery of Clonmacnoise was along that route and we chose a B&B nearby, in the town of Athlone. Upon arrival we asked our hosts if it was possible to enter the cemetery at night. They grinned and informed us that if we chose to visit the local graveyard, there just happened to be an open gate from that to Clonmacnoise (wink!).

We went at dusk and encountered a local camera club finishing up their sunset/twilight shoot. Lovely people. They were, however, surprised that Mabel and I were staying for moonrise. I guess they were not night photographers.

As the moon was ascending, it turned into a crisp, strong light source that etched the cathedral, churches, high crosses, round towers and graveslabs. I found it very hard to leave. I was enthralled.

I framed the moon behind the high cross and used the bright sky and light clouds to create a halo effect and to etch the shapes of the structures. I went far to the left and right to light paint the grass, cathedral wall, graveslabs, high cross and the one small headstone.

To this day, the memory of that trip beckons me to return to Ireland. And we shall.

Terlingua Cemetery

by Tim Cooper

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Terlingua, Texas. Nikon Z 6 with a Nikon Z 24-70mm f/4 lens, light painted with a Coast HP5R flashlight and a Luxli Viola. 2 minutes, f/4, ISO 200.

I’m not sure why I love photographing graveyards, but I do. Maybe it’s the location—so many cemeteries seem to be set in beautiful areas. Perhaps it's the ornate headstones, although I find the simple ones just as attractive. Maybe it’s the repetition of the shapes—I’ve always been a sucker for patterns. Whatever it may be, I am definitely drawn to graveyards for night photography.

Just last week I had the pleasure of photographing in one of the most unique cemeteries I’ve ever visited, in the ghost town of Terlingua, Texas. This extraordinary little town was the home base for our Big Bend National Park workshop. This image was made during our first night’s shoot while I was working with a gentleman who was very new to night photography. He and I set up this shot so I could demonstrate the basics of light painting.

The repetition of the crosses immediately caught my eye and I knew I wanted to highlight them against the dark overcast sky. We began by finding an ambient exposure that provided both a dark sky and enough time for me to wander around the scene to light paint with my Coast HP5R. Next we set up a Luxli Viola on a small travel tripod behind the front-right headstone to provide the main source of backlight. After some tweaking we found the right balance between the Luxli and the sky.

Once these two were balanced I began walking through the scene to paint the different areas I wanted to highlight. While the crosses were the hero of the shot, I did want to subtly illuminate the stone structures and the falling fence so the crosses were not floating in a sea of darkness. The trick here was the amount of time spent illuminating each item. The crosses reflected much more light than the stones, so it took many attempts to get the balance just right.

Finally, after 12 attempts, I made the image you see here. I hope it was a great learning experience for the attendee, as it demonstrated not only many different angles and levels of illumination, but also the fact that not even seasoned night photographers get the shot right on the first try.

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

by Chris Nicholson

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Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, New York. Nikon D3s and 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, light painted with a Coast HP7R flashlight. 6 minutes, f/7.1, ISO 200.

Like many Americans, especially those from the Northeast, Sleepy Hollow holds a chilling place in my nostalgia. As a kid I of course read the story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and on a class field trip I even saw the play. I watched a movie adaptation on TV, though I don’t remember if it was the Jeff Goldblum or Shelley Duvall version. Maybe it was both. One thing I am sure of is that I had a healthy fear of decapitated equestrians. As we all should. (Though, come to think of it, riding a horse that well when you don’t have a head is actually a rather impressive skill.)

Because of the truly legendary status of the story, when I learned that three of my NPAN business partners had standing permission to photograph at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery at night, I suggested an autumn outing there. We photographed right in the middle of Halloween season, which, as you can imagine, is high time to be in the area. There’s a festival, which includes live music, a street fair, hot cider and donuts, and (obviously) a horseman without a head.

It was all entertaining (and delicious), but for me the real fun of the night was photographing in the cemetery. The old gravestones, vaults, mausoleums, memorials, chapel and such—as well as the rustic charm and mystique—make for an inspiring setting for night photography.

We spent a few hours photographing many of those features, working individually and in teams. But it wasn’t until my final setup of the evening that I finally created an image I really liked: a long exposure in the mid-1850s Cooper plot.

The exposure part was easy, as it was just a 6-minute opening of the shutter, which with a 62mm focal length and the camera facing west was plenty of time for the stars to trail.

The light painting, however, took nine tries to get right. Standing to the right of the frame, I painted from a 90-degree angle with the focused beam of a Coast HP7R, which made the lettering of the gravestones stand out. But at that extreme an angle, standing 15 feet away, my aim had to be precise. As I got each stone to look right, I made a mental note of exactly where I was standing and aiming, as well as how many seconds I lit each marker. Then I put it all together for the final exposure.

You might say the precision and the detail required to light this simple scene were enough to make one lose their head. (I’m sorry.)

Have you photographed in a cemetery at night? Share your images and stories in the comments below or on our Facebook page.

Chris Nicholson is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night, and author of Photographing National Parks (Sidelight Books, 2015). Learn more about national parks as photography destinations, subscribe to Chris' free e-newsletter, and more at www.PhotographingNationalParks.com.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

Five Questions: Sony, Z Options, Flying Objects, Third-Party Software and More

We get a fair number of questions. We try to answer them all, and we like to share this information exchange with any night photographer interested in listening in.

This installment of our “Five Questions” series features inquiries about enhancing Sony live view, the Nikon Z6 versus the Z 7, identifying flying objects, using Nikon lenses on Canon bodies, and third-party post-processing software.

If you have any questions you would like to throw our way, please contact us anytime. Questions could be about gear, national parks or other photo locations, post-processing techniques, field etiquette, or anything else related to night photography. #SeizeTheNight!

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1. Bright Monitoring for Sony Cameras

Q: In your recent blog post about the Nikon Z 6, you mentioned that Sony recently added a Bright Monitoring mode to their A7 and 6000 cameras that makes it easier to compose at night. Where do I find that? You also said it could use some improvement. Where does it fall short? – N.N.

A: It is a bit hidden in their menus, so it’s best to assign the feature to a button. To find it:

1. Change your camera to manual focus. It won’t let you select Bright Monitoring if you are in any of the AF modes.

2. Navigate to the Camera Settings2 tab in the menu, and look for Custom Key for stills (the icon that looks like a picture of a mountain).

3. Assign a button to activate Bright Monitoring.

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This lets the camera decrease the FPS refresh rate so that you can better see and compose in dark scenarios.

Where it falls short is here: Because you are in manual focus mode, if you zoom in on your LCD or EVF to finesse your focus, the camera automatically jumps out of Bright Monitoring and the screen goes back to normal (i.e., dark), which makes it hard to focus. So then you need to revert back to one of our “8 Ways to Focus in the Dark.”

So yeah, it has room for improvement. You can use it to compose, but not to focus. Still, it’s a very cool feature, and it could be added as a firmware upgrade by any camera manufacturer. (Hint hint.) — Gabe

2. Nikon Z 6 or Z 7 at Night?

Q: I’ve been sitting on the fence about buying a Nikon Z 6 or Z 7. Your recent article makes me want to go ahead and get one, but I’m curious how the Z 7 compares with the Z 6 at night. I currently shoot my night (and day) pics with the D850. — Deb

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A: The short answer is that the Z 6 is better for night photography than the Z 7. The long answer? Here it goes:

The Z 7 has a very similar sensor to your D850, so if you like the image quality you are getting now, then the Z 7 would give you about the same results in a smaller body. And those results are amazing.

But at night things change. The issue with higher-megapixel cameras (typically over about 40 megapixels) is that it’s harder to achieve cleaner high ISOs, particularly past 6400. This is true for the Z 7, whereas the Z 6 can easily shoot 2 to 3 stops beyond that—it’s a low-light machine.

The other issue for me (and this is a literally a big one) is that the file size created by the Z 7 averages about 85 MB for an uncompressed RAW file. The Z 6 is in the 35 MB range. This gives you more detail (which is great for making very large prints), but at two costs:

1. Stars will start to trail faster on a higher-resolution camera. So when you want to shoot star points, not only will you be losing a couple of stops in ISO due the reason I mentioned above, but you’ll also lose another half-stop in shutter speed.

2. The bigger file size fills up memory cards and hard drives twice as fast. If you are going to do star stacking (which is something I do a lot at night), then your computer will be working twice as hard, for twice as long, while blending or stacking 60 or 100 85 MB files. For that reason, the most needed accessory to go along with higher-megapixel cameras is a new computer or hard drive for all the wonderful files they produce.

My honest suggestion to you is this: If you currently love your D850, keep it as your high detail/dynamic range daytime camera. It will also be fine under most moonlit conditions at night. But for shooting the Milky Way and moonless nights, invest in a Z 6. — Gabe

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© 2019 Sue Wilson.

3. Identified Flying Objects

Q: I was out taking photos last night and I just started looking at them. I came across this grouping of three photos that have three distinct lines in the sky. The photos are consecutive (the ones before and after do not have anything). Would these lines be three jets? Just curious as to whether you have captured or seen something like this. — Sue

A: Those three lines are typically what we see from commercial airliners. There are lights on the end of the wingtips and sometimes one in the middle, so it’s most likely you are seeing a large airliner with a broad wingspan, or a large military aircraft that also has a sizable wingspan and perhaps is flying lower to the ground.

A fun side project of night photography can be identifying airborne objects in our images. See my blog post from last year, “How to Tell the Difference Between Planes, Satellites and Meteors.” — Matt

4. Nikon Lenses on Canon Cameras?

Q: In your recent blog post “The Simmer Dim: Photographing in Twilight that Lasts Till Morning,” the caption below the first picture says it was shot with a Canon 5D and a Nikkor lens. Can one really do such a thing? — Henry

Stones of Stenness, Orkney, Scotland. Canon 5D with a Nikkor 28mm f/3.5 PC lens. 30 seconds, f/8, ISO 800.

A: There are adapters that allow you to use Nikon, Olympus, Pentax and Contax lenses on Canon DSLRs. And that’s a good thing, because I have a bag full of film-camera perspective control lenses that I use this way! I’m still using the old PC Nikon lenses, as well as a couple of Olympus Zuiko Shift PC (Perspective Control) lenses. They are great quality, and way cheaper than the modern equivalents, especially when bought used on eBay.

You can adapt all sorts of lenses to all sorts of cameras (though manual-focus Canon FD lenses cannot be adapted to other cameras because of the flange that was used to stop down the aperture). There’s a price to pay in performance, though. Using old film-camera lenses on digital cameras is 100 percent manual—no auto focus, manual aperture control, and no metadata in your software. — Lance

5. Third-Party Software for Stars and HDR

Q: There are some other programs you guys use a lot for star trails and HDR. What are they? – J.K.

A: All five of us use Lightroom and Photoshop for almost all of our star-trail images. Adobe has done a good job over the years of watching the market for third-party tools that fill a real need for photographers, and then adopting, and then improving upon, the best solutions.

That said, there are a few exceptions in our personal workflows:

1. For creating star stacks, Lance and Gabe sometimes use StarStax, which fills the gaps in the trails created when multiple images are stacked together.

2. Lance also likes Dr. Brown’s Stack-a-Matic, which is a Photoshop script that automates creating masks on each stacked layer.

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HDR night image of Las Vegas, which Tim created in PhotoMatix.

As for HDR, most of us use Lightroom, which creates a 32-bit DNG file from your bracketed exposures, which you can then develop or tone-map as usual. The exception here is Tim, who instead often uses PhotoMatix for creating HDR images in cases where Lightroom fails with ghosting or complex blends.

Incidentally, the only three third-party solutions we really use often accomplish tasks other than what you asked about:

1. LRTimelapse for creating time lapse videos

2. Silver Efex Pro for black-and-white conversions

3. Starry Landscape Stacker for making low-noise star-point images

What third-party software solutions do you all use? Let us know in the comments sections below, or on our Facebook page. — Chris

Chris Nicholson is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night, and author of Photographing National Parks (Sidelight Books, 2015). Learn more about national parks as photography destinations, subscribe to Chris' free e-newsletter, and more at www.PhotographingNationalParks.com.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

The Z 6 is the Best Camera for Night Photography

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Let’s not bury the lead. The Nikon Z 6 is the best camera for night photography.

Bold statement, I know. We live in a golden age for night photography, when there aren’t many “bad cameras” for photographing in low-light scenarios. Last December I tested the current batch of full-frame mirrorless cameras for a night photography series produced by B&H Photo. All three cameras I tested—the Canon EOS R, Nikon Z 6 and Sony a7R III—performed admirably. In fact, none of them would hold me back from producing excellent work during the day or night.

At that time I was “dating” a lot of camera systems. I really liked the Fuji X series because of the smaller bodies and lenses. But I was noticing a granular quality to my higher-ISO images that was troublesome for me. My maximum usable ISO for dark sky work with the X system was 6400, which worked most of the time.

The other camera in my bag is the Nikon D750. This is one of my all-time favorite night cameras. The colors and sharpness perfectly match my work. Yes, it is a 5-year-old camera, but guess what? It has damn good image quality and is a full-frame camera that costs $1,099 refurbished or $1,496 with a free year of Adobe’s Photography Plan. It’s hard to disregard that, even if it is a second camera.

Still, the more I have used the Z 6, the more I like it—enough so that I felt compelled to call it the best for the type of work I do, and to write down why.

What I like in a Night Camera

Before we get into exactly what I love about the Z 6 in particular, let’s go over what I look for and recommend in a night camera in general.

A lot of cameras are good—heck, these days a lot of cameras are great! I know this first-hand, because while working at B&H I’ve been lucky enough to try a wide variety of what’s on the market. But it takes a special set of features for a camera to be great at night photography. Below I’ll run through what I believe those features to be, and then I’ll go over how the Z 6 checks (or, in some respects, doesn’t check) those boxes.

It has to fit just right

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When standing at the edge, be comfortable with your gear.

First off, choosing the right camera is like shopping for shoes. Style points count, but the bottom line is it has to fit you and your needs. It has to be ergonomic to hold and be an extension of your eye, heart and hand. The camera, as well as the many buttons that decorate it, has to be “one with you” and not get in your way of seeing and creating.

Every camera has a learning curve, but if after a month of heavy use you are still struggling with what the buttons do, or if you feel uncomfortable with it, then it is not the best camera for you.

High ISOs are a must

Capable high ISOs are the next big factor. You need to like the image quality at 6400—otherwise, you will not be shooting the Milky Way. If you can get to ISO 12,800 or 25,600 comfortably, that’s even better.

Almost every camera from the last 3 years can get to ISO 6400 without the image being too grainy or noisy. Almost every camera also has ISO settings above 6400, but very few have good image quality beyond that point. (We’re not going to get into image quality charts and the like, but a little later in this post I will share real-world night photos and we will compare ISOs between competing cameras.)

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The Nikon Z 6 at ISOs 12,800, 25,600 and 51,200.

Testing high ISOs is very subjective. You and I could own the same camera and I could love it at 12,800 with some gentle noise reduction in post, while you could absolutely hate the same. We all have different thresholds. Get to know and understand yours.

Test your camera at 6400, 12,800, 25,600, and all the stops in between. Bring the images into Lightroom and zoom to 100 percent, and drag the Luminance slider to see how it balances removing noise versus losing detail. If you are seeing color in that high ISO noise—splotches of red, green and blue—then push the color slider to the right until it is removed. You can be more aggressive with the color noise slider as there is no loss of image detail, even at 100 percent.

How well can the camera see in the Dark?

One of the biggest frustrations with dark-sky night photography is that it’s hard to see anything through the viewfinder, EVF or LCD screen. DSLRs have a slight edge here. When you turn on a DSLR, the meter information inside the viewfinder is actually pretty bright and makes it hard to look through. However, you can adapt in two ways, both of which are excellent solutions for composing in the dark:

1. If you turn off the camera and look through the optical viewfinder without all the internal lights, then you can see pretty well.

2. A little trick Chris Nicholson taught me (which Lance Keimig taught him) is to shine a flashlight through the back of the optical viewfinder and the light coming out of the other end (i.e., the lens) will shine onto the scene in front of you illuminate exactly what is in the frame.

But you can do those things only with a DSLR. For a mirrorless camera, seeing in the dark is a struggle. For the most part, the EVF or LCD screen can’t “gain up” for us to see anything. So we have to take multiple high ISO test shots just to “see” what is in the frame.

(However, in one of Sony’s latest firmware upgrades they introduced Bright Monitoring in their A7 and 6000 cameras. This is a game-changing feature for night photographers—but it could also use some further tweaking. It does very well in most rural dark scenarios but in really dark-sky scenes like Bortle 1 or 2 with no moon, you will still see very little.)

What lenses can you use?

A wide and fast lens is mandatory for any sort of astro-landscape photography—so the camera needs to be able to accommodate.

Irix 15mm f/2.4.

Our favorite night lens is the Irix 15mm f/2.4. It is an inexpensive, manual focus lens that has a click stop at infinity, and infinity is accurate. The lens comes in three mounts: Nikon F, Canon EF and Pentax. I have used adapters to mount the Irix on Fuji, Nikon Z and Sony without any issues, but rumors are swirling that Irix is working on mounts for Sony E, Nikon Z and Canon EOS R.

That being said, it is good to have a little variety in your lens choice. Wide fast zooms such as a 14-24mm f/2.8 or 16-35mm f/2.8 are great. A sharp 24-70mm f/2.8 would be my third choice.

That combo would fulfill most of my visionary needs on any given night, but unique lenses and fast primes that match the way I see can be inspiring. A wide tilt-shift lens, or a fisheye/superwide zoom such as the Nikon 8-15mm or Canon 11-24mm f/4, can add an extra oomph to compositions. I’m also a sucker for the Zeiss Batis lenses for Sony and Zeiss’ standard razor-sharp manual focus lenses.

Why I Love the Z 6

OK, it wasn’t love at first sight. But as a Nikon user, I was pretty excited to test the Z 6 and its rumored high ISO capabilities. Then my initial tests blew me away, so I purchased one last January.

We’ve had way more ups than downs, and we’ve been living together nicely for the last 9 months. I’m still waiting for the “perfect” Nikon Z lens (more on that later), but while waiting I’ve noticed that some of my favorite photos I’ve made this year have been with my Z 6. Below is the breakdown of our “relationship.”

Comfort

It is a super-comfortable camera for me. The grip fits nicely in my hand. I really like the thumb rest on the back of the camera, as it helps with the overall balance. The camera is light for a full-frame mirrorless, and is easy to carry on your shoulder for long periods of time.

Controls

The menu system follows the same logic as its DSLR predecessors, so as someone who has used Nikon for years, this camera was a cinch for me to pick up and start shooting. The buttons are easy to navigate and use. I also like the touch screen for zooming and swiping through images. (However, I do not like the touch screen for triggering the camera.)

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I’m a big fan of the LED top screen that gives me all the information I need to know: shutter speed, aperture, ISO, battery life, burst mode and shots left. This is the digital version of the LED screen on the top of most DSLRs. It doesn’t draw as much juice as the screen on the back, and it grants easy access to that information for making adjustments.

Memory Card

I have no gripes over the single memory card slot. I have yet to fill up my 64GB XQD card on any given night. And believe me, I’ve shot for many hours!

Power

Battery life is solid. The Z 6 uses the same tried-and-true ENELb-15 battery that all the Nikon prosumer DSLRs use. Consequently, I can bring the same battery and dual charger for both my Z 6 and D750. The Z 6 draws more power because of the constant LCD/EVF use, but I have yet to need more than two full batteries on a given night.

High ISO

This camera is the current champ for high ISO. The Sony a7S II is close, but the big separator is that the Z 6 is a 24-megapixel camera and the a7S II is only a 12-megapixel. That’s double the megapixels, which provides finer detail and smoother tonal transitions. You are not going to make large prints with an image from the a7S II unless you are finessing a lot in post.

Negatives (Not the Film Kind)

On the flip side, I do have gripes with the Z 6—which is OK, because there is no perfect camera.

Lens Lack

First and foremost is this plea: Nikon, hurry up and make some more lenses!

My favorite Z lens right now is the 14-30mm f/4. I love the compactness and I really don’t miss the extra stop of an f/2.8 version because I can go to those higher ISOs without worry (more on that later). I did test the 14-30mm against the F-mount equivalent, the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8, which is one of my all-time favorite lenses. The cost difference is minimal right now—the f/2.8 F lens is currently $1,895 and the f/4 Z is $1,295. I don’t see much loss in image quality with the latter, so I’m torn. A 14-24mm f/2.8 Z-mount is in the works, but I assume it will be over $2,000.

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Nikon FTZ adapter.

One might argue that I could just use any F-mount lens I want by employing the FTZ adapter. But I’m not a fan of this tool. When I mount a camera body to a tripod and want to take off the FTZ adapter and lens, the FTZ mount gets in the way. To remove the FTZ mount and lens, I have to take the camera completely off the tripod, then swap lenses. This is definitely annoying.

(I applaud Canon for what they did with their offering of four different adapters, including ones that have a built-in neutral density or circular polarizer filter. This is great especially when you want to adapt superwide-angle lenses—which don’t take screw-on filters—to a mirrorless camera.)

Non-Articulating Screen

I like cameras with articulating arm screens instead of just the tilting-up-or-down version found on most bodies, the Z 6 included. Yeah, I understand that is adding more “fragile” components, but the articulating LCD does a few things I love:

• I can always flip my screen and protect it from scratches.

• People want their cameras to emulate their phones. Let’s face it, phones did a great job of copying the best functions of cameras; time for camera companies to take it back!

• I’m not a selfie guy but I do like taking self-portraits and putting my camera in low and different angels. The articulating angle arm gives more options.

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The articulating arm screen that flips out (left) is much more functional than a screen that just tilts (right).

Lightroom Tinkering

Nikon hard-bakes some very aggressive noise reduction that gets automatically applied upon import to Lightroom. The amount of reduction depends on the ISO.  I definitely suggest taking a good look at this automated noise reduction and customizing it to taste. With Z 6 images, the default noise adjustments are as follows:

• For ISO 6400 it applies 43 points of luminance, 75 points of detail, 10 points of color.

• For ISO 12,800 it applies 46 points of luminance, 75 points of detail, 10 points of color.

• For ISO 25,600 it applies 49 points of luminance, 75 points of detail, 10 points of color.

• For ISO 51,200 it applies 52 points of luminance, 75 points of detail, 10 points of color.

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This is a bit aggressive. I would definitely go in and cook that to taste. I’ve found that zeroing out the amount of luminance and color noise and then adding 10 to 30 points of each cleans up things nicely and retains the detail.

Z 6 Compared to the Others

So there you go—a feature-by-feature breakdown of why I love the Z 6 (despite the few things I would change about it). But why do I say it’s better for night photography than the other options out there?

There are lots of features we can compare, but the point here is about night photography, therefore the feature we care about most is performance in low light. So let’s take a close look at the high ISOs of the latest full-frame mirrorless cameras. (There haven’t been many DSLRs released in the last year, except Canon’s recent EOS 90D, which I haven’t been able to test yet. Besides, mirrorless is the future.)

Note: To see the full-resolution versions of the comparison images below, visit here to download.

Sony a7R III

Let me preface this by saying that it is really difficult for a high-megapixel camera (over 30 megapixels) to produce clean ISOs above 6400. Think about it. All the full-frame cameras have a fixed amount of space in which to fit millions of pixels—the more that you cram in, the smaller the pixels get, and their “well” to receive light also gets smaller. Algorithms continue to get better but the sweet spot for a full-frame night camera is 24 to 30 megapixels.

That being said, the a7R III performs really well. There is no doubt why this camera has been incredibly popular for Sony.

The full-frame views of all these shots look good, but when we zoom to 100 percent and pay attention to the granularity of the sky and shadow regions, that’s when we notice a difference.

• 6400: Normal noise. Looks normal with no loss of detail in the brick and woodwork.

• 12,800: Acceptable noise. We can definitely see grain in the sky as well as in the wood and brick. But a gentle use of noise reduction (say, 20 points) would make this an acceptable ISO to use in the field.

• 25,600: Too much noise. This is where the a7R III breaks for me. It looks like we are shooting through a nylon stocking. There is noise from top to bottom. An aggressive amount of noise reduction (with a subsequent loss of detail) would be needed to make this work for me.

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Canon EOS R

The EOS R has the same sensor as the Canon 5D Mark IV, which isn’t a bad thing, as that has been a popular night camera for Canon users.

• 6400: Acceptable noise. But it looks like ISO 1600 or 3200 in the film days. Applying noise reduction by 10 to 15 points should clean that up just fine.

• 12,800: Too much noise. While I was testing, a car drove by and lit up the scene, but we can still see a heavy layer of noise over the whole image. Finessing the noise and detail could salvage the photo, but this would really be my breaking point if I was a Canon user.

• 25,600: Yeah, no. Lots of noise and grain here. I would need to be aggressive in removing it and thus lose a lot of detail. Best to not go this far.

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Nikon Z 6

Here’s why it’s better than the rest.

• 6400: Minimal noise. I’m impressed—it’s cleaner than any other camera I have tested at ISO 6400. I’d set noise reduction to 5 or 10 points, and then it looks almost like ISO 800.

• 12,800: Normal noise. It looks like the competition’s ISO 6400. Not much loss of detail at all. I’d set luminance and color noise reduction between 10 and 20 to make it even cleaner.

• 25,600: Acceptable noise. Definitely seeing the noise, but I can work with it. Setting the luminance and color noise to 20 or 30 points, the situation is remedied with minimal loss of detail. I would still try to slightly overexpose my image in this scenario, as opening up shadows in post-production would create more troublesome grain.

• 51,200: Too much noise. This is my breaking point with the Z 6. We are getting that layer of grain over the entire image and losing detail. I can be aggressive with my noise reduction and might be able to work with an image, but chances of making it good enough for a large print are minimal.

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Wrapping Up

For night photographers, creating great images at high ISOs is a must. I found the top three full-frame mirrorless cameras to be quite capable of ISO 6400, and I might even dip into 12,800.

The Z 6 separates itself by getting 1 to 2 stops better with cleaner ISOs. And that for me is a game-changing camera for night photography. It means I can pretty much shoot in any dark sky condition, even with an f/4 lens, and come away with excellent image quality.

Is it a perfect camera? No, but nothing is. Bedsides the excellent high ISOs, the other winning points are:

• the comfort of the camera

• familiar menu system

• adapting to a lens ecosystem that I am happy with

I’m looking forward to more native Z-mount lenses coming in the near future and hopefully a new FTZ adapter that doesn’t get in the way of my tripod work. And above all, I’m looking forward to the Z 6 enabling me to seize the night better than I ever have before.

Have you tried the Z 6 at night yet? Are you happy with it? Let’s continue the conversation in the comments section below or on our Facebook page.

Gabriel Biderman is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night. He is a Brooklyn-based fine art and travel photographer, and author of Night Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots (Peachpit, 2014). During the daytime hours you'll often find Gabe at one of many photo events around the world working for B&H Photo’s road marketing team. See his portfolio and workshop lineup at www.ruinism.com.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT