Paul - first thing you need is a really solid tripod. Then remember, aperature works just the same at night - so the higher the f number the more the depth of field. Ie, f16 will give you good depth of field, so focus will likely be better. Find out how your expesure meter works. If it is centre weighted, try to point it at an area of indicitive brightness across the field. this stops something bright causing under exposure, and dark patches causing over exposure.
Now, onto colour. I'm not sure entirely how the digital things handle colour at night, but when shooting on film remember that it's balanced for daylight which is a particular colour temperature. i.e if you photgraph under incandescent light, it will appear very yellow. You can counteract this with a blue filter. If you photograph under flourescent, you'll get a blue tinge requiring a orange or warming filter. As to how the AWB on your camera handles all this - good luck with the trial and error.
Don't forget about multiple exposures. I've done this with some of my photos - used ambient to get the field in, and then used flash to illuminate the subject in the foreground. Works great !! |