Martin Creates welcomes you to part 2/3 as we delve into the world of cinematic night photography.
In part I, we discussed ambient lighting and the considerations for framing our subjects in-and-around the light, and how that impacts the story that we capture.
In part II, we will focus on the camera gear and settings that can help produce the best results in challenging environments.
At Martin Creates, we believe that skill and experience are more important than camera gear for producing excellent photography and videography results. The two topics do crossover a lot because a professional photographer's knowledge and experience will eventually lead to selecting better gear for the job. The more we practice - whether its photography or videography - the more skilful we become with a given piece of equipment.
Camera Bodies vs Camera Lenses
This is often a common question when considering upgrading or deciding where to invest as a photographer.
For cinematic night photography, lenses will be the most sensible way to strengthen your chances of producing brilliant work. The examples below illustrate that perfectly in my experience.
Both photos were taken on a dark and rainy night in Piccadilly Circus in Central London. These are usually fun but extremely difficult conditions to shoot in because you need to keep your gear as dry as possible and accept you'll be cold and wet shooting in low visibility. Your fingers will get very cold and numb whilst your subjects, usually people and cars, will be moving quicker than usual. This is often the challenge of street photography. Having a good lens with good motors and glass will enable you to autofocus on them quickly before the moment has gone.
The camera body used for these images was a Canon 6D Mark i (over a decade old and mine was particularly worn). Usually, the camera body's sensor will struggle in low light especially when the light source is changing strength and colour. However, I paired it with a 50mm f1.4 which is a wide aperture. It allows more light to enter the lens than any zoom lens for example. A second hand lens like this might cost £150-£200 whereas a new body plus a lens would cost x5 that amount easily. This is what I mean when I say it's important to upgrade gear "sensibly".
Manual focus is a great option to manage autofocus-led issues. You'll need sharp eyes to ensure the subject is in focus.
Also, learning how to denoise (using a denoise guide by Martin Creates) is a really good option for maintaining high image quality when a high ISO is applied. This means you can maintain higher image quality in low light conditions.
Be careful when lowering the shutter speed to low, otherwise you may not get the desired effect and it's very hard to repair images from excessive motion blur.
There's thinking outside of the box, and then there's acting outside of the box.
At Martin Creates, we no longer use DSLRs for professional photography and videography work due its limitations which I will cover in another blog in the future. We believe that mirrorless is the best choice for any professional photographer.
I use a Sony A7IV which is one of the best hybrid (which means both photography and video) camera bodies at the time of writing this blog post (August 2024). The sensors are one of the best in the market and its ability to render colours accurately in nearly any lighting setting as well its autofocus technology is what make it ideal for street photography as well.
I mostly use primes because I know that I can crop-sensor my shots to buy myself distance. It does reduce the quality by approx. 10 megapixels so it's not something I recommend relying on.
Prime lenses are ideal because they let more light in, they're light to carry and usually sharper than zoom lenses. This is all in favour of nighttime street photography.
35mm, 50mm and 85mm are all great prime lenses because they're light and sharp.
Below you can see an example of all three lenses in action.
I hope you enjoyed part 2/3 in the cinematic night time photography series.
Part 3/3 will be focus on top tips to improve night time street photography by focusing on textures and building stories.
I am a professional freelance photographer and videographer based in London, UK. I started Martin Creates in order to help empower people and brands worldwide. One of the ways I do that is by publishing blogs with free information to help any creatives out there reading this. I welcome you to check out my work on this website as well as my newly launched site martincreatesweddings.com. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out.
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