Tips for shooting photos in low light conditions.

Try these easy tips for shooting steady images in low light.

If you are taking lots of images, it is a great idea to carry your compact digital camera around with you as much as you can. Naturally, a point and shoot is a bit limited as far as the quality of pictures it can shoot. This is especially the case at night. But don’t worry – we’ve got some sound advice to improve your shooting photos at night:

First, try a shutter speed that is longer. Many people never bother to explore the many setting adjustments you can make on a pocket camera. You certainly have the option to lengthen your exposures on most cameras. Even if your point and shoot doesn’t have a shutter speed option, most likely you can change to a night scenes setting. This will let you set shutter speeds for longer than usual. On a number of cameras, you may change the night scenes function to open the shutter as long as 30 seconds!

Second, you should always try to take several takes of your photo with various shutter speeds. If you are shooting at night, you will have little light, however your camera will adjust its aperture to bring in more light and you also can adjust your shutter speed. With these two functions working in harmony, you should be able to open your shutter for up to 20 seconds before the picture totally degrades. You will need to prop the camera against your body and hold it very steady of course.

Third, it is very important when you are shooting at night to find a very sturdy surface on which you can brace your camera. You probably are not going to be lugging a tripod in your back pocket, but that is okay. You are able to usually find something to brace your camera – newspaper box, a lamp post, a statue and so on. If your shot is a second or less, you may be able to steady it against your body, but much longer than that and you’ll get blurring.

Fourth, when you’re using longer shutter speeds, it is critical to breathe and squeeze very easily. You should not take your finger off the button when you open the shutter or you will shake it. Also, try to exhale when you shoot, as this results in less shaking.