How can I shoot clean, low-noise night landscapes with an HDR-like look?
Asked 9/25/2011
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I’ve seen some night landscape photos that look very clean, with little visible noise and almost an HDR-style tonal range. For example, the first two images in the linked series appear sharp and detailed, with only slight cloud movement. What shooting approach would produce this look, and what steps should I follow to try it myself?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
14y ago
2 Answers
12
Did you try asking the photographer? :)
The EXIF data for the first photograph says:
- 459 seconds
- f/6.3
- 50 ISO
- 20mm focal length
It also says that the camera model is "O" (just a single letter), so I don't know for sure how accurate that EXIF data is. It also means we don't know anything about the sensor size, so the 20mm focal length isn't very useful except when calculating depth of field (which is clearly very large).
What EXIF data doesn't tell us is:
- whether or not there was a filter in front of the lens
- what the lighting was like (was the moon out? Did the photographer play a flashlight over the nearby rocks?)
- what post-processing work was done (e.g. colors or sharpening)
So I'd recommend:
- go out at night
- use a good solid tripod, and probably a shutter release cable
- take some very long exposures: 5-10 minutes
- bring an ND filter if you have one, maybe a CPL filter, too; if the pictures at 5+ minutes are too bright, try one of the filters.
- play around with different apertures, too. f/6.3 could be wide-open for that camera/lens (that picture could very well have been taken with a P&S camera that allows bulb mode or very long exposures (e.g. with CHDK)). If you have a fast lens or increase your ISO a lot you can get faster feedback to find the correct exposure, then when you have that figured out you can drop your ISO and use a narrower aperture to increase the depth of field.
- dress warm, wear gloves, bring some food & something (hot?) to drink. You don't want to have to give up early because you get uncomfortable.
- when you get home, don't look at the picture at its full size: resize it to 600 pixels wide or so and see if you like it.
Finally, here's a nighttime picture where I can tell you a little about how it was made:

Obviously the colors are very different. But this was 15 seconds at f/1.4 at ISO 100: that aperture and ISO setting gained me about 5 1/3 stops over the photo in question; 15 seconds * 2^5.3 = 591 seconds so my photo and the original actually have fairly similar exposure settings, although mine is a bit overexposed compared to the original (looking at the city lights). No filters. I used an okay tripod and shutter release cable, but there were a lot of strong wind gusts so I couldn't use very long exposures without a gust shaking the tripod a little. I don't really remember the moon being out, another picture from that evening shows a few stars visible through some wispy clouds.
Originally by user2910. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2910
14y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
A very clean night landscape look usually comes from careful capture more than a special trick. In the example discussed, the EXIF for one image shows a very long exposure: about 459 seconds, f/6.3, ISO 50, and 20mm. That points to a low-ISO, long-exposure shot on a sturdy tripod.
To try this yourself:
- Use a solid tripod.
- Use a remote release or self-timer to avoid camera shake.
- Shoot at the lowest practical ISO to minimize noise.
- Use a long exposure and adjust shutter time until the scene is bright enough.
- A wide lens can help with depth of field and composition.
The final look may also depend on things EXIF won’t show, such as:
- ambient light (moonlight, city glow, etc.)
- possible use of a filter
- any added light on foreground objects
- post-processing for color, contrast, and sharpening
Some motion in clouds is normal during long exposures, so a little ghosting there isn’t surprising. If you want similar results, the main recipe is: stable support, very low ISO, long exposure, and thoughtful post-processing.
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