How to shoot interesting night photography of buildings

How to get the best results photographing buildings by night

Tip No 1 GET A TRIPOD! get the best tripod you can afford, preferably one that doesn't wobble when it's extended or if you are photographing buildings when there is any wind. I take a small but firm tripod on holiday for photographing skylines, sunsets or darkish scenes.

Tip No2 Set up your shot before it gets dark, compose your image and check that the camera is focussed correctly (either by auto focus or manually focussing). It is important to consider very carefully the scene in front of you, whether cars are likely to come and park in front, whether street lamps might throw flare on to the lens and more importantly, whether the view looks as good at dusk as it does by day.

Tip No 3 Keep an eye on the time; the optimum time for successful night photography is about 30-45 minutes after the sun has set. If there is no sun, timing is a little more difficult - the sky has to be navy blue and lights have to be on if you're photographing a building. In the middle of summer, night photography is best around 9.30 -10.00pm and in mid winter on a clear evening, the best time to take photographs of the dusk scene is between 4.30 and 5.00pm.

Tip No 4 If your camera has a manual setting, try to set it so that you can time your own shutter speed and experiment with times with the lens fully open, using speeds between 5 seconds and 20 seconds.

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