Step by Step /

master the art of low-light cityscapes

1 Keep everything steady

First we put our Nikon on a tripod and turned off Vibration Reduction, as VR motors can actually introduce slight movement. We then affixed our remote shutter release to trigger the exposure, preventing any shake. Inset is a handheld long-exposure photo.

3 Dial in the settings

In Manual mode we set the base ISO of our D850, which was ISO64. We then used an aperture of f/11 to get the starburst effect on static street lights, and a shutter speed of 8 secs in order to successfully capture the traffic trails.

5 Structure your composition

There’s a lot going on in a busy city, and it’s easy to make photographs that are distracting to the eye. Build your image around a point of interest for a stronger composition, like we did in this shot of the London Eye, or the glowing angel in our main image.

Time your picture

Keep an eye on how congested your street is, and learn the timings of the traffic lights. We want long streaks of vehicle lights – not stationary queuing cars. Time the movement of the traffic before it comes to a standstill again and let that determine your shutter speed.

4 Set the white balance

Bluer hues make pictures appear colder, whereas yellow adds warmth. A good starting point is standard daylight, which has a white balance of 5560 K (Kelvin). The lower the number the cooler the image, with higher values being warmer. Our main shot was taken at 3500 K.

6 Create ghostly figures

Blurred pedestrians also make an engaging photo. You can create these ghostly effects by using a shutter speed of between four and eight seconds. Some shapes will be captured, but blur into one another. Anyone or anything stood still will, of course, remain clear and sharp.