ON LOCATION THE SETUP FOR AFTER SUNSET

Learn to light paint a landscape at night with minimal kit for otherworldly results

01 CAMERA

The camera here is set to Bulb exposure with aperture f/11 and ISO800. Just as if shooting in the day, a narrow aperture like this ensures enough depth of field in our landscape so that the foreground, trees and distant sky are all in-focus.

02 REMOTE RELEASE

You’ll need a wireless shutter release so you can set the camera up on a tripod and trigger the shutter once you’re in position. We used a Hahnel remote, which lets us press and hold the remote to begin the Bulb exposure, then press again to finish it.

03 TRIPOD

Our exposure will run into minutes and the camera needs to stay still, so a tripod is a must. Once the camera is set up and the framing is finalized, don’t move the tripod between shots. A fixed position gives you the choice to blend several frames later.

04 SKY

Faint light in the sky can add to the landscape and help to make trees on the horizon stand out. The orange glow you see is light pollution from a city a few miles away. Combined with the low, slow moving clouds it almost looks like a sunset.

05 NIGHT-TIME SHOOTING

When shooting in the dark it helps to be prepared and only take the kit that you’ll need on the shoot. Arrive before dark to check the surroundings. As well as the torch you’ll use for painting the light, bring a head torch to turn on between shots.

06 TORCH

Our scene is lit by shining a torch onto the trees and ground during our long exposure of around 2 minutes. We used a bright LED bicycle torch to paint with light, bought on ebay for £30. The torch has a separate rechargeable battery pack.