Capture the color of the night.

Neon lights at Freso River Park

When the sun goes down, wonderful opportunities arise for the creation of colorful and unique photographs. All that is needed is your digital camera, a tripod and heading off to your local outdoor shopping center. Nowadays many shopping centers offer colorful neon lights and interesting buildings to inspire anyone. Plus the technical ability of today’s digital cameras to deal with low light and the ability to automatically determine a proper exposure, allows amateurs and professionals alike, to concentrate on creating photographs rather than having to deal with camera settings.

Arrive at your location before sunset. Look for shapes, colorful neon lights, trees, and other interesting items to place in your photograph. There is no need for flash because the natural ambient light and the artificial lighting is what you want to capture. What is important is a decent tripod to keep your camera steady. Most nighttime images require long exposures so handholding your camera will usually create photos that are blurred from camera movement. In a pinch, place your camera on top of a table, bench, trashcan, etc and use the self-timer to take the photo. However, tripods are your best bet and offer better composition of your images.

Set your camera to auto-exposure and also set your white-balance to auto. Today’s digital cameras are so advanced that it’s almost difficult to take a photograph that is not properly exposed. As soon as the sun begins to drop behind the horizon and you can now see the neon lights, begin taking photos. Review your image in the camera’s LCD screen and immediately you can decide to change your composition, exposure, or simply move onto the next image. The wonderful thing about digital cameras is the instant gratification of seeing your finished image and knowing you have captured what you were looking for.

These photos were taken at the Fresno River Park Shopping Center. The images captured a retro style movie theater, the colorful neon lights of the shopping area, plus a moon-rise and palm scene. So don’t worry if it’s dark outside. Darkness provides wonderful photo opportunities and you should take advantage of it.