What are the best tips for shooting neon lights on film?
Use fast film
Faster film stocks such as those with ISO 400, ISO 800 and ISO 1600 are more sensitive to light, and hence should give you more flexibility and help you capture photos in challenging lighting situations.
Adjust your camera settings
When shooting neon lights, you can try to use a low f-stop such as f/1.8 to make sure your lens is wide open and your film is adequately exposed to light. For shutter speed, a faster setting such as 1/125 or higher should help you avoid blurry shots when shooting hand-held.
You can also use a tripod to make sure your camera is steady, and a lightmeter or a lightmeter app on your phone to calculate appropriate exposure for your scene.
Use the bracketing technique
You can use the bracketing technique if you find yourself struggling with the camera settings for a particular shot, or if you simply want to experiment with lighting.
Bracketing involves taking a few shots of the same scene using different exposures, tweaking your camera settings for each shot. For example, you can take one standard image, one darker or underexposed image and another brighter or overexposed image.
Expose your frame multiple times
Multiple exposures are always a great way to explore compositions and the are an especially fun technique to try out with neon lights.
Mix it with other photography styles
Aside from making neon lights the main subject of your photo, you can also mix it with other photography styles such as portraits, using the bright neon lights to double expose with your portrait or as a source of light itself for your subject.
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Photos From Other Students
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What are some tips for shooting film in low light?
From using film stocks with higher ISO, using prime lens, tripod and lightmeter, here are a few tips for shooting in low light situations such as overcast days, night shoots and indoor set ups.
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Should you push film in low light?
Pushing the film in low light conditions depends on a few variables including how dark the environment is, and if you think it will be necessary to let in more light to achieve the image you’re going for.
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What are the best lightmeter apps to use for film photography?
Here are some of the best lightmeter apps for iOS and Android devices to download for film photography.
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What camera settings should I use for low light film photography?
There are a few settings you can tinker with to take photos effectively even in low light conditions. These include opening up your aperture or using a longer shutter speed in order to allow more light when taking a photo. You can also use a flash to take clearer photos of your subjects in low light.
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How can I shoot film at night without a tripod?
There are a few tricks you can use to get a better shot without a tripod to work with, these include maximizing the available light source around you, picking a higher ISO film stock or pushing the film, as well as using a flash and faster lenses.
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What are the difficulties of shooting film in low light?
There are a few difficulties you can face when shooting in low-light conditions such as indoors, places with a lot of shade, underwater, or at night time. The main difficulty is potential underexposure resulting in dark images with barely visible subjects. The outcome could also be grainier than photos taken in daylight.
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What ISO film should I use when shooting film at night?
When shooting in low light conditions such as indoors or at night time, it’s best to choose a film stock with a high ISO such as ISO 400, 800 or 1600.