FIGURE A


Here's a great magic hour shot. Roll over picture for a larger image.

For the sake of learning, I want you to try pointing the camera right at the street (never mind those unsightly cars or people walking by... we'll take care of that). Allow a little bit of street lamps or fixed objects to stay in your range of focus. If you have a cable that permits you to have "hands-free" clicking of the shutter, then you're probably a pro -- or well on your way to becoming one. But if you're not a pro, don't worry, you can still do this.

Assuming you don't own a tripod or don't happen to carry one around in the car with you, find something else that is solid. A retaining wall, a trash can, a park bench, a pole, or anything fixed. You have to avoid motion at all costs with the camera, but not with your subject matter. Motion is actually a good thing when shooting an awesome dusk photograph because it lends interest and movement to the photo. Once you find that solidity, set the camera up and look through the lens. Prepare your subject matter quickly. You can move around a lot more once you master the art of the quick setup.

Don't be a flasher
If you have an automatic flash, turn it off! Flash will not help you achieve the results you want. We have all been trained that darkness equals needing flash. Not so. It will be better without it. Once you master the art of night scenes, you may be able to experiment with flash for some really cool tricks.

Popping the flash on a person after taking a long exposure, for example, is a really neat effect. But let's not worry about that or confuse ourselves with flash for the moment. Find the off switch and leave it at that. Also, remember that a flash only reaches out 20 feet or so. If you're shooting a building a thousand feet a way, the flash will have no effect whatsoever.

Set your settings
Next, make sure the digital ISO is set to a faster speed. In layman's terms, when we once used film, you would have chosen a film speed of about 400 for dark scenes. That formula still works with digital technology. If you make a mistake and leave it on a daylight setting, such as 160 -- no worries. The camera will adjust the length of time it takes to let enough light in for a properly exposed photo.

Set your SLR camera to aperture priority. If you don't know what that means, well the basic concept of photography is that the greater the opening, the more light you are allowing into the camera. You need to be somewhat familiar with your lenses and with the dials on the camera. If your lens is a 2.8 or 3.5, you will be able to allow light into the camera faster. A fast lens is one with a smaller number. It usually has a wider opening. Once you figure out what the aperture priority means, set it on the lowest number (like 2.8 if it goes down that far). And then click! The camera will choose the length of time that it needs to take the exposure. The darker it is outside, the longer it will take. Your camera should have a built-in meter. Don't necessarily follow that as if it were one of the Ten Commandments. I like to keep my camera set at about a quarter to half a stop over the halfway mark.