



Night Portraits can be tricky and generally require experimenting with artificial lighting. In this post Christina from ChristinaNichole Photography shares some tips on using Flash for Night Portraits.
As many of us approach the dead of winter, we photographers must deal with our natural light disappearing by 4pm or earlier. The possibility of cool natural lit portraits becomes less and less likely. Still yet, the portrait photographers must go on. Here is a technique for FLASH-lit portraits, inside or outside, after the natural light has all but gone.
SLR, and 1-2 Speed lights.
You want to shoot on TV with your shutter speed at 1/10-1/30, and your ISO set to somewhere between 200-400. If you have Canon speed lights on ETTL, your flash will automatically adjust itself for the light necessary to compensate for the lack of exposure as set by your camera.
For example:
Your end result will be fun glamour style night portraits!
Don’t be afraid to play around with your flash and your settings. Many creative solutions come from discoveries. Let yourself have fun and relax. When studied and properly used, flash can tend to some fantastic images

Taking photos at night requires slow shutter speed. To shoot bright pictures without the blur at night, use a tripod or monopod to keep your camera steady.
In addition to using a tripod or monopod, enable your cameras mirror lockup setting and gently press the shutter. If your camera doesn't have mirror lockup, you can use the self timer mode instead.
If you don't have a tripod or monopod with you, find some support objects to keep your body and arms stable. For example, you can lean on a wall or place your elbows on a table to keep your arms steady. If there's nothing to help keep you steady, stand with your legs far apart from each other and hold your breath while taking the picture.
Sometimes when you shoot long exposures, noise and hot pixels will appear even at the lowest ISO setting. To overcome this problem, shoot the same photo a few times (more is better), and use Photoshop CS3 image stacking to combine the analyze the image to remove noise and hot pixels.