Ok, tried to take some night pics the other day. Need some advice from all the awesome photographers on this. I have a normal digital camera, Powershot A70 so I don't have all the options of you guys but any advice on how to's would be great. Thanks!

(here's my attempts)

 

You have to use a tripod and learn the manual controls on your camera. It's hard for the camera to autofocus in low light, especially on something that is far away so you might have to switch to manual focus.

Try to find well lit areas and preferably areas that are well lit by white light. Sodium vapor lights cast an orange glow which looks kind of crappy.

 

gotcha... ok before this I was in an area that was fairly well lit by "white light" but only from one side. None of the pictures were coming out. Any advice on where to take pics from? ie. behind the light, into the light sideways... etc?

 

Ideally you want the light behind you so the front of the car is illuminated, just watch out for your shadow.

 

I really don't have too many night photos in my collection but in this shot you can see what a difference the color of light can make:



Notice how orange the bushes are compared to the building. The white light would really make a car photo "pop" at night. Orange kind of just makes everything disappear into the background.

 

yeah I can tell... awesome man thanks alot

 

You may have to slow down your shutter speed a bit too to allow more light into the aperature...........

 

That's why a tripod is definitely required.

 

As the other's have said slower shutter speeds along with a tripod is the way to get nice pictures at night. However, the real picture maker/breaker is clean, creative lighting, which is difficult to find at night.

 

I also have a powershot A75 - You will need a tripod (to stabilize the camera - so the pics don't go blurry). I know you can take nice pics at night the cam - read your manual and you'll be able to play with the shots and get awesome effects.

 

As a comment on the Auto Focus thing.... since I'm not sure if the A series even *has* manual focus, if you can carry a high power flashlight with you to illuminate the car so the camera can achieve AF lock, then shut off the flashlight before you take the picture, that might work. (Just make sure you meter the light before you turn on the flashlight, or you'll get an underexposed image).

Another additional comment is to use the self timer mode on your camera. That way, you can activate the camera and step away....if you don't, you can get some initial camera shake when you press down on the shutter button. Better yet, get a remote trigger (not sure if that's an option for the A series from Canon).

A decent start, though!

Oh yeah.... also try to use the lowest ISO setting on your camera in order to reduce the amount of noise that will typically appear in long exposure shots.

 

very slow shutter speed, maybe 10 seconds or more... just play w/ each setting till you get the effect your looking for.

the self timer advice is good. i, personally use a wired remote trigger. its great.