How to Use Street Lights in Your Photos
- 1). Set the white balance on your camera before you take any photos under street lights. Most street lights are fitted with sodium vapor lamps, which appear orange in photos unless you compensate for them. A white balance icon that looks like a light bulb is present on most cameras; when selected it will automatically adjust the color settings for street lights.
- 2). Bring a tripod with you when shooting near street lights at dusk or evening. If you're just catching a hint of the light from the lamp, the rest of the photo will be dark; you will need to keep the camera still because the shutter will be open longer than usual and your picture will come out blurry if there is any movement.
- 3). Make use of street lights on wet evenings, and right after rain. Reflections from the lights will be glinting off puddles and nearby surfaces, and can add glamor and depth to your photos.
- 4). Position your subjects below the street lights, but at an angle so the light creates interesting shadows across their faces and bodies.
- 5). Try putting the subject of your photo within the cone of light created by the street lamp. Use a fast shutter speed to create a photo that depicts your subject in a cone of light surrounded by dark nothingness.
- 6). Integrate street lights into urban landscape photography by using a slow shutter speed to reveal the dark areas of the shot and produce soft halos of light around each street lamp.
Source...