Soho Night Street Photography

During the recent winter months I’ve been trying to improve my night street photography. It’s something I’ve always struggled with, capturing sharp shots that are exposed correctly when the sun goes down. After a bit of experimenting I became a bit more confident so one night after work I decided to head into Soho to give it another try. I wanted to find a formula that suits me and enables me to take better photos after dark.

Firstly let’s take a look at the photos below I took on a previous night trip with my Fuji X-T3. The first one was taken on Shaftesbury Avenue and the second one close by. The one on the left had an aperture of f1.4 and on the right f5.6, both at 1/80 shutter speed, using the 35mm lens. At first look they don’t look too bad, however on closer inspection there is a lot of noise, especially on the right and also both are slightly blurred. These were the kind of photographs I was taking for a while at night, they looked ok, but nothing to write home about especially when you get in close and zoom into the image.

I’ve always tended to shoot with aperture priority and let the camera automatically choose the shutter speed and ISO, which is fine during the day, but this can cause problems during the night. As the camera needs to let more light in at night it will slow down the shutter speed to expose the image correctly which is no good as most street photos contain moving subjects.

35mm 1.4/ISO 1250/SS 1/125

I therefore began experimenting with different settings, but I found the key thing was to manually control the shutter speed. This photo above was taken with a shutter speed of 1/125 at f1.4. The ISO is only 1250 which is mainly due to the amount of artificial light around the subject at the time. For me this is a much more pleasing photograph than the one above, however the subject is slightly blurred so I still needed to improve on this.

I should have really used a faster shutter speed in this case, maybe at least 1/200 as the subject was walking fairly quickly. Also when using an aperture of f1.4 you have to be absolutely bang on with the autofocus, especially at night as the Fuji X-T3 can sometimes struggle in this area. A wide aperture of f1.4 can also cause softness in the image and detail can be lost.

The image below left has a smaller aperture of f4.5, which may sound counter-intuitive at night as it will let less light in, however this will produce a sharper image than with say f1.4. When large neon lighting is present it’s a good idea to keep the exposure on the lower side too. This is especially true with Fuji cameras which are good at recovering data in the shadows, but not so good with recovering blown out highlights. Another thing to help with this is to turn exposure compensation down a notch to -1.

The photograph below right of the man with the hat is taken with an aperture of f2.0, you may notice it’s slightly softer, but still stands up well. I just wish that shopping bag wasn’t on the table which spoils the mystery!

As the night progressed I began to gain more confidence. As I took more photographs I liked, I began to enjoy it more, I began to feel a flow like state. However you still need to keep your wits about you at night in central London. I always avoid groups of drunk people, some may come across as friendly, others not so much, so it’s best not to take that chance, especially if they think you’re taking their photograph.

After a while I began to feel a bit more tired, so I was thinking about heading home. I headed up onto Great Windmill Street where I took the picture of the ‘Tables & Dancing’ club on a previous night. I noticed an older smartly dressed gentleman looking slightly lost, so I quickly took his photograph:

35mm 1.4/ISO 1600/SS 1/80

I was happy with the sharpness and exposure of the photo, but it helped that there was a lot of artificial light around the subject. The shutter speed was also low at 1/80 which helped keep the ISO down, it may not have looked so pleasing if the subject was moving.

So after what felt like a fairly successful night and a good learning experience, my key takeaways when doing night street photography are as follows:

• Nail down the shutter speed, ideally at least 1/125, but maybe quicker if the light allows. However, for still subjects 1/80 will suffice

• For sharper images use a smaller aperture, especially for more cityscape type shots, but again only if there is plenty of artificial light

• To avoid blowing out highlights, use exposure compensation to keep the image on the darker side, then recover in post. This is especially critical with neon lights

• Try to set a limit on how high the ISO will go, mine is usually set to a maximum of 3200

• And most important of all - keep your wits about you. Your safety is more important than a good photo!

You can see more images from my London street photography adventures here