Air 2 How to take better nighttime pics

[MassCoyote]

Using a MA2 in auto mode, I took the image below. As I’m new to photography, any ideas how I can eliminate some of the brightness of store signs when taking pictures without using editing software?

 

[slup]

Shooting night time images in auto isn't the best solution if you want to have control of the exposure & how much noise you get in the image. Also it's recommended to go for raw with some gentle editing afterwards, this as raw actually give you the possibility to adjust the exposure some in the edit.

With auto setting the camera will try to average the exposure measurement from the motif ... meaning bringing up the darker parts & in that process severely overexpose the brighter parts.
I suggest that you go for manual settings instead ...

As a guideline the shutter should be kept below 2sec, otherwise it will be hard to avoid motion blur coming from a slightly moving drone (up to 2sec will anyway require several shots until you get one sharp).

Start with a iso setting as low as possible, this to avoid noise & step wise make the shutter speed longer until the exposure looks like you want it ... if the shutter goes longer than 2sec go up one step in iso & adjust the shutter again until the exposure looks good on the screen. Repeat this until you come in with a shutter speed quicker than 2sec.

If this in the end require a iso value around 400 the image should be relative noise free ... higher, up to 800 then a gentle noise wash usually is necessary in edit.

Then lastly & in general ... when it comes to darker parts vs. bright spots in the same image. Well, these cameras can't handle to big differences ... the so called dynamic range isn't at all as big as what our eyes can see. This means that you usually have to chose, live with some over exposed bright spots & get the shadows a bit less dark ... or the opposite.

Good luck with your night photography ... remember, just shoot away & experiment, taking multiple shots doesn't cost anything ... & you don't have to be airborne in order to practice camera settings.

 

[MassCoyote]

Thank you very much for your recommendations and explanations of taking photos at night.

 

[DaveS]

If you do find yourself taking more night photos and can't avoid using higher ISO to get the shot you want, check out the app Neat Video for grain removal.