Taking Nighttime Portraits
Nighttime portraits can be extremely interesting, especially when your subject is in front of a lit monument or building. The key to this shot is a very wide aperture, to admit as much light as possible. You can use nighttime flash mode, but if your camera has aperture-priority mode, you can get more control over the results. Either way, use a tripod and follow the general guidelines for twilight portraits in the previous section.
In aperture-priority mode, set the aperture to f-2.8 or f-4. Take a shot of just the background and review it onscreen. If it looks good, turn on your flash (forcedflash mode) and position your subject within ten feet of the camera. Ask your subject to stand still until you give the OK to move. When you take the picture, the flash will fire very briefly, but the shutter will stay open for another second or two to soak in enough light to pick up the background.
After you take the shot, review the results on the camera. If your subject is too bright, move the camera farther away. Move closer if the subject is too dark.
