Night photography

A long-exposure image of star trails in the night sky above Mount Hood National Forest, Washington, facing north at 6,600 ft (2,000 m) above sea level

A London taxi turning outside the railway station at Sutton, London

The Singapore skyline at night

An aerial photograph of Los Angeles County at night

Mariehamn, a capital of Åland, at night

Night photography (also called nighttime photography) refers to the practice of taking photographs outdoors between dusk and dawn, when natural light is minimal or nonexistent. Recognized as a photographic genre for more than a century, it is valued for its distinctive visual atmosphere and expressive potential. This status has been reinforced by major institutional exhibitions such as Night Light: A Survey of 20th Century Night Photography, organized by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in 1989, which toured nationally and highlighted the genre’s historical and artistic significance.

The low-light conditions night photographers work in require specialized techniques to achieve proper exposure, including long exposures—ranging from several seconds to days—higher ISO sensitivity, or artificial lighting. Advances in cameras, lenses, high-speed films, and high-sensitivity digital sensors have made it increasingly feasible to photograph at night using only available light, resulting in a growing body of nocturnal photography. Software innovations have also further expanded the creative and technical possibilities of low-light photography.

The genre encompasses a wide range of subjects, including urban and rural landscapes, architecture, industrial sites, and astrophotography. In addition to its technical applications, night photography has contributed significantly to both artistic and documentary traditions since the 19th century.

History

Despite the extremely long exposure times required by early photographic processes, night photography was attempted by some of the earliest practitioners. These initial efforts were scientific rather than aesthetic, focusing on astronomical subjects rather than the urban or terrestrial scenes now commonly associated with night photography. Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, inventor of the daguerreotype process which bears his name, attempted to photograph the moon on January 2, 1839, using his newly invented daguerreotype process, but tracking errors in guiding the telescope during the long exposure meant the photograph came out as an indistinct spot. The first well-documented successful lunar photograph was taken by John William Draper on March 23, 1840, from his New York University rooftop using a 5-inch (13 cm) reflector and a long exposure of approximately 20 minutes. Draper’s photograph, regarded as the first clear representation of the moon’s surface, opened the door to astrophotography. Subsequent technical advances—particularly mechanical clock drives to compensate for Earth's rotation—made it possible to capture sharper and more detailed night sky images.

In the second half of the 19th century, advances in photographic materials and techniques made artistic night photography increasingly feasible. The introduction of gelatin dry plate negatives, first proposed by Richard Leach Maddox in 1871 and refined into a practical, viable process by the 1880s, greatly increased light sensitivity and reduced exposure times compared to the earlier wet collodion method. This enabled photographers to more readily capture dimly lit urban environments. Early practitioners experimented with nocturnal subjects ranging from gas-lit streets and moonlit architecture to staged settings. Among the earliest successful examples was British photographer Paul Martin’s London by Gaslight series (1896), which employed controlled illumination and helped inspire Alfred Stieglitz’s own night photography. By the late 1890s, night photography had begun to appear in exhibitions and salons, marking its emergence as a subject of artistic consideration.

In the early 20th century, Alfred Stieglitz emerged as a pioneer in night photography, developing techniques for capturing urban scenes in low light and adverse weather conditions. His photograph Spring Showers (1900) exemplifies this approach. In 1902, Stieglitz founded the Photo-Secession movement, which embraced night photography for its expressive and symbolic potential, aligning with the broader Pictorialist aim of elevating photography to the level of fine art. The increasing prevalence of electric street lighting after the 1880s opened new aesthetic possibilities, encouraging photographers to explore the interplay of artificial illumination, natural light, and shadow in the modern urban environment. Despite these advances, night photography remained relatively rare and experimental during this period, with most practitioners producing only isolated images rather than sustained bodies of work.

This began to change in the 1930s. In 1932, Brassaï self-published the book Paris de nuit, which brought widespread attention to night photography as a serious artistic genre. Working with a tripod and slow film, he photographed the streets, cafés, brothels, and foggy alleys of Paris, creating moody, evocative images that captured the psychological dimensions of the nighttime city. A few years later, influenced by Brassaï, British photographer Bill Brandt began photographing for A Night in London, making use of blackout conditions during World War II to shoot scenes illuminated only by moonlight, ambient glow, as well as the use of a newly developed flashbulb. Both Brassaï and Brandt produced the first large and cohesive bodies of work that helped establish night photography as a distinct and expressive photographic genre.

Photography at night found several new practitioners in the 1970s, beginning with the black and white photographs that Richard Misrach made of desert flora (1975–77). Joel Meyerowitz made luminous large format color studies of Cape Cod at nightfall which were published in his book Cape Light (1979). Jan Staller's twilight color photographs (1977–84) of abandoned and derelict parts of New York City captured the urban landscape lit by sodium vapor street lights.

By the 1990s, British-born photographer Michael Kenna had established himself as the most commercially successful night photographer. His black-and-white landscapes were most often set between dusk and dawn in locations that included San Francisco, Japan, France, and England. His subjects included the Ford Motor Company's Rouge River plant, the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station in the East Midlands in England, and many of the Nazi concentration camps scattered across Germany, France, Belgium, Poland and Austria.

Moonlight photography

Moonlight photography (capturing scenes on Earth illuminated by moonlight) greatly differs from lunar photography (capturing scenes on the Moon illuminated by direct sunlight). The Moon has an effective albedo of approximately 0.12, comparable to worn asphalt concrete. Since the Moon is essentially a dark body in direct sunlight, photographing its surface needs an exposure comparable to what a photographer would use for ordinary, mid-brightness surfaces (buildings, trees, faces, etc.) with an overcast sky.

The sunlight reflected from the full Moon onto Earth is about 1/250,000 of the brightness of direct sunlight in daytime. Since log₂(250,000) = 17.93..., full-moon photography requires 18 stops more exposure than sunlight photography, for which the sunny 16 rule is a commonly used guideline.

Flash photography

Flash photography is the process of using artificial lighting to illuminate an object or scene. Flashes are used it is to stop a moving object in motion. Typically this is done with wireless strobes strategically placed to control the spread of light on a scene. These light have radio receivers and is triggered by a transmitter placed in the cameras hotshoe and sends a signal once the cameras shutter is pressed. Before modern DSLR cameras and electronic flashes, flashes were wired for power and trigger signal. These lights sometimes had 1-25 individual lightbulbs. These lightbulbs were only good for one-time use. After the photo they would have to be replaced.

One notable flash photographer was O. Winston Link. In the late 1940s early 1950s, O. Winston Link was fascinated by the big steam locomotives of the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W). Around the mid 1950s, Norfolk and Western Railway, the last class one railroad to run steam locomotives in revenue service, announced their start of transitioning to diesel-electric locomotives. Link wanted to document the last remaining golden years of steam railroading before it disappeared. He would spend hours planning the scene and setting up several lights just to get one shot of a train on film. One of his most notable pictures is titled "Hotshot Eastbound", really captured the culture of the mid 1950s. Links work continues to inspire millions of people to continue pushing the limits of night photography with bigger and bigger setups.

Notable exhibitions

Notable exhibitions that have focused on Night photography include the following:

• Robert Adams: Summer Nights – Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, 1985, and Summer Nights, Walking – Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, 2010. Two exhibitions showcasing Robert Adams’ black-and-white photographs of suburban Colorado nightscapes made between 1976 and 1985.
• Night Light: A Survey of 20th Century Night Photography – Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, 1989. Curated by Keith F. Davis, this traveling exhibition showcased significant 20th-century night photography and toured the United States from 1989 to 1991.
• Brassaï – Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2000. Later toured to the Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Verona, Italy; the Ludwig Museum in Budapest, Hungary; and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo.
• Todd Hido: House Hunting* — Julie Saul Gallery, New York, NY (September 8 – October 20, 2001); Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (2002); Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO (2002, as part of *Open House*)
• Gregory Crewdson: Twilight* — Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York (February 19 – March 25, 2000); Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills (June 29 – August 3, 2002); Victoria and Albert Museum, London (October 10 – December 17, 2006, part of *Twilight: Photography in the Magic Hour*)
• Richard Misrach: Night Photographs 1975–1977 — Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA (November 1 – December 22, 2007). .

• Bill Brandt: Shadow and Light – Museum of Modern Art , New York, 1969. Updated retrospective at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2013. Not exclusively focused on night photography but included night interiors and urban scenes.
• Night Vision – The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2011. Group exhibition featuring 20th-century photography made after dark.
• Peter Ydeen: Easton Nights — Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, PA, USA (August 2018); Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, PA, USA (April – June 2019); Millersville University, Sykes Gallery, Millersville, PA, USA (September – October 2020); Albright College, Freedman Gallery, Reading, PA, USA (October – November 2020); Noyes Museum Arts Garage, Atlantic City, NJ, USA (2021); AOCF58 Galleria Bruno Lisi, Rome, Italy (October 2022); Sigal Museum, Easton, PA, USA (June – August 2023).

• Dave Jordano: Human Landscapes — Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 4 – June 9, 2024).
• Michael Kenna: Venice — A solo exhibition series featuring Kenna’s long-exposure night and twilight photographs of Venice. - Sala Parés Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (September 19 – October 19, 2024); Festival Grain d’Pixel, Galerie de l’Ancienne Poste, Besançon, France (September 28 – October 20, 2024); The Hulett Collection, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA (December 7, 2024 – February 15, 2025).
• Barbara Bosworth: Sun Light, Moon Shadow Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio (July 28, 2024 – March 23, 2025).

Published night photographers

This section includes the most significant night photographers who have published books dedicated to night photography, and some of their selected works. Additional publications can be found in further reading.

• Robert Adams – Summer nights, walking: along the Colorado front range, 1976–1982 Millerton, NY: Aperture; New Haven, CT: Yale University Art Gallery, 1982
• Bill Brandt – A Night in London: Story of a London Night in Sixty-Four Photographs. Print book, English. London: Country Life; Paris: Arts et Métiers Graphiques; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1938.
• Brassaï – Paris de nuit. Paris: Arts et Métiers Graphiques, 1932. .
• Todd Hido
  • Outskirts, Nazraeli, 2002. ISBN 1-59005-028-2
  • House Hunting, Nazraeli, 2001. ISBN 978-3923922963.
  • Bright Black World, Nazraeli Press, 2018. ISBN 9781590055052 WorldCat
• Peter Hujar
  • Night, Matthew Marks Gallery/Fraenkel Gallery, 2005. ISBN 1-880146-45-2
• Lance Keimig – Night Photography, Finding Your Way In The Dark, Focal, 2010. ISBN 978-0-240-81258-8
• Michael Kenna
  • The Rouge, RAM, 1995. ISBN 0-9630785-1-8
  • Night Work, Nazraeli, 2000. ISBN 3-923922-83-3
• O. Winston Link – The Last Steam Railroad in America, Harry Abrams, 1995. ISBN 0-8109-3575-9

See also

• Light painting
• Astrophotography

Further reading

• Jeff Brouws – Inside the Live Reptile Tent, Chronicle, 2001. ISBN 0-8118-2824-7
• Alan Delaney – London After Dark, Phaidon, 1993. ISBN 0-7148-2870-X WorldCat
• Maciej Dakowicz – Cardiff after Dark. London: Thames & Hudson, 2012. ISBN 978-0-500-54419-8.
• Neil Folberg – Celestial Nights, Aperture Foundation, 2001. ISBN 0-89381-945-X
• Karekin Goekjian – Light After Dark, Lucinne, Inc. ASIN B0006QOVCG WorldCat
• London Night by Harold Burdekin and John Morrison (1934)
• Rolfe Horn – 28 Photographs, Nazraeli. ISBN 1-59005-122-X
• Dave Jordano – Detroit Nocturne, powerHouse Books, 2018. ISBN 9781942159427 WorldCat
• Brian Kelly – Grand Rapids: Night After Night, Glass Eye, 2001. ISBN 0-9701293-0-0
• William Lesch – Expansions, RAM, 1992. ISBN 4-8457-0667-9
• Tom Paiva – Industrial Night, The Image Room, 2002. ISBN 0-9716928-0-7
• Troy Paiva
  • Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration, Chronicle, 2008. ISBN 0-8118-6338-7
  • Lost America: The Abandoned Roadside West, MBI, 2003. ISBN 0-7603-1490-X
• Andrew Sanderson – Night Photography, Amphoto. ISBN 0-8174-5007-6
• Bill Schwab
  • Bill Schwab: Photographs, North Light, 1999. ISBN 0-9765193-0-5
  • Gathering Calm, North Light, 2005. ISBN 0-9765193-2-1
• Jan Staller – Frontier New York, Hudson Hills, 1988. ISBN 1-55595-009-4
• Zabrina Tipton – At Night in San Francisco, San Francisco Guild of the Arts, 2006. ISBN 1-4243-1882-3
• Giovanna Tucker – How to Night Photography, 2011. ISBN 978-1-4657-4423-4
• Nora Vrublevska and Dan Squires – Cambridge at Night, 2013. ISBN 978-1-935489-27-6
• Volkmar Wentzel – Washington by Night, Fulcrum, 1998. ISBN 978-1-55591-410-3
• Peter Ydeen – Easton Nights, Keystone Editions, 2020. ISBN 9781733898133 WorldCat

External links

• Comprehensive tutorials and articles about how to do night photography by The Nocturnes