Our regular readers will probably already know that we are huge fans of the Canon 6d as in our opinion, it is one of the best intermediate-level DSLR camera bodies ever made and it offers excellent image quality with great versatility too, especially when you factor its price tag in. This has ensured that the Canon 6d has been able to constantly go from strength to strength amongst the community and rapidly grow a huge customer base of photographers who use it as their camera of choice.
That said though, due to being such a popular camera body, we constantly see people reaching out and asking questions on how they are able to best use their Canon 6d to get the best image quality possible for their photographs. Although we see these questions asked about a number of different popular photography niches, we have seen more and more people specifically reaching out to ask about how they are able to improve their Canon 6d night photography skills.
Due to constantly seeing this question asked, we have decided to publish this article going over a number of different tips and tricks to try and help as many of our readers as possible who are currently using the Canon 6d and using it for night photography. As always, we have tried to include as many tips as possible to help as many people as possible who are working in a number of different sub-niches within the night photography niche.
That said, depending on what you are trying to get done with your Canon 6d, some of our tips may not be applicable to your needs so just apply the tricks that you are able to put to use to improve your image quality. On top of this, we know that many people, even those who have been able to invest in a higher price point camera like the Canon 6d may be wanting to keep their other costs as low as possible so many of our tips and tricks are totally free.
Consider A Free Night Photography Course
Although the Canon 6d is an intermediate level camera, we know a large number of entry level photographs do use it as their camera of choice. In addition to this, we also know that a large number of intermediate level photographers may have only worked in well lit photography niches too meaning that they have more of an entry level understanding of night photography.
This is why we always recommend that any of our readers who are not very experienced with night photography take advantage of this no-commitment offer for a Skillshare premium trial. All of our readers are able to take advantage of it and use it to enroll on some of the best online photography courses available without having to spend a cent to do so.
As Skillshare has an absolute ton of excellent courses online now, it should come as no surprise that they also offer one of the best online night photography courses that have ever been made. Not only does the course have an excellent reputation amongst the photography community with a ton of great reviews from previous students but the vast majority of the previous students have had to pay for the course whereas the trial offer removes the need for our readers to pay to enroll on it.
Get Yourself A Lens That Is Ideal For Night Photography
Even with the more intermediate level camera bodies, we still see some people trying to get decent night photography photographs when using a kit lens or some other unsuitable lens. We know that a large number of people out there want to try keep their camera accessory spend as low as possible but you can use sites such as eBay to try find yourself a great bargain for a night photography lens for your Canon 6d.
Getting yourself a decent lens with a fast aperture suitable for night photography is probably the single greatest addition to your camera accessories that you are able to make to improve your image quality. There are an absolute ton of great night photography lenses for the Canon 6d that work in a large number of other photography niches too with many being available second hand meaning that there is no need to break the bank picking one up.
Invest In A Suitable Tripod
We know that most of our readers who own the Canon 6d are likely to already have a decent tripod in their camera accessories. That said though, there is still a surprising number of people who like to hold their camera in their hands for their photography sessions. Although this can be found for some niches with ideal lighting, it can be a pain for low light photography niches as image stabilization becomes more important to help prevent blur.
If you are on a tight budget, there are some decent cheap tripods available on the market these days that offer excellent levels of image stabilization relative to their price point. This offers a easy, cheap way to get some much needed image stabilization for your Canon 6d to ensure it has minimal movement when capturing a photograph so the low level of light available can easily hit your camera sensor without causing any blur in your photograph.
Consider Getting Some Steel Wool
As we keep saying, one of the main issues with night photography is that there is often nowhere near enough light available on location to allow you to capture the photograph that you actually want. This is why steel wool is seeing a drastic increase in the number of people using it in their night photography sessions.
Not only does steel wool offer a very cost effective way to add an additional light source into your frame but it also adds movement to help make your photograph look more exciting. Take the photo at the start of this section of the article for example, without the use of steel wool by the main subject in the photograph, it would just be a boring, very dark photograph of a bridge.
You can really think outside of the box when it comes to how you want to add steel wool to your night photography sessions and get use it to your advantage. Having steel wool in your photographs can also help to draw attention to your work on social media too as it can catch the eye. This can potentially help you grow your social media accounts faster by ensuring that your work sticks out for any hashtags that you share it on and draw potential followers to your account.
Get Yourself A Remote Trigger
Although remote triggers do have an absolute ton of uses in a wide range of popular photography niches, if you are planning to work in the Astrophotography sub-niche of night photography then they can be a great addition to your camera accessories. The Canon 6d has a number of wired and wireless remote triggers available for it that are usually only around the ten to twenty dollar mark allowing you to pick one up without breaking the bank.
Their main us for Astrophotography is to remove the need for you to touch your Canon 6d to trigger your camera when working at those super zoom lens ranges. With the zoom of your lens being so high for the vast majority of Astrophotography, even the slight vibration from you pressing your camera trigger on your Canon 6d can end up causing issues with blue and spoiling your photograph.
Remote triggers allow you to capture your photograph without having to press the physical, on camera trigger button preventing this. Although this may sound like a very small and cheap change that you are able to implement, if you are working at a 300mm zoom range or more it can actually make a very surprising difference to both the sharpness and detail of your photographs.
Experiment With Manual Focus
No matter what sub-niche of night photography you are working in, you should really be trying to get used to using your manual focus on your camera rather than any type of auto focus system. We have seen more and more people get to an intermediate level of photography while having neglected developing their manual focusing skillset and this can really hold you back when it comes to night photography.
Even the most expensive, modern auto focus system will have issues when used in a low light setting as the system ends up getting stuck in its tracking mode due to there not being enough light for it to work. This is why getting used to using your manual focus really can be a godsend as you can just manually focus on your subject and capture your photograph.
Plan Your Night Photography Session
This last tip seems like it is very basic but even professional level photographers often overlook it and it can literally spoil your whole session. A quick Google search can tell you pretty much everything you need to know about the location of your photography session without you even needing to leave your house.
This means that before you potentially drive for hours to a location, you can get a good idea of the weather and cloud cover before setting off. You can also check things such as visible stars in the location or the phase of the moon too ensuring that when you get to your location, there is a good chance that you are going to be able to capture the photograph you want with your Canon 6d.
