The Nikon d7500 is a very popular DSLR camera body from the ever-popular Nikon camera range that already has an existing huge customer base for itself while still seeing strong sales. With so many photographers using the Nikon d7500 as they go to camera body of choice, we constantly see people asking a number of different questions relating to the camera ranging from various camera accessories, to camera settings, to tips and tricks for the camera to improve their overall image quality that they are able to capture.
Without a doubt, over the last month or so, one of the main questions that we have seen people asking over and over again is based around tips and tricks for better Nikon d7500 night photography image quality. With night photography seeing a sharp increase in its popularity right now, we only expect more and more people to be reaching out with the same question in the future too.
Due to this, we have decided to make this the main feature of this article to try and offer out tips and tricks to improve your night photography skillset for any of our readers who use the Nikon d7500. Although all of these tips and tricks have the proven ability to help improve the quality of the photographs that you are able to capture at night, depending on your location, goals, and circumstances, you may not be able to or need to implement them all. That said though, implementing as many of them as possible will definitely help to improve the quality of your photographs.
Consider A Free Night Photography Course
The first problem that we see time and time again for people wanting to improve their night photography skillset and this is not just particular to those who use the Nikon d7500 is that they don’t follow the basic fundamentals of night photography. As a Photography Paws reader, you can claim a two month trial of Skillshare premium without having to spend a single cent.
This allows you to enroll and complete their best night photography course that you would usually have to pay for and pick up all of the entry level and intermediate level tips and tricks that it offers. The course has an absolute ton of excellent reviews from the community already while also having earned itself an excellent reputation amongst photographers too. As it only takes just over an hour to complete while having a ton of video lessons that are very well put togeather, we would highly recommend our readers spend an hour of their time to complete it.
As the trial that you are able to claim is for a full Skillshare premium membership, you are also able to enroll on all of the other photography courses that you would usually have to pay for too. In our opinion, this is the fastest and easiest way to develop your skillset as a photographer and is well worth doing. As we touched on above, the course are designed for entry-level and intermediate level photographers and has been produced by professional-level photographers who are at the top of their field.
Get Yourself A Lens That Is Ideal For Night Photography
The next issue that we usually see that usually holds people back when it comes to night photography is that they will be using their kit lens with their camera and most kit lenses are general purpose lenses that are great for day time but poor for night time. Now, the Nikon d7500 is actually available with a few different kit lenses depending on the bundle that you purchase or if you just purchase the camera body.
If you purchased the bundle with the 16-80mm f/2.8-4 then you can usually skip this step as it is a solid little lens for night photography and can be great for many of the sub-niches within night photography too. That said though, if you purchased the bundle with the 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens then you may want to look at adding a more suitable camera lens to your collection if possible.
We always recommend the Rokinon 14mm to our readers as we feel that it is an outstanding little night photography lens and that it offers you some of the best performance available for the price. The lens has managed to earn itself a great reputation since its release and in addition to its excellent night time performance, it also offers great performance in a large number of other photography niches too.
Invest In A Suitable Tripod
Although this is less common with people using the Nikon d7500, we do see a few people reaching out for advice for improving their night photography with the camera who are still capturing their photographs by hand. Although this can be find with a faster lens that has a better aperture for night photography, if you are using the 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens then we would highly recommend that you at least look to add a decent entry level tripod to your collection of camera accessories.
In our opinion though, if you are planning on sticking with photography for years to come or are looking to make it your profession, you should be looking towards something like the Manfrotto MT055CXPRO3. Although it is an intermediate level tripod with the intermediate price tag to match, we feel that the MT055CXPRO3 is one of the best tripods ever created and we always recommend it to our readers who are looking to stick with photography for years to come. Additionally, judging by its excellent reputation amongst the community, it would seem that they agree with us on just how great this tripod really is.
Consider Getting Some Steel Wool
Steel wool is becoming more and more popular amongst photographers and videographers as it allows you to quickly, easily, and cheaply add an additional element to your photographs to help them stand out against the competition. In this day and age, the majority of photographers share their work on social media and the more likes and followers you get, the better your reputation, and the higher fee you can charge for your services.
Adding some steel wool to your kit allows you to ensure that your photographs of local landmarks that people often photograph stand out to draw eyeballs to your work and social media accounts. Steel wool is very easy to use and it really can bring an otherwise boring photograph to life as shown in the example photograph above. Due to steel wool being so cheap, theres no harm in picking some up to try it at least once, that said though, have a quick google search for the regulations of using it in your local area as some counties can restrict its use.
Get Yourself A Remote Trigger
This one is niche depended and more towards the astrophotography side of things rather than general night photography and even then, its only when you are using a super zoom lens with your Nikon d7500. In our opinion, any work being done with over 300mm of zoom should be having the camera triggered by a cheap wireless remote control rather than physically pressing the capture button on your d7500.
At these higher zoom ranges, even the slightest vibration can cause your image quality to suffer, especially if you are using an entry level telephoto lens so using a wireless remote control means there is no need to touch your camera body and create these vibrations. Considering these remote controls can be purchased for ten to twenty dollars usually, they can offer tremendous value relative to their price tag when it comes to the improvement in your actual image quality.
Take Advantage Of The Landscape
We often see entry level photographers making this mistake when it comes to their night photograph and it is such a simple concept to improve and better yet, it’s totally free. If you are in a rural area then trees, hills, and mountains can work but an urban environment can often take advantage of bridges or tall buildings for the same effect. Essentially, you are looking to try and add a feature to the foreground, middle ground or ideally both from landmarks in your local area as shown in the image above.
Not only can this add depth and scale to your photograph but it also adds features to the photo and can easily help to improve its over all quality. With a little practise, you are also able to tweak the landmarks so they are silhouettes allowing you to capture some unique photographs of commonly captured locations in your local area to help your photographs stand out.
Experiment With Manual Focus
When it comes to night photography, you really should be trying to get used to your manual focus rather than the auto focus on your lens. Auto focus systems have improved a large amount over the years but they can still have issues at night and continuously track due to the poor lighting. Getting used to the manual focus on your lens allows you to avoid this issue and lets you capture much better photographs at night than you would be able to with your auto focus.
Although it can take a little while to get used to your manual focus if you have usually relied on your autofocus for your photography, you can quickly pick it up and get a feel for it. The best part about practicing using your manual focus on your lens is that you don’t have to do it at night, you can do it in any lighting or conditions.
Capture Your Photographs In RAW Format
Another quick and easy improvement that you are able to make is to switch your Nikon d7500 to be saving your photographs in RAW rather than JPEG. In our opinion, you should be capturing your photographs in RAW as often as possible anyway because the compression of JPEG will reduce the quality as well as make it harder to do any post production editing effectively. With modern memory cards offering you huge storage capacities, you can usually capture a large number of photographs in RAW without issue anyway.
Plan Your Night Photography Session
Although this sounds like a very basic tip, we have lost count of the number of people who don’t check the weather, cloud cover, or the phase of the moon prior to going out on their night photography session only for it to be wasted. It literally takes a couple of minutes to check if you have ideal conditions for your Nikon d7500 night photography and can make the difference between you getting some epic nighttime photographs or the whole session being a total waste of time so is well worth doing.
