The Canon T7i is a very popular DSLR camera body from the Canon range that has managed to grow itself an absolutely huge user base over the years with a mixture of entry-level, intermediate level, and professional level photographers all making up its user base. Just like all of the other popular camera bodies out there, we constantly see people reaching out with a wide range of questions about the Canon T7i and we doubt that this is going to stop anytime soon.
One of the main questions that we have noticed photographers reaching out and asking about is for tips and tricks to help improve their Canon T7i night photography skills. We know that making the switch from regular photography to night photography can be a challenge due to the totally different lighting conditions so we have decided to publish this article with a number of tips to try and help all of our readers.
In addition to this, we know that night photography has a number of sub-niches within it so out tips and tricks below are spread out over a number of different niches too. Although this means that some of our tips may not be applicable to the type of night photography that you are doing with your Canon T7i, we feel it is the best way to approach the article as it allows us to offer more general tips and tricks to help as many of our readers as possible.
Consider A Free Night Photography Course
Our regular readers, especially those who have read any of our articles going overnight photography before will probably be expecting this as our first recommendation. As we touched on above, the lack of light available to you during your night photography sessions makes a huge difference to regular photography. This is why we always recommend that our readers try to enroll on a decent online night photography course.
If you are one of our new readers then you may not be aware that as a Photography Paws reader, you are able to take advantage of a no-obligation trial of Skillshare premium without you having to spend a single cent. All of our readers are eligible to take advantage of this and Skillshare have some of the best online photography courses out there that mose people have to pay for.
In our opinion, they also have one of, if not the best online night photography course too. The course is packed with excellent videos going over a ton of great information to help you develop your night photography skillset and it also has a great reputation amongst the photography community too making it well worth enrolling on.
Invest In A Suitable Tripod
We are just going to quickly go over this one as we know that out intermediate and professional level photographers who use the Canon T7i will probably already have a decent tripod like the Manfrotto MT055CXPRO3 in their camera accessories. That said though, we see a large number of entry-level photography who do handheld sessions with their Canon T7i and don’t use a tripod at all.
Although this can be fine in some popular photography niches, the lack of light available for night photography does tend to lean to you needing at least some level of decent image stabilization for the best possible image quality. Thankfully, there are some excellent, budget-friendly tripods on the market like the Zomei Z699C that can provide you with some great levels of image stabilization without you having to break the bank.
Consider Getting Some Steel Wool
Depending on the night photography niche that you are working in, adding some steel wool to your night photography sessions can make a real difference in the image quality that you are able to capture as shown in the image above. An otherwise boring photograph of a bridge at night is brought to life due to the movement and additional light of the steel wool and drastically improves the overall photograph.
In this day and age, so many photographers get large chunks of their work from social media so using some steel wool on the local landmarks in your area helps you capture them but ensure that your image sticks out against the competition. This can be a great way to ensure that your social media profiles draw peoples eyeballs to them and that you are able to grow your following and potentially get additional work.
That said though, some locations do restrict when and how you are able to use steel wool, especially when it is the dry season so always check your local regulations prior to use. That said though, the majority of places have no regulations relating to the use of steel wool but just keep in mind that you should always ensure there is no fire risk after use.
Get Yourself A Remote Trigger
This one is more for any photographers out there who use the Canon T7i for any type of astrophotography or are in another night photography sub-niche that is working with super zoom lens ranges. At these zoom levels even the slight vibration of pressing your camera trigger button to capture your photography can have an effect on your image quality and although it is ever so slight, it is definitely noticeable.
Thankfully, you are able to pick up a cheap wired or wireless remote camera trigger for your camera that will allow you to trigger it to capture your photographs without having to actually touch your camera body. This removes these vibrations that may spoil your image quality and can be a quick, easy, and cheap way to ensure that you are getting the best photographs possible during your night photography sessions.
Take Advantage Of The Landscape
This is another quick and easy trick that we see entry-level and intermediate photographers miss and that is to use the natural landscape around the location of your night photography session. The photograph above offers a decent example of this and shows you how you can take advantage of trees, mountains, and the moon to add depth and scale to your photograph.
We know that the landscape is going to change drastically depending on your location but if you are in a more urban setting then you will probably have access to bridges, statues, and tall buildings. We have seen some great photographs captured taking advantage of this that really do bulk out the photograph and help to bring it to life.
Experiment With Manual Focus
In our opinion, no matter how experienced of a photographer you are, you should always be looking to use your manual focus during your night photography sessions. Although the Canon T7i does have a number of lenses with some solid auto focus technology, they all need decent light conditions to work efficiently.
The lack of available light on a night photography session will often result in the auto focus system in your lens essentially getting stuck in tracking mode and forcing your subject in and out of focus. With manual focus, you are able to control this and ensure that your Canon T7i is going to capture the subject of your photograph in the best possible quality.
if you are an entry-level photographer then we are fully aware that getting used to using your manual focus can be a pain, especially if you have built up the habit of just letting your autofocus deal with it but trust up, developing your manual focus skills are definitely worth it. Being able to effectively control the manual focus on your lens of choice for your Canon T7i will also be useful in other photography niches too, not just night photography.
Play Around With Your Camera Settings
This is often a mistake that entry-level photographers make and they will Google a settings benchmark for their Canon T7i to use for night photography and only use that. Although these settings can be a great starting point, you definatley have to tweak them and play around with them a little to get the best possible image quality.
There is no one size fits all setting list for your camera for a specific niche, each location will have different lighting and elements meaning that you should be looking to tweak your camera settings, even if it is just a little. Although this may sound like a large amount of work, especially if you change your location on a regular basis, you will quickly build up a feel for what you should be trying to achieve with your Canon T7i settings and be able to make the required changes within seconds.
Plan Your Night Photography Session
This is another mistake that we see made by entry level, intermediate level, and professional level photographers all make and that is to fail to actually plan their night photography session. Theres no point in traveling to your location with your Canon T7i and camera accessories only to find that conditions are not suitable for a night photography session.
It literally takes a couple of seconds to run a quick Google search for the weather, phase of the moon, and cloud cover for the location you plan to capture your photographs. There are even a number of apps on the market for most popular smartphones too making the task even easier.
