I received a Gorillapod for my birthday. For those who don’t know this is a small tripod with movable legs that you can twist around things to attach to poles or make a level platform on any surface. It has to be one of the most useful additions to my camera kit. It is small and easy to carry anywhere and provides a stable platform for my camera. No longer do I have to precariously balance it on any flat object to take those difficult low light shots.

When coupled with use of the self-timer feature this can provide a quick and simple way to take fantastic low light shots. Even balancing the camera on a nearby wall or against a lamp-post can work, the important thing is that using the self-timer means you don’t jog the camera when you take the picture.

If the place you have the camera is stable it also means you can take pictures with a longer exposure and larger aperture, rather than increasing the ISO, which results in a less noisy picture.

Have a look at the New York gallery for an example of good night photography.

Most cameras will let you set the self timer for only 2 seconds so that you don’t have to wait forever, and this is extremely useful.

More night photography is on my to do list, so watch out for more interesting cityscape pictures coming soon.

These are a couple of the shots I have taken using the above technique,

Boston Skyline, Night

Port of San Francisco Building