Notes for beginning night photographers
The most important aspect of night photography is your attitude. In most forms of photography the photographic industry tries very hard to make us feel that there is only one 'correct' way to make photographs, usually involving us buying their complicated and expensive equipment. The best news for new night photographers is that hi-tech cameras and zoom lenses are not the best for the task, and that your own willingness to experiment and learn from your photographs is infinitely more important than any magical technique or camera.
If you already own a 35mm camera with a 'bulb' or 'B' time exposure setting (maybe even a 'T' setting on older models) and a tripod you already have the basic equipment for success. If you have a modern, electronic camera you can still use this to get started but you may find that your batteries do not last very long as long exposures and lower night time temperatures may affect their performance.Older, clockwork driven cameras are ideal for working at night and can often be bought secondhand at reasonable prices.
To start. load your camera with transparency (slide) film in the range 100-400 ISO, I don't recommend print film as you may find the processing lab will spoil your prints by automatically 'correcting' the interesting night time colours so that your work looks like it was taken in the day. Place the camera on a tripod (to hold it steady) and thread a locking cable release into the shutter button (to enable long time exposures to be made on the 'B' setting). Find the scene you want to photograph and compose the image you want to make.
As for the exposure to give, all night exposures (ie those not made in the direct glare of electric light) are really the result of experiment and experience as light meters (whether in camera or separate hand held professional models) cannot cope with truly low light and the way film sensitivity changes in long exposures. The key here is,at least to begin with, to stick exclusively with one film you find works well with your type of images and to make notes of the exposure times and lens apertures used to make each photograph. When the film returns from being processed, look at the results and make a note of which exposures worked and which did not. The next time you use the film at night you will already have a better understanding of how your film will react to a particular scene and you will soon become good at estimating the best exposure. To start with, if you set your lens to, say, f4 and give a wide variety of exposure times you will have a good basis for learning about your film. For my own work, I would say I often give a series of exposures of 2, 5 and10 minutes at f4 but this can vary widely depending on the effect I want. Over time, you will work out the best technique and film for what you want to say in your picture and thus make your work truly personal.