Photography is about light.  Light usually comes from the sun which means we shoot when there is enough light to see.  I already wrote about night photography in a previous blog so I am not going to dwell on night photography per se again.  However, there are times when the primary light source is not the sun.  The sun tends to overwhelm such light sources by day.  So the only option is to shoot in darkness so that this other light source becomes visible.

          On a recent trip to Hawaii I went to the Volcano National Park.  The volcano glows but it is not visible during the day.  In fact it looks rather pathetic during the day; I fail to see why a photographer would even shoot it during the day - perhaps just to be able to say he or she was there, I suppose.

          Plan to shoot at night.  Night shooting has its own challenges.  Focus and composition are two such problems because you cannot see well enough to focus or frame.  In most situations a flash light does the trick.  A volcano is not one of those situations because you cannot get close enough and if you dare to use a strong hunting spot light 99 other photographers might want to hunt you.  For this situation I set up while it was still dusk.  I locked in my composition and focus.  I set my focus to manual so that the camera will not attempt to change it later when it is dark.  Now just wait ... When darkness falls the magic begins.

          Exposure is another problem because shots like this require a longer than 30 second exposure so your camera will not be able to help you with your exposure (please read the blog on night photography for the solution).  Leave some time between shots because long exposures heat your camera's sensor which causes noise.

          Do not be afraid to shoot at night.  It may be your best bet ...  Remember to take something warm and please be careful.