Week #37: Your Niche at Night

Oct 03, 2025

Welcome to This Week’s Edition of The Carty Method Magazine!
This week, we challenged photographers to capture their niche at night.

Why this matters:

Mastering night photography proves your versatility and ability to create compelling images in challenging lighting conditions.

This technical skill expands your market appeal significantly—from corporate events and restaurants that operate after hours, to editorial clients seeking dramatic lifestyle content.

Assignment Brief

CARTY gives a tight brief at the end of his photo review shows which tells us shooters what we have to shoot exactly for the following weeks review.

Here is this assignment exactly how he shares it.

“This weeks Assignment: Your Niche at Night”.

Create an image that showcases your specialty after dark.

Use ambient and/or artificial light to bring attention to your subject in a night scene, demonstrating your technical mastery in challenging lighting conditions.

Delilah Laboy

What inspired the concept behind your night image?

I wanted to do something cool but also me.

Carty said if I wanted to be a lifestyle photographer, start shooting portraits.

So, I followed his advice and did a portrait but my way.

I was playing with gels that night and wanted to experiment using two different colors.

I didn’t think it was going to be a yes for Carty.

How did the lighting conditions influence your creative decisions?

It was so dark!

I always hear Carty say “You should never be shooting over ISO 2000!”

So, I brought out some lights to keep the ISO where I wanted it.

Then I threw on the gels.

What challenges did you face shooting after dark, and how did you overcome them?

Shooting in the dark is pretty tough but also fun.

I had to bring out the lights since it was too dark.

Almost (by almost I mean I totally did) melted the red gels trying to get the correct exposure due to the lack of lighting.

Getting the correct white balance was annoying but it was all trail and error.

How does this image reflect your niche or personal style?

I love high contrast photos and pops of color.

When I shoot in black and white, it is always in high contrast, and the same goes with color. I guess that is my style.

What did this assignment teach you about working in low-light environments?

This assignment taught me that shooting at night is not as bad as I thought it would be.

I can get just as creative at night as I can during the day just in different ways.

Utilizing my surroundings and taking advantage of ambient light definitely helps in low light environments.

It also taught me that the white balance setting is so important at night.

Social Media Handles:
Instagram: ooolala.photo

Israel Cardona III

What inspired the concept behind your night image?

My inspiration was a photo shared by one of our members in the community where it showed a model at night near neon lights lol, but I could not find one, so I tried to use the street lights near me.

How did the lighting conditions influence your creative decisions?

Since I was working at night, I used the available streetlights and ambient glow to naturally illuminate my subject.

The soft but directional light highlighted the red hoodie, making it the focal point, while a silver reflector helped bring out subtle facial details.

What challenges did you face shooting after dark, and how did you overcome them?

The most challenging part was trying to find a good spot with lighting.

I didn’t bring a speedlite or strobe, lol, only a silver reflector.

I walked around our town hall park, finding a good spot and finally found it near an old art museum.

I used the street lamps and a silver reflector to illuminate my subject.

How does this image reflect your niche or personal style?

This image reflects my niche in environmental and editorial photography by capturing real moments in authentic settings.

What did this assignment teach you about working in low-light environments?

It teaches me how to find the best lights around and how to use the upcoming cars lights to my advantage for illuminating my subject.

I would like to do this again and practice with a speedlite.

Social Media Handles:
Website: illuminad.studio

Mike Graves

What inspired the concept behind your night image?

The love for adventure.

How did the lighting conditions influence your creative decisions?

Enhanced the style I was going for.

What challenges did you face shooting after dark, and how did you overcome them?

Overcome the lack of light by adding more exposure time.

How does this image reflect your niche or personal style?

Product+place.

What did this assignment teach you about working in low-light environments?

Many attempts to get the right shot.

Social Media Handles:
Website: MikeGraves.ca
Instagram: dinomikeg

Doyle Daniels

What inspired the concept behind your night image?

I have a new assistant she has a kind androgynous punk rock look to her.

She is also considering modeling so we took a night and just had some fun.

How did the lighting conditions influence your creative decisions?

It was a pretty big hurdle.

I’ve been dealing with an elbow injury, so I could really only manage one light.

We tried to compensate with the headlights, but the flare I wanted ended up fighting against my ability to use a long enough shutter speed to fill in the background.

It’s close to what I was going for, but the tightness of the location and being limited to just one light definitely affected the outcome.

I’m not 100% sold on it—but I still love the shot.

What challenges did you face shooting after dark, and how did you overcome them?

Well I think the same challenge everyone faced probably, good light is key to good photography.

Night time inhibits that a bit. Headlights and a strobe helped fix the issue to a degree.

How does this image reflect your niche or personal style?

I’m always aiming to bring someone’s personality out in a shoot, and doing it at night didn’t change that.

The setting just added a different atmosphere, but the goal stayed the same—making sure who they are comes through in the image.

What did this assignment teach you about working in low-light environments?

It’s always a fun brief when it comes up.

I think on this shoot I lost a little of that instinct to hunt for existing light now that I’m used to having strobes.

On this shoot I could really only use one, so my vision was fighting against both ability and equipment.

In the end, it was just another reminder that the fundamentals stay the same, no matter the assignment.

Social Media Handles:
Website: doyledaniels.com
Instagram: doyledanielsphotography

Charles Fortin

What inspired the concept behind your night image?

I’m in Hay River this month and the northern lights have been mesmerizing.

I had to create an image about them!

How did the lighting conditions influence your creative decisions?

The scene being shot in the dark, I was a great opportunity to include a lit tent to enhance the composition.

The tent also acts as a light source for the subjects.

What challenges did you face shooting after dark, and how did you overcome them?

The biggest challenge was to be patient with the northern lights and the weather and wait for to best moment to capture their magnificence.

How does this image reflect your niche or personal style?

The inclusion of the tent create a direct connection to my niche: adventure photography.

What did this assignment teach you about working in low-light environments?

Utilizing genuine elements of the scene I’m creating as light sources.

Social Media Handles:
Website: charlesfortincreative.com
Instagram: charlesfortincreative

Khaligraphy

Social Media Handles:
Website: khaligraphy.art
Instagram: khaligraphy

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