Taking digital photography at night is one of the most difficult and most rewarding types of photography. Night time photography requires good planning and taking many, many photos until you get the right one. Even professional photographers have a stack of bad photographs that are either out of focus, have the wrong exposure or are just not the quality they were trying for.
Average digital cameras usually will have an auto focus feature. You can try to use this feature for night time photographs, but many times it will focus in the wrong part of the photo and cause over exposure. Generally, using manual focus is the best option. You will need to take several photos of the same thing to make sure that you are getting the shot you want and adjusting as needed.
Using a flash at night is never a good idea. Because the flash is usually only effective for five or 
six feet, it tends to highlight the parts of the subject in the foreground and darken the background. Many night time photos are taken from a distance and therefore using a flash will usually ruin your shot. Tripods should also be used to help steady the camera.
The most important tip for doing night time photography is to remember a flashlight, especially if you’re doing photography away from the city lights. A small pocket flashlight will help you find your way back to your vehicle or the trail that you came in on and avoid falls or worse dropping your camera!
