I don’t know if you’ve heard but the Indie Sleaze aesthetic is back. Post-lockdown we’re no longer going on long morning walks or spending weekends baking bloody sourdough. No, sir. We’re out on the town, taking pics in bars, wearing the Doc Martens of our teen years, and making the damn most of what the night presents to us.
While I’m all for this Indie Sleaze renaissance, there’s one downfall. I have no idea how to take aesthetic pictures at night. My friends usually grumble at me as I try to find the flash button on my phone and the pics end up being more deletable than Pinterest-worthy. C’mon, the last time Indie Sleaze was a thing everyone was bringing digital cameras to the club and posting whole 100-pic albums on Facebook (RIP).
However, I’m nothing if not a trier. That’s why I road-tested the new Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. It uses the latest technology in you-beaut night photography like Night Mode and adaptive pixel tech, so here’s how it went.
On a weeknight, I took my puppy out for a walk around the neighbourhood. It helps that my neighbourhood is the city so truly optimal night photography scenes. I felt like a first-year uni student again, eyeing up the shot and paying attention to the composition, looking behind me to see if anyone was watching me dodgily give a hobby a go. The usual.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has four (!!) camera lenses including a fancy Pro-grade Camera. Apparently, it has all of the professional kit a photographer could need but as a newbie, I just hope that the photos look semi-decent. But in saying that, art is subjective, right? Right?!
The First Shot: Exposure Matters
Ooft. She’s super washed out. Because I was in the uni spirit I walked up to one of the University of Melbourne campuses and snapped this. I recalled what one of Samsung’s talented trainers had told me a few days earlier and jumped into the ‘Pro’ settings. By playing with the exposure and actually paying attention to the shutter speed and framing, I came out with this.
Much better. It’s giving photographer, it’s giving mysterious, it’s giving… professional.
The Second Shot: Creativity Is Your Friend
One identifying feature of the Indie Sleaze aesthetic is blur. While many photographers will try and keep their shot still, I wanted to flex my muscles in order to snap away with the girls this weekend. I took this shot of the Arts Centre Melbourne.
As Andy Warhol would say, ‘It needs a bit of composition work.’ However, it’s 2022 and it’s not about composition it’s about getting the most Gram-worthy night aesthetic shot.
I shake my camera and boom. Can’t you just see that in an Instagram photo dump from a Saturday night? Bag = secured. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea but the tipsy night aesthetic is 100% in right now.
The Third Shot: Zoom And Shoot
Alright, folks. This is it. This is the big one. This one’s for the girls. The city-scape. While I was totally fascinated by the zoom function on this camera, (there’s even a 100x Super Zoom for snapping that pic of your friend from across the d-floor) standing back and admiring the view of the Yarra River really got my creative juices flowing.
The lights! The reflection on the water! The dashes of blue! Shout out to Samsung’s biggest camera pixel sensor to date that helped me secure that crisp and detailed shot in the dark, first go. It’s clear that this camera thrives in city-scape shots and it gave me the confidence in my night photography skills. Because I’m now obsessed with night photography, here are some other happy snaps I shot. Cue, ‘Time Of Your Life’ by Green Day.
So there you have it. I may not be the next Annie Leibovitz but at least I’ll have the confidence to get the Indie Sleaze night shot on the weekend thanks to these clever tools and a bit (okay, a lot) of practice.
