Doing Portrait Photography At Night?

I have a Nikon D-40 DSLR, with 18-50mm and a 50-200mm lenses, Im trying to take pics of a person at night, but cant quite get the lighting right, i have a flash, but it turns the pictures blue, which is fine cause i can fix it in photoshop later, but does anybody have any tips on how I can take better pictures at night?

Here are some links to articles written by photography instructors about night photography. I am sure you will enjoy them and learn something, as I certainly did.

Night Photography:Bright Lights and Bold Colors
http://www.betterphoto.com/article.asp?i...

Photography at Twilight
http://www.betterphoto.com/article.asp?i...

How to Photograph Christmas Lights and Other Holiday Events
http://www.betterphoto.com/article.asp?i...

The nice thing about perusing this site is that you have the examples of photographs along with the articles, not just instructions that may or may not make sense. Also, there are great forums and blogs that are free where one can continue to learn more about various subjects.

You will see from these articles, that you do not need to use a flash, but will definitely have to use a tripod to accommodate a long exposure, as well as a release.

Have fun checking out these techniques, and I hope this helps you. Best wishes!

Don't use the flash - set up lighting not from the camera, then you hafta put the aperture and shutter speed just right.

set the white balance to 5600k, then the flash which is daylight wont turn your subject blue, "fixing" images in photoshop is poor practice, get it right in camera

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The key to the best natural light is to get the widest aperture lens you can get. For Nikon, this usually falls on the 85mm or 50mm 1.4 lens. The f-1.4 aperture is wider than the f-1.8, and much wider than a f-2.0 or f-2.8. One of the best lenses is the 20mm 1.4, but this is in the triple digits. Don't get me wrong, the 85mm 1.4 is around $1,400.

Another great thing about wide apertures is the beautiful bokeh that comes along with it. Bokeh refers to how much the background is out of focus.

The 50mm 1.4 is in a really good price range. It runs a little of $300, but it is an exceptional lens. But, on a digital sensor, unless with the new Nikon D3, the 50mm will actually be around a 75mm due to the 1.5 crop. This will make it impossible for wide angle shots, but unless you have a few grand for the 20mm 1.4, this is really all you have. The 85mm 1.4 is even better opticall, but it would be a mild telephoto lens.

Hope this helps.

I think you are taking either outdoor or indoor portrait photography at night, I will advise you to find an either higher or lower ceiling ,using flash with Lightsphere and Chromedome,I believe you will satisfy of the pictures that you have taken.