I love shooting at night with a really fast lens using nothing but ambient light. Living in a heavy populated urban area, nighttime ambient light is plentiful. Now, I know that even with a really fast lens my night photos are “dirty.” The ISO is jacked up and digital noise is being introduced. But I don’t mind a little dirt. I like the texture it gives the photos, not unlike the grain from film. When I was shooting film and developing my own photos, I would emphasize the grain in many of my shots. When I go to galleries and evaluate prints, I shy away from the ones that are too smooth. Too tight. Too perfect. To me, some texture gives an image body and dimension. So the high ISO inherent in unassisted night photography does not bother me so long as I keep it in mind when composing my shots and appreciate the limitations it creates in processing final images.
