I do more or less the same as FoeRender, although I'm lazy and just use daylight, however as you are a midnight painter I can see where that might be a little difficult, perhaps you could move further north and be a seasonal painter instead?
It's then down to the type of camera you are using. If you have one with adjustable aperture and shutter speed I personally find that f22 gives a good focus area for mini photography, and then raise and lower the shutter speed depending on the lighting. It's not perfect but gives generally good results.
For portrait orientation I'll usually crop the image and reduce the width to 500px.
Hope this helps at least a little, good luck with the move north if you decide to, and keep up the hilariously funny posts!