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Basics
Night photography does not mean only photos taken in total darkness. Both dusk and dawn are excellent times to take pictures just as the light is diminishing or growing. You can get some wonderful images of the moon coming up or a glowing sunset. You will have to learn to adjust your shutter speed so that it is slower to allow more light. For the most part, you should turn off your flash feature. Also you need a wider aperture setting for your lens. Most cameras offer a "manual" feature so that you can adjust the aperture.
Settings for Low Light
You can take good night photos without a tripod. First, be sure to get a camera that allows you to change basic settings, including ISO, exposure time (shutter speed), aperture and shooting mode. ISO determines how sensitive your camera is to light, which increases as the number goes up. A lower ISO setting will give you sharper photos, but sometimes you can sacrifice some of that when another setting works better. Longer aperture openings let in more light, a key element of good night shots. Many digital cameras have settings for "night" to take photos in low light. You will have to learn through trial and error which combinations of settings work in different situations.
Tips for Good Night Shots
Long exposures are key to good night photos. So start by setting your aperture all the way open and keep ISO low (to avoid digital fuzziness). You will need to experiment to see what your camera will do with various light conditions. Try a nighttime cityscape and a closeup of a neon-lit storefront. Try a dusk photo of a landscape or seascape, and a dawn photo. Take several shots of each until you learn how to get what you want. You can always delete later. With the long exposure you do need to stabilize the camera to avoid blurry images. A nearby railing, chair, or anything stable the camera can sit on is good. Blurry is not always bad; you can also try motion shots where you see trails of car lights as they zoom down the road . These also require a long exposure and can be very dramatic. A little practice will go a long way towards some great images.