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Thread: Night Photography, or rather an attempt!

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Posts
    2,639

    Night Photography, or rather an attempt!

    I decided to take a photo tonight, having been without any new 4x5 negs (ahem, 5x4) since the trip to London. Furthermore having not made use of my lovely Korona and Dagor since a shot of MJ a while ago!


    I wasn't expecting anything from this, for reasons I won't go into, my day couldn't have got worse, and so actually GETTING something from this neg was impressive.

    Korona 4x5
    Dagor 180/6,3 remounted in Polaroid Press shutter. Big 55mm Hoya lens hood on the lens also.
    f/30-odd for 10 minutes. 1+20 in Suprol for 3 1/2 mins


    Odd things.

    I shot toward the street lamps, so I expected a huge amount of flaring. Oddly enough the flaring appears in a linear fashion as well.

    I was more worried about somebody seeing me at 11pm standing on muddy grass than I was about getting my exposure right. And yet, I wasn't afraid to wander 15-20 feet away from my camera to try and get a correct light reading with the Gossen Polysix.


    This scan is no good, all the detail on the left is lost (There is detail there on the neg) and the right hand side is too dense thanks to flaring.





    Still, I know next time to shoot anywhere save from street lamps!

  2. #2

    Re: Night Photography, or rather an attempt!

    Sometimes it works out okay to include street lamps up close in night shots. However, it helps to be using a very clean optic (no haze, no scratches) and probably would be better with a more modern coated lens. Something else you can try with older optics is a modern filter in front of the lens, though you still need to shade the lens.

    In this shot, I stood in such a way, on top of a wall, so that I blocked the light of a street lamp from directly reflecting upon the front optic (Symmar-S 135m). While the street lamp is not in the shot, there would have been flare without blocking light from falling upon the front of the lens.



    Ciao!

    Gordon Moat Photography

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    San Joaquin Valley, California
    Posts
    9,599

    Re: Night Photography, or rather an attempt!

    A street lamp obscured by a tree sometimes gives an inteesting effect
    "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Rondo, Missouri
    Posts
    2,125

    Re: Night Photography, or rather an attempt!

    Gordon,

    being geographically challenged, I have to ask...what city is this? Gorgeous shot.

    Quote Originally Posted by Gordon Moat View Post
    Sometimes it works out okay to include street lamps up close in night shots. However, it helps to be using a very clean optic (no haze, no scratches) and probably would be better with a more modern coated lens. Something else you can try with older optics is a modern filter in front of the lens, though you still need to shade the lens.

    In this shot, I stood in such a way, on top of a wall, so that I blocked the light of a street lamp from directly reflecting upon the front optic (Symmar-S 135m). While the street lamp is not in the shot, there would have been flare without blocking light from falling upon the front of the lens.



    Ciao!

    Gordon Moat Photography
    Michael W. Graves
    Michael's Pub

    If it ain't broke....don't fix it!

  5. #5

    Re: Night Photography, or rather an attempt!

    Hello Michael,

    This is a view of San Diego, California as seen from Coronado. Thanks for the compliment.

    Ciao!

    Gordon Moat

  6. #6
    Is that a Hassleblad? Brian Vuillemenot's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    Marin County, California
    Posts
    837

    Re: Night Photography, or rather an attempt!

    Quote Originally Posted by Gordon Moat View Post
    Sometimes it works out okay to include street lamps up close in night shots. However, it helps to be using a very clean optic (no haze, no scratches) and probably would be better with a more modern coated lens. Something else you can try with older optics is a modern filter in front of the lens, though you still need to shade the lens.

    In this shot, I stood in such a way, on top of a wall, so that I blocked the light of a street lamp from directly reflecting upon the front optic (Symmar-S 135m). While the street lamp is not in the shot, there would have been flare without blocking light from falling upon the front of the lens.



    Ciao!

    Gordon Moat Photography

    Beautiful shot Gordon. Would you care to share exposure information if you have it?
    Brian Vuillemenot

  7. #7

    Re: Night Photography, or rather an attempt!

    Hello Brian,

    Best I can recall, that shot was six minutes and twenty seconds ± 5 seconds. I don't recall the aperture, though probably f11 or f16. Also, when I commented to Ash at first, I got the lens wrong; this was shot using my Nikkor-W 180mm f5.6 and had an 82A filter in place. Other than that . . . probably some swing, and a little tilt . . . and that's about all I remember on technical data. Hope that helps. Thanks for the compliment.

    Ciao!

    Gordon Moat Photography

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