Night Photography

[Gordon Moat]

I usually do urban night shots not long after sunset. It seems that if I wait too long, then the sky gets an ugly grey colour to it. Here is a crop of a shot on E100VS Readyload:



The uncropped version is included in my Transportation images. As best as I can recall, the exposure was around 2 minuntes 40 seconds.

Depending upon how far an object is away from the camera, you can sometimes cause a slight stop of motion by firing a strobe at the object. There will still be an indication of motion, since time exposures average out things moving across the scene. So while the bay was somewhat turbulent in this shot, the time was long enough to make it seem smooth; and that allows the light reflections to burn in more. It doesn't look this way when you stand where I took this shot.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography

[al olson]

Tom-Bob

Nice star trails, but how did you get the stars to come through the tree line?

[tombob]

Night photography was one of the reasons for me to get into large format.
When I took this image I saw a meteor between the chimneys but it did not register
because I was at f16 on Kodak 160VC.


I also took a lot of night pictures in China because the light was quite bad
during the day.
china stuff on flickr

hi mate i have t say thats one of the best shots of the old chimneys ive seen in a long time. might go donw to that part of london and try some myself round there.

[tombob]

Tom-Bob

Nice star trails, but how did you get the stars to come through the tree line?

alot of the meteors where just above the cameras field of vision so i experimented and shifted the tripod head back abit to get more sky in, seemed to wokr quite well. the print ive done in the darkroom is alot darket though and you can see the faint glow over the trees and the meteors only.

[Greg Lockrey]

The only thing I really worry about is being alone in a rail yard in a not so safe city at 11pm with my head under a dark cloth. It is always good to let people know where you are and have a safe call or somthing at a speciffic time, so people can go looking for you if you don't call back. Otherwise ENJOY!!!!

This is a good time to bring your 150 lb Rottweiller named "Princess" with you on shoots.

Harry, I especially like your night shot of the Chinese factory. I have a similar concept for a painting that I been meaning to do.

[steve simmons]

There is a nice night shot in the current issue of View Camera - Nov/Dec 07 with a how-to discussion.

steve simmons

[roteague]

I usually do urban night shots not long after sunset. It seems that if I wait too long, then the sky gets an ugly grey colour to it. Here is a crop of a shot on E100VS Readyload:

Beautiful image Gordon. I think I like the cropped version much better. I've started doing some stuff like this, although no where as good, but so far only with 35mm.

[Gordon Moat]

Thanks for the compliment Robert. I actually think it is easier to use a 4x5 for night shots than using 35mm, plus the level of detail is much greater.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography

[al olson]

Night photography has been a special interest of mine for over 50 years. In recent years I have been more active with large format. The first image took 5 attempts before I obtained the scene I had envisioned.

In July, 2003, I noted a view from a particular overlook of Silverton that I felt would make a great night photograph. I parked at the overlook waiting for twilight when the construction crew told me I had to move because they were going to store gravel at the overlook. I should mention that it is a four hour round trip to reach this site from my home.

The next three trips were unproductive because the light turned bad, avalanches, or a vicious lightning storm moved in. It was not until May, 2005, (my 5th trip) that I found the light as I had envisioned.

People think that you were lucky to be there at the right time. They do not recognize the planning and effort that went into the creation of the image.

The image was made on Kodak Portra 160VC with a Linhof IV using a Schneider 150mm at f/11 for four minutes. The star trails are visible on darkroom prints.

The next photo was taken on 35mm at Peggy's Cove, NS. Come sundown there are tripods all over on the rocks. I was amazed at the rudeness of some photographers who placed their tripod 15 feet in front of mine, forcing me to move. The clear sky was not very interesting and by a half hour after sunset most had packed their gear and left. Forty minutes after sunset the light had changed and I made this image with a Nikon F100 on negative film. It was worth the wait.

[al olson]

Gordon, Alex and tombob,

Those are great night images.