[matthew]

Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it.
- Terry Pratchett

Night has its own aesthetic, and its own set of technical challenges. There are as many ways to explore the look of the world at night as there are ways to overcome, or embrace, its difficulties.

Odds are, where you live, it's dark about half the time. For the twenty-first Shuttertalk assignment, explore the world when the sun is down. Use this thread to post your successes and share your learning experiences.

[shuttertalk]

Woohoo! Night shots are one of my most favourite types of photography...

Really looking forward to being inspired by peoples' shots...

[Petographer]

Hey, I might be able to participate. It seems I only have time when it's night.

[Kombisaurus]

I was just thinking yesterday that I should go out and do some night shots, and then when I saw this new assignment that made my mind up.
So here are a couple of shots I took last night:


1. I'm no "trekkie", but this bridge over the Kwinana Freeway reminded me of the starship enterprise.


2. This beautiful little 1930's hall is surrounded by modern urban life; squeezed between a 24-hour petrol station and a huge apartment complex in the process of being built (Raffles). It harks back to a time not that long ago, when the Perth suburbs were still quite rural. This hall has been well maintained and remains completely faithful to its original design despite the mayhem that has gone on around it.

[byrt_001]

hi

i really like your composition and what you do with the tones.

[matthew]

Adrian, those are fantastic. Smooth, rich colours, and beautifully exposed.

Mine aren't.

I was out last night as well, but trying to see just how far I could push my camera. (Literally.) I really liked the colours of the reflections in the rain, and wanted to learn a little more about high-iso photography.



This image is iso 6400. (800 with a three-stop push.) This is higher than I would normally go (4-stop push just doesn't work at all) but gave me a hand-hold-able 1/90s shutter speed. It was captured in raw, which gives a little more latitude, but I've found that a two-stop push is quite realistic even with a jpeg.

[Keith Alan]

I was in downtown San Antonio Saturday night to work, but a few opportunities to shoot came my way.
Since I couldn't bring a tripod, my usual methods and multi-second exposures were out of the question, so I had to improvise a bit.
One constant was that I always use ISO100, my F717's lowest possible setting, at night. Noise in these old Sony's isn't pleasing to my eye above 200 so rather than bother with a small increase in light I prefer to go with a noise-free approach.
It's cool that Matthew likes to experiment in the other direction of the ISO possibilities with his Olympus.
He's braver and more original than me.

First is a lamp in a hallway of the nightclub I was working at, and is a recurring element in the first three photos.
f2.4, 1/10th second, camera braced on my knee while sitting.


Next is a Flaming Fountain. The camera was braced on an upstairs railing.
f2.4, 1/3rd second, definitely some motion blur but the fire looks sharp, so I'm on the fence about this.
Your opinions?


Here's a look at the railing I shot the last photo from.
While I don't like using flash at night for most subjects, it was the only way to go for this one.
And yes, the young lady couldn't hold her drinks.
There were diners seated down below, but I don't think anyone was hit.


This last one is a personal favorite, but it may just be a matter of my knowing the location well and enjoying how different this interpretation is from the rest of my photos taken near here.
I was able to set the camera down on this bridge span, with the focus brackets aimed at the rivets. We are at street-level, with SA's famous 'RiverWalk' down below. There are several small old steel bridges in random places around the heart of downtown, leftovers from before the era of maximum utilization of real estate.
f2.2, 1/10th second.
Does anyone else like this photo?

[Russt]

Some great shots here already.......

Kombi, dig your space ship and the tones are great on the second shot.

Keith, That last shot is a winner well captured.

Star trails is one I have been wanting to do for a while........so this assignment has got me trying. It was not as easy as I thought it would be..........my equipment is poor to say the least, mini tripod on a camp table. lol This makes getting a comp hard as does trying to frame at night. I took 5 shots.........I wish they would show iso in the view finder first 2 at 1600 not good.... :o anyway its a start, this was the best for the trails. very soft a bit of usm has helped.



just had to edit my pic.........I had another look at the original and I had lost some of the star trails in pp I hope this one is better

[matthew]

Russt, what settings/camera are you using for your star trails? This is something I've been captured by for a few years, be never found a way to do them. (In fact, had assumed I couldn't with digital.)

Keith, I'm a sucker for photos of ironwork bridges, and #4 is excellent. I absolutely hate #3; good work. Talk about capturing the decisive moment. I wouldn't buy a frame for it, but just the same, I keep going back to it. Everything I need to know is contained in one neat little package. (I can also spot your favourite light in the background.) #1 and 2 are Nice.

(Night photography can certainly include flash and other sources of artificial light. It doesn't need to just be 'available darkness' photos.)

[Russt]

Russt, what settings/camera are you using for your star trails?

Matt, the camera 350D the settings Manual, F/8, Bulb exposure 638 sec (10.7 mins), iso 100, manual focus. Things I learned. Light source needs to be dimmer very easy to blow detail with exposures that long.I need a tripod bad!! I have seen shots at around 14mins, you have to test and check that the stars don't fade into the sky!

[shuttertalk]

Keith, I like your bridge photos...

Russt... cool star trails! Another one on my todo list..

Kombi, speechless again, especially with the star trek pic. Wow!

[Schellamo]

My first raw set of photos, although I didn't really know what i was doing, so i pretty much saved them as jpeg straight away anyway :/
I'm sure I'll get used to it though. It was taken just before sunrise, so does that still count as night?

[Russt]

Schell, great pic I like it..... magic time of the day when both the lights and the sky have an effect.

It was taken just before sunrise, so does that still count as night?

the lights are still on so its ok by me

[matthew]

A few from a bridge - these were harder than I thought they'd be.

[R90S]

You can say i like kitsch... but florence at night is just florence...



so is the sea...(this is about 15 secs time exposure on a tiny tripod)


and this one is our garden:

[NT73]

The Station hotel by night. Hand held, and steadied by the wall. Taken with the Fuji.
During the day it looks rather bland.

[R90S]

another one ... strange things go on at night ...