Night lights! : Post your best!

For some of us who live in the Northern Emisphere, it is autumn, while we do have some nice day colors in a "sister" thread, one may notice that night is covering our heads earlier and earlier.
So we live much more under the night colors and lights (not to mention Nordic countries!) than in Summer.

Obvious? yes of course, but it also provide more time to try night shots…

So I'll start, trying to tease you and see what YOU have already done, or what YOU could try…

Context: for my little agency, it is a very busy period of time, within a few days the Salon Nautique de Paris will open and we have literrarly tons of brochures (plus lot of other stuffs) to deliver. But before delivery we have to get them printed… I do sign at the print shop every sheet of paper before letting the web press runs for thousands of turns…
Here, I come, yesterday, while the press was running for 2 hours, I came back to the office to wait for the next print to check, I decided to give myself a break and took the 500 mm out of it's box, leaned the camera out of the window and tried some shots:



See here a 100% crop

I'm not super happy with the IQ, I guess my tripod is too light, I of course did set the mirror to lock-up and 20 seconds timer, still not enough even holding my breath!

EXIF: 5.2S - Manual exposure - Manual focus - ƒ8 - ISO 100

Comments: the foreground is the Garonne river, some vertical "banding" you may notice are trees branches (without leaves!) [EDIT] and the shadow on the left as well [/EDIT]

Voigtlander Perkeo II (6x6cm), 75/3.5 Color-Skopar, Tri-X/Acufine, f:3.5, 1 sec.

I didn't have a tripod with me, so I held the camera sideways against a sign post. The camera is a folding medium format camera small enough to fit easily into a jacket pocket.

Three from Toronto:

I recently posted this one over in Landscape as it's my first effort at this sort of thing...




Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

This is all new to me. This is my one and only attempt to get night shots ( probable pretty obvious).

Bar Harbor at night.

40D - Tamron 17 - 55. I could look up the rest of the details but I doubt that anyone cares anyway.

Nicolas Claris said:

So I'll start, trying to tease you and see what YOU have already done, or what YOU could try…


I'm not super happy with the IQ, I guess my tripod is too light, I of course did set the mirror to lock-up and 20 seconds timer, still not enough even holding my breath!

Click to expand...

Mirror lockup is most useful in the 1/30th to 1 second range of exposure times, mirror slap vibration will be not visible outside that range (assuming a good tripod). Longer exposures just need a stable camera base (and atmosphere if using (super-)tele lenses).


Night shots are a good subject for HDR photography, which allows to create clean shadow detail and well controlled highlights, in the same image.

Even without HDR techniques one can produce interesting images, but then it helps if the atmosphere (fog) reduces shadow darkness, and close silhouettes provide a guidance/depth for the eye. Here is my non-HDR example:


Copyright © 2004, Bart van der Wolf

Camera 20D, ISO 100, exposure: 30sec f/8.0 (obviously on tripod), focal length: 26mm (from a 17-40mm zoom).

Bart

And now for something completely different



It's a Photoshop blended combination ('Lighter' blending mode) of 2 relatively long exposures. Both exposures were taken handheld from a moving car on the highway as I, with a couple of friends, were driving back from the Photokina 2006 exhibition (where I live, it's just a couple of hours by car). Obviously (I hope) I was in the co-driver's seat and, during the ISO 100, 6 and 8 second @ f/11 (aperture priority, manual focus) bumpy exposure times, I rotated the camera 90 degrees (adding a sensation of depth). I selected the 2 exposures from a series that complemented the composition I was looking for.

Bart

First Snow

Not necessarily best, but certainly most recent. Thanksgiving (Thursday) night around 10:30. Surprise lake effect snow (from Lake Michigan). Heavy, wet, and sticky.



D200, 12-24 Nikkor at 24mm, f8, 30 secs, ISO 100, handheld (just kidding). Seriously though, the challenge for me regarding a night shot such as this with not a lot of man-made light directly hitting subjects is how bright to adjust the image. In this case, the brighter foreground is due to dimmed landscape lighting.

Should have bracketed for HDR. Brain apparently frozen at the time.

Cheers,
Greg

(never quite sure how to process this sort of image so c&c certainly welcomed)

Amazing all these diferent images, please keep posting!

I like the way that night shots can help avoiding some disutrbing details, and, in the same time can reveal some real forces/strengthes, an interesting way of looking at landscapes while the intent can be really well focused… (hmmm, too much Bordeaux wine yesterday night…).

Seriously, Bart, I agree with you re

mirror slap vibration will be not visible outside that range (assuming a good tripod). Longer exposures just need a stable camera base (and atmosphere if using (super-)tele lenses).

Click to expand...

but I wanted to put all the chances while shooting with a 500 mm at night. My tripod is good for everydays work, but really too light for this heavy lens/long exposure.
I did disable the IS (as on tripod) I think I'll give another try with IS…

I do like the richness of light and colors of your HDR (obviously the 1st), particularly with/on the leaves.

I've never been really (technically) comfortable doing HDR, though I know you and Michael Fontana (as some others) are really good at this…

David A. Goldfarb said:

I didn't have a tripod with me, so I held the camera sideways against a sign post.

Click to expand...

So did I in the same city… in Nov.2006:



The red circle on the top left is a nice unexpected surprised flare…

Hers one, just a couple of kilometers from home (yes I know about the horizon, the straightened one isnt online) :
18mm, f 6.3, 30 sec, ISO 400





And a more humoruos one, my brother in action, at full moon:
23mm, f 4, 30sec, ISO 200

I guess this may be like 'Marmite' - you either like it, or you hate it. Sodium and moonlight - tripod, 20d, 24/70L, iso 800, 13 secs at f4.5. Manual focus, on something, probably infinity. Slight breeze. Unfortunately, I procrastinated on taking the shot half an hour earlier, i.e. too lazy to go back indoors (all of 20 yards away) to get the camera etc.

Three different approaches

Here is my contribution. Three unrelated images:

This one is taken in Antwerpen, Belgium. It was taken at a christmas fun fair in downtown.


Can anybody spot this one? Ray maybe?


And this one is taken in a small village called Boisson in Southern France.


Cheers,

Ray West said:

I guess this may be like 'Marmite' - you either like it, or you hate it. Sodium and moonlight - tripod, 20d, 24/70L, iso 800, 13 secs at f4.5. Manual focus, on something, probably infinity. Slight breeze. Unfortunately, I procrastinated on taking the shot half an hour earlier, i.e. too lazy to go back indoors (all of 20 yards away) to get the camera etc.

Click to expand...

Well Ray, I hate Marmite. But I certainly liked this image. It is kind of "undefinable". Very intriguing, indeed.

Cheers,

Greg Rogers said:

...(never quite sure how to process this sort of image so c&c certainly welcomed)

Click to expand...

Hi Greg,

I think what you've done is quite good. The atmosphere has been captured very well. I was wondering whether you've pushed the exposure in the RAW conversion, assuming it was taken in RAW to start with? How would the image look like if it was a bit darker?

Cheers,

Cem Usakligil said:

Can anybody spot this one? Ray maybe? <grin>

Click to expand...

I'm almost sure it's downtown Rotterdam, sure would be curious to know exactly what the structure is. For some reason, it looks quite familiar.....and I've been curious for some time now.

Greg

Cem Usakligil said:

I think what you've done is quite good. The atmosphere has been captured very well. I was wondering whether you've pushed the exposure in the RAW conversion, assuming it was taken in RAW to start with? How would the image look like if it was a bit darker?

Click to expand...

Thanks Cem, the bit darker is the enigma. Not a lot of thought went into the composition. I was landlocked on a small balcony (to keep my kit dry), and so cold that I forgot to at least zoom out a bit after focusing. Back to the enigma, what I was looking to see was the wet windblown snow sticking to tree branches and limbs. Even as is, not as striking as in person, and darker reduces the effect further. And yes, I did push the exposure in ACR quite a bit. The next time similar conditions exist, I plan to try it bracketed for HDR processing. It might or might not work, but a fun project to experiment with when mother nature happens to be in the mood.

Cem,

Rotterdam' second favourite bridge.

Do I get the coconut?

Best wishes,

Ray

I knew you'd know this one....

Ray West said:

Cem,

Rotterdam' second favourite bridge.

Do I get the coconut?

Best wishes,

Ray

Click to expand...

Yes, shall I break it open for you already or do you have your own Victorinox/Leatherman? <LOL>

For the less initiated; it is the famous Erasmus bridge which is normally white. Here it was floodlit by purple beams.

Cheers,

Good morning everybody !

30 seconds shot of Setubal


30 seconds shot under Full Moon behind some houses

Bonjour Antonio!

I knew I have to go to Setubal!

Your "moon" shot is amazing… all these yellows and greens. And shadows!

That's a full moon!

Can you repost these a bit larger (say 800 or 900 pix wide)?

Boujour Nicolas. Ça va ?
Here is the photo in larger size.
I have shot other pictures als with 30 s exposure but they were blured because of the wind.
I have to reshoot them.
Cheers...

Oui, ca va bien Antonio, merci, et toi ?

Thanks for posting larger size… more details to see!

Nicolas.

The photo I have posted is in sequence of an assignment Nikolai posted once.

If you go and have a look there I have other pictures with the same technique.

I post another one here which is rather interesting.

I used my ST-E2 and my 430EX. I like this combo very much and I have been shooting with it quite often.

I have not posted here - or, I have not been around here - because I hate - too strong word, I mean not so strong - this bluish here.
I wish I could change in my computer to a gray or a black.

A snapshot, just for the bump!

DS3 out of the box and shoot…
800 iso - ƒ2.8 - 1/80s - 70-200 IS



Come on happy 1DS3 owners, show us better night pics than this one!

and sometimes the sun never sets - June, 1 am, off Norway.

Nicolas, David, Tim, Cem, Nill, Ron, Bart, Jorgon Geg, Ray and anyone I've missed!

I'm so impressed with the breadth of examples of night shots! It's hard to pick my favorites! So for now, I won't!

Thanks for the pictures and Tim for the holiday cheer! I really wish you and all your families and friends a happy time together!

Asher

Asher Kelman said:

Nicolas, David, Tim, Cem, Nill, Ron, Bart, Jorgon Geg, Ray and anyone I've missed!...

Click to expand...

Yep, Antonio! )

Ray, no way to get some details in the highlights?, Good timing with the cargo ship! nice pic…

Just for fun, another day than the 1st pic posted, a little earlier… still 500 mmƒ4 - 1Ds2




probably one of the last shots with this camera…

Hi Nicolas,,

Thanks for your comment. It was June, 2003, with my little Nikon e5700, P&S. I did look at the blown highlight, tried a few masks, but gave up. If I was printing it, then I think I would have to fake the cloud detail, maybe cut from another image, but I don't think it would print well, it's very noisy.

Of course one method is to turn the handicap into an enhancement - posterise it, maybe to just 8 colours

Best wishes,

Ray