Car Light Trails 1

Camera: Nikon D200
Lens: Nikon 18 - 70
f/22 at 15 seconds
ISO 100

I thought I would continue with some night photography. On my way home tonight I got off the highway and made my way to an overpass. Luckily this one had a sidewalk so it was OK for me to be there with my tripod and camera gear.

I shot this on Auto white balance but in post I switched it to tungsten. I was in manual exposure mode and I closed the lens down to get as long an exposure as possible. For this shot the shutter was open for a full 15 seconds which allowed many cars to pass and leave their mark in the photograph.

This shot was pretty straightforward. Tomorrow I will present another where I did something a little different.

Two Years Ago Today

Camera: Nikon D200
Lens: Nikon 18 - 70
f/11 at 6 seconds
ISO 100

This is my first attempt at using layer masks in Photoshop. The photo on the left was taken tonight while the photo on the right of the same scene was taken exactly two years ago.

Although I did not do a great job at matching the two photos the idea of doing a sort of time lapse composite like this is interesting. If I had used the same lens and stood in exactly the same spot it would have been easier to line up the two pictures.

The two photos wouldn't need to be taken two years apart either. They could simply be contrasting seasons, day versus night , or sunshine and stormy weather.

Lurking in the Shadows

Camera: Nikon D200
Lens: Nikon 24 - 105
f/4.5 at 2 seconds
ISO 100

This shot was taken a couple of nights ago. I have taken pictures of these metal sculptures in daylight but this was the first time tried to do it at night. I chose to use a speedlight off-camera on a stand to my right. I was not that satisfied with the picture. It was missing something. I got a little crazy and started using the self-timer and put myself into the picture. I still didn't like it so I got the idea to stand in front of the flash but not in the frame. This produced the picture above.

Night Light

Camera: Nikon D200
Lens: Nikon 24 - 105
f/5.6 at 8 seconds
ISO 100

I went out last night after dinner to take a some pictures. It was a nice night, calm and dry. I ended up at Science World. I thought I might see the Olympic Ring lights on a barge but I couldn't see them. I did get this view that I thought was worth a shot or two.

Although you can change the white balance on a digital camera, in a scene like this with a mix of different types of light what do you set your white balance for? Tungsten, Florescent?

I decided to throw an FLD filter on the lens to balance for florescent light and leave the WB on automatic. This produced a very warm rendition of the scene that was rich in browns. I then decided to change the white balance in post to tungsten and that cooled things down to produce photo I included above which is much more true to life.

Physical Graffiti

Camera: Nikon D200
Lens: Nikon 18 - 70
f/8 1/90
ISO 100

Nothing technical to talk about here here. Being that this is a generally flat surface my f8 aperture should have been enough to get me the details and ISO 100 gets me the least amount of digital noise.

I have stated before that I seem to have an interest in graffiti. I also seem to have an interest in doors. I don't think I am the only photographer who has a fascination for this subject matter. However, each of our motivations may be different. It may require a little reflection to understand mine.

Summer Night Crowd

Camera: Nikon D200
Lens: Nikon 18 - 70
f/5.6 at 1/15
ISO 400

Once again to me this does not look like a photograph. I used similar camera settings to the last photograph that I posted but it produced much different results.

I liked this photo enough to submit it in Photo Life's annual contest.

Zombie Walk

Camera: Nikon D200
Lens: Nikon 18 - 70
f/5.6 at 1/16
ISO 400

Sometimes pictures happen by accident or at least almost by accident. I was walking through the CNE one evening and thought I would shoot some slow shutter speed, hand held shots as I went.

I upped my ISO to 400 so that the exposures wouldn't be too long. Some of the shots still came out too blurry. This one on the other hand is not. But the blur in this picture has given it a quality different from photograph where you freeze the action. It almost appears like a painting and not a photograph.

I especially like the two people in the foreground on the left. If you have been reading my blog at all you already know that this painterly quality pleases me.