night light # 1 ~ using my new $20,000 tripod
Thursday, November 20, 2008 at 07:54AM 
Under One Roof Video Store ~ Plattsbugh, NY • click to embiggenI have always been fascinated with urban / suburban night pictures.
My primary activity in making night pictures in the past was limited to the time about 15-20 minutes after the sun had set and there was still a glow in the sky. What I like about that time is the nearly equal balance between natural light and artificial light. At that time, both light sources are about of equal intensity but of differing light temperatures which results in some interesting color qualities which accentuate what the eye usually does not detect or is only dimly aware of.
With only a few exceptions, I have not pursued making in-dead-of-night pictures like the one posted with today's entry. For the most part that's because doing so would fall under the like-I-need-another-project scheme of things. But, due in no small part to The Nocturnes - who invited me to be the judge for their annual competition/show - and their great online gallery, my interest in the genre has been fanned to the level of starting to take night pictures.
However, one of the obstacles I face is the fact that, as I mentioned, I like making night pictures in an urban / suburban because of the quality of artificial light that is found there and we ain't got much urban in these here parts. Contrary to my normal M.O. of grabbing gear and going out to make pictures without any preconceived idea of where I might end up or what I might be picturing, it would seem that, if I am to be successful with night picturing, there will be some scouting involved in order to locate and make a list of suitable locations.
Last evening's location - Under One Roof Video Store in Plattsburgh - was stumbled upon in a completely serendipitous fashion. Late yesterday afternoon, I was returning from Vermont via the Plattsburgh ferry when the wife (her firm is in Plattsburgh) suggested that I kill an hour or so and then meet her for dinner. I agreed, in part*, because earlier on my way to the ferry to Vermont I had spied a location that I wished to picture, a day light picture, and even though it would be dark by the time I arrived back in Plattsburgh, I thought that it might also be suitable for a night light picture as well.
Alas, when I arrive at the scene, the night light was entirely unsatisfactory. So I just moved along looking for something else to picture and, viola, there was the video store. My only problem was the fact that I was traveling sans tripod. I knew that the scene would require at least 2, maybe 3, separate exposures (in precise registration with one another) for blending in order to achieve the results I wanted.
What to do?
Well what I ended up doing was to park my car, AKA - my $20,000 "tripod", on the sidewalk, positioned at an a angle at my desired POV. That allowed me to "mount" my camera on my "tripod" by squeezing it firmly between the rolled up passenger-side window and the door frame (door closed). I aligned the window and door frame with the knurled rubber zoom ring on the lens. It worked perfectly. I sat in the passenger seat and bracketed away to my heart's content.
FYI, the final image required a blend (done manually) of 3 separate exposures - 1 for the overall scene, 1 for the store interior, and 1 which included the arrow sign, the store sign, and the light on the far left side of the building facade. I also dialed back on the ultra-blue color saturation in the cloud covered sky.
Even though there was no apparent blue visible to my eye, I left some blue in because, well, that's what seems to happen with skies when they are pictured at night. I am not certain how I feel about that photo-specific characteristic of night light pictures. I tried totally eliminating the blue in the sky and it didn't look "natural" even though it did match what I saw on the scene.
IMO, the reason that it didn't look natural is because I been have conditioned to seeing ultra-blue skies in night light pictures. Maybe it's time for someone to start making night light pictures with more natural looking skies.
BTW, I should also mention that this picture is a demanding test of your monitor calibration. There is detail aplenty in the dark and highlight parts of the picture. If you're not seeing the subtle blue in the sky, the separation between some tress and the sky above the white house on the left, detail in store sign on the right, and all the individual light bulbs on the arrow .... you're missing a lot of what this picture is about.
*PS Just in case, I should cover my ass by mentioning that the primary reason I stayed in Plattsburgh was not to picture something but rather to spend time with my lovely wife.
Reader Comments (3)
Welcome to the dark side. You may find yourself watching the phases of the moon in order to figure out the balance foreground elements with the amount of light in the sky. Those bright blue skies that almost look like daytime are usually shot within 2 days either side of the full moon.
For those times you need something to hold your camera with but don't have/want a tripod. Use it on your vehicule's hood, bench, sidewalk, stairs, mailbox, etc.
http://www.thepod.ca/
Nice cover on the wife deal, until she reads this.