Entries in night photography (5)
Light Painting & Night Photography DSLR Photography Lesson with Julie
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 11:49PM Jason Collin 
Light painting during Julie's DSLR Photography Lesson out at The Pier in St. Petersburg FloridaFor our third of four DSLR Photography Lessons I met Julie on a chilly St. Petersburg evening to practice long exposure and night photography. This type of shooting most definitely requires a tripod, and we pushed the legacy tripod Julie borrowed from her husband to its limits. We took the trolley out to The Pier, but first had a quick practice of on how to shoot abstract bokeh with her new 50mm lens.
Being a Monday night we basically had the entire Pier to ourselves, and especially so at my favorite water level spot upon a decaying concrete platform. Besides showing Julie how to make the usual long exposure shots of the St. Petersburg downtown skyline, we entered a kind of special effects world with light painting. For the above shot, I set my DSLR on my tripod with a 10 second shutter time. Using the LED light on the back of my iPhone 4 I "painted" from the tip of Julie's finger down onto the concrete. I did not astral project myself, I just moved quickly enough not to be fully exposed in the image.
We went on to practice light trail shots and a number of other things too. It was an action packed lesson for sure and Julie was great managing with an unfamiliar tripod and getting adept at changing the settings on her Canon 60D in the dark.
Tampa Theatre Marquee Glowing at Night & Day Landmark
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 7:53PM Jason Collin 
Tampa Theatre glowing marquee & sign at night - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseContinuing a recent trend of photographing Tampa Bay area landmarks, in particular ones I had never really photographed before, I was glad to finally have the opportunity to make these shots of the historic Tampa Theatre located right in the middle of downtown Tampa. There is no better place I know of to go and have an old time movie experience. As cool as the theater looks on the outside, it is 10x cooler on the inside. It is easy to create images with atmosphere when photographing such a place.
Tampa Theatre marquee in daylight - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseI have not actually seen a movie at Tampa Theatre since the 90s, when I used to go semi-regularly. I was living abroad for most of the 00s and since returning to Florida and moving across the bay from the theater, have not made the journey at night to see the more independent movies the theater features.
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Tampa, Tampa Theatre, downtown, landmark, lights, marquee, night photography in Photo Story Vivid St. Petersburg Florida Downtown Skyline at Night
Monday, November 21, 2011 at 11:15PM Jason Collin 
St. Petersburg Florida downtown skyline at night from The Pier - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 20 sec mounted on Induro CT214 tripod with Nikon MC-30 cable releaseIt is easy to make photography all about handheld daytime shots. After all, one is outside more during the day than at night and cameras are mostly conveniently held in hand. This is all the more reason to venture out at night, and all the more reason to buy a good tripod. Want to do something radical with your photography? Go out at night. Put your DSLR on your tripod and leave it there. These two actions will have dramatic effects on both how you make photographs and the photographs you produce.
Photography tip: shoot at night; shoot on a tripod
Things are calmer at night, at least in St. Petersburg. Making a photograph using a tripod is a calmer way of producing a shot than handholding the camera. Night photography requires very long shutter speeds. For the above image I kept the shutter open 20 seconds. You cannot just go around shooting willy nilly when just one shot takes 20 seconds. This is a good thing.
Working at night on a tripod requires a lot of setup and previsualization before pushing the shutter. I have not shot at night much in the past myself, but am really liking it and plan on doing it more, especially since earlier this year I bought a "no compromises" tripod that is simply a pleasure to use. This kind of tripod just plain makes photography more fun. Does it cost $600 for such a tripod? Yes, it does. Are there any cheaper "no compromises" tripods out there? No, I could not find one. Was it worth it? Absolutely.
Please link to your night photography images in the comments below.
DSLR Night Photography Tripod Lesson in St. Petersburg with Sunil
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 1:58PM Jason Collin 
From the top of The Pier Sunil sets up a long exposure cityscape shot - St. Petersburg Florida DSLR Photography LessonsOn our second of four DSLR Photography Lessons I met Sunil at The Pier in downtown St. Petersburg for a night photography themed lesson covering: long exposure cityscapes, car light trail shots, motion blur shots and abstract bokeh shots. That made for a content packed 2-hour lesson!
It being a Tuesday evening we had The Pier to ourselves and made exposures of the downtown skyscrapers as long as 1 minute 13 seconds. Using both a wide angle and a telelphoto lens I showed Sunil how to get a variety of cityscape shots adjusting the exposure time to produced the desired amount of ambient light to complement the lights from the buildings.
We also experimented a bit while on the trolley back into town with surprising results.
For our third lesson it will be all about using a 50mm lens.
Carnival rides motion blur at night St. Raphael Festival Snell Isle Florida
Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 9:45PM Jason Collin 
Carnival rides intersecting motion blur - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1 sec mounted on Induro CT214 tripod with cable release
I feel lucky to live just a few hundred yards from a field that is home to an annual carnival. Where do the come from? Where do they go? I do not know. For three days and two nights they bring their rides, their prizes and their deep fried Oreos (delicious!) and delight this small island community.
Concentric circles ferris wheel motion blur - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm @ f/16 ISO 200 15 sec mounted on Induro CT214 tripod with cable releaseYet, the cost of enjoying the carnival to its fullest is too expensive for me. Each ride is about $5. There is the option of buying an unlimted ride pass for . . . $30. I did not go on a single ride. Each food item, likewise, is basically $5 or more. I could not resist a huge sign declaring, "DEEP FRIED OREOS." They were not what I expected. Basically funnel cake batter surrouned a very warm Orea cookie that loses all of its crunch in the frying process so it warmly dissolves in your mouth leaving the familiar Oreo aftertaste. If they were not $1 a bite, I would have eaten ten!
Fiery Ferris Wheel reflection - Nikon D300 with Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/16 ISO 200 5 sec mounted on Induro CT214 tripod with cable releaseSince I could not enjoy the carnival in its intended purposes, I instead had to appreciate it only for its night photography opportunities, of which there were many. I stood at the east edge of my apartment complex in complete darkness before my tripod pointing my lens at the lights just across the water. I felt like an astronaut observing an alien world. Mine was dark and silent, theirs filled with dazzling light and laughter.
The time machine conductor - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1 sec mounted on Induro CT214 tripod with cable releaseThe pilot of the ferris wheel remains stoic as carriage after carriage passes through time and space. Who knows what speed they pass by?
like a spool of colorful thread - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1 sec mounted on Induro CT214 tripod with cable releaseYet the ferris wheel almost seems a snail in comparison to this machine which lifts its subjects into the night sky spinning so fast that one appears to be a constant at once everywhere and only there.
Night Over Carnival motion blur - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm @ f/16 ISO 200 25 sec mounted on Induro CT214 tripod with cable releaseSurely when one visits Mars the view from outside of town mirrors the one above. Hopefully they have deep fried Oreos on Mars as well.
Ride first, eat second - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1 sec mounted on Induro CT214 tripod with cable releaseIn the warped world of the carnival, food is the only constant. Everything else flirts between dimensions.
Tilt A Whirl motion blur - Nikon D300 with Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/16 ISO 200 15 sec mounted on Induro CT214 tripod with cable releaseHaving no Martian technology the semi truck in silhouette is like the octogenarian observing the child with today's digital devices removing one from the present. For me, I will remain with the truck on the outside, as always only the observer.
