Urban Night Shots

pathfinder

I have been enying wxwax's lovely urban night shots that he collects, in Atlanta I believe. They have an energy and vibrant color.

But I live in a smaller, quieter, Midwest community and felt that there were no similar opportunites for me here. We do have the standard neon of National food Chains like Tumbleweed, Applebee's, Denny's and such, but I wanted something more unique. So...., as the sun began to get low on the horizon I ventured out to see what I could find. The first thing I found was as lovely a sunset as I have seen in a long time.


I then drove down to the center of town and shot this street scene...



A little a long the way I found this establishment


And this establishment


And at this one people were sitting outside enjoying themselves and listening to music.....


And then I saw this wall painting - think this might fit for "Lines and Curves"?


And I did see a Tumbleweed Restaurant too



So here's to you wxwax - there is neon and night time images to be found everywhere if one just looks:clap

For those who think this may require special equipment - these were all shot handheld with a normal range zoom lens, and had minimal post processing in PS!


Like Andy says: Enjoy (night time) photography:thumb

ginger_55

Do you live in Terre Haute, Indiana, from the sign?

pathfinder wrote:

I have been enying wxwax's lovely urban night shots that he collects, in Atlanta I believe. They have an energy and vibrant color.

But I live in a smaller, quieter, Midwest community and felt that there were no similar opportunites for me here. We do have the standard neon of National food Chains like Tumbleweed, Applebee's, Denny's and such, but I wanted something more unique. So...., as the sun began to get low on the horizon I ventured out to see what I could find. The first thing I found was as lovely a sunset as I have seen in a long time.


I then drove down to the center of town and shot this street scene...



A little a long the way I found this establishment


And this establishment


And at this one people were sitting outside enjoying themselves and listening to music.....


And then I saw this wall painting - think this might fit for "Lines and Curves"?


And I did see a Tumbleweed Restaurant too



So here's to you wxwax - there is neon and night time images to be found everywhere if one just looks

For those who think this may require special equipment - these were all shot handheld with a normal range zoom lens, and had minimal post processing in PS!


Like Andy says: Enjoy (night time) photography

I did some of that stuff, too, tonight. Didn't get a sunset. But I did fall into a curb, fell, think I broke my hand protecting my camera.

Hurts like a son of a thing, it really does, it is difficult to type. It is my right hand, and I am left handed, but typing is not comfortable. It would be more apt to be a chip, considering where it is. If it were worse, I would not wait to have it looked at.

Does anyone else fall over, into and off of things when carrying a camera. I know they thought I was drunk, and I rarely drink, certainly not tonight, costs too much, etc. Bill said he heard one of the people comment about my drinking.

Anyway, I hope you read this far. Do you live in Terre Haute, Indiana, or around there.

I lived in Vincennes, Ind for 5 years in the seventies. My husband, that husband, taught commercial art at the junior college there. I can't make a capital with my right hand, but I wanted to say it was a nice family town.

Nice photos, love the sunset, love all the shots.

ginger

rutt

Beautiful shots, Jim.

Andy

dumb photography tricks ...
oh ginger, so sorry to hear this! a friend just broke his hand (smashed it, it's in a full cast) so photography's totally out for him for two months or so. i couldn't bear it.

ginger, the college co-ed i want to see some scanned piccies. c'mon!

here's a great thread on stupid photographer tricks that you may enjoy reading

ginger_55 wrote:

I did some of that stuff, too, tonight. Didn't get a sunset. But I did fall into a curb, fell, think I broke my hand protecting my camera.

Hurts like a son of a thing, it really does, it is difficult to type. It is my right hand, and I am left handed, but typing is not comfortable. It would be more apt to be a chip, considering where it is. If it were worse, I would not wait to have it looked at.

Does anyone else fall over, into and off of things when carrying a camera. I know they thought I was drunk, and I rarely drink, certainly not tonight, costs too much, etc. Bill said he heard one of the people comment about my drinking.

Anyway, I hope you read this far. Do you live in Terre Haute, Indiana, or around there.

I lived in Vincennes, Ind for 5 years in the seventies. My husband, that husband, taught commercial art at the junior college there. I can't make a capital with my right hand, but I wanted to say it was a nice family town.

Nice photos, love the sunset, love all the shots.

ginger

Andy

pathfinder - nightshots
holy cow, these are great. you really nailed the exposures, which, in night shot work, is not so easy imo. congratulations!

pathfinder

andy wrote:

holy cow, these are great. you really nailed the exposures, which, in night shot work, is not so easy imo. congratulations!

Thanks Andy. I've been posting about exposure on another thread discussing the limitations of a DSLR's evaluative metering, but these shots are pretty much straight from my camera. Being able to see the image immediately post shooting is almost like cheating for night photography.

I frequently dialed in about 2/3 to 1 stop of underexposure for these shots to retain the highlights better - I had not thought this through until I started seeing the imges on my LCD post exposure.

I have not previously shot very much at night with film because of the delay in seeing the images, but digital night shooting is just a BLAST! I plan to do more exploration after dark. It is also much cooler and more pleasant than in the hot sunshine too. Just rotate that ISO dial to 800 or 1000 an go get 'em.

Like Andy says - Enjoy (after dark) photography

pathfinder

ginger_55 wrote:

I did some of that stuff, too, tonight. Didn't get a sunset. But I did fall into a curb, fell, think I broke my hand protecting my camera.

Do you live in Terre Haute, Indiana, or around there.

I lived in Vincennes, Ind for 5 years in the seventies. My husband, that husband, taught commercial art at the junior college there. I can't make a capital with my right hand, but I wanted to say it was a nice family town.

ginger

I am sorry to hear about your hand - Don't hesitate to get it x-rayed if it doesn't improve in the next 5-7 days. Can't have Ginger out of the Challenges. I would miss your beautiful pictures.

Yes, I do live south of Terre Haute. It is a small world to hear that you lived in Vincennes for several years.

komet

Not really urban, but nice I think...especially for my little Sony.

komet

Urban shot...

dugmar

Amazing shots. I agree, great exposures. I love shooting the city at night, one of my favorite things. One of my favorite shots is a night city shot. The Charles River is actually iced over here, so I made for some nice, soft reflections.

wxwax

pathfinder wrote:

These are great, PF. I agree w/ Andy about getting the exposure right - I had a hard time not overexposing the neon signs. Excellent stuff!

pathfinder

wxwax wrote:

These are great, PF. I agree w/ Andy about getting the exposure right - I had a hard time not overexposing the neon signs. Excellent stuff!

These were handheld - a tripod at night makes some people look at me kind of funny. But I did dial in anywhere from no compensation to almost 2 stops of underexposure compensation.

Basically I used the standard evaluative meter on the 1D and looked for blinking lights in the LCD display indicating blown highlights - If I saw much blinking I dialed in more underexposure. Underexposure also means they are easier to handhold because the shutter speed is made shorter in aperature preferred mode. I went out last night again and I plan on a bigger survey of the surrounding area over the next 6 months.

pathfinder

I found a few more shots tonight....

wxwax

Very cool. Our new night roamer!

pathfinder

wxwax wrote:

Very cool. Our new night roamer!

I am just following in your footsteps, waxy, you're the man!

But shooting after dark is really fun and easy. The colors are so vibrant and saturated and stand out in the darkness so nice! Much easier than it ever was with film

lynnma

wxwax wrote:

Very cool. Our new night roamer!

Hmmmm you have competition then wxwx .. this should be interesting...

pathfinder

lynnma wrote:

Hmmmm you have competition then wxwx .. this should be interesting...

Here's a wide angle at night -



and an empty roadway

pathfinder

I am beginning to really look forward to the rain, because in that brief period after the rain stops, you can find such lovely reflections. Like this one on the way home from work tonight....

wxwax

Oooh, I like that one a lot, PF. A lot. The sky color, the reflection, the palette... all harmonious and excellent.

wxwax

I'm gonna make a double post, as I already shoved this one in my Wamblings thread, but it also fits here. I was standing in the road... but no-one hassled me. The tripod and the big ol' camera seemed to sway them. And since I was shooting their backs, no-one objected, either. Kinda nice, for a change.

pathfinder

wxwax wrote:

I'm gonna make a double post, as I already shoved this one in my Wamblings thread, but it also fits here. I was standing in the road... but no-one hassled me. The tripod and the big ol' camera seemed to sway them. And since I was shooting their backs, no-one objected, either. Kinda nice, for a change.

The lighting qualities available at twilight or after dark are just so nice - Digital just makes it so easy to do these images compared to film - I have rolls of Velvia at home in the frig that are going unused..... Nice image Waxy.