I started a night photographyt class. so far, we only had the first class meeting were we looked at some samples of things that can be done to get some ideas. we also talked about equipment. I decided to go out and experiment on my own a little before the next meeting to get a feel for it. i have done a little night photography in the past and liked it a lot and am excited to get back into it.

none of these images have been edited with photoshop or gimp (what I would use anyway). I usually don't diddle with my photographs and like to show them how they are. I will comment if an image has been doctored, beyond what the camera can do to it. I don't think there is anything wrong with using photoshop to alter images. in fact, I believe it's an artform in itself. I do, however, wish photographers would disclose if they used photoshop to alter an image that they publish.

I used a digital camera for these shots. the camera has a manual mode, including manual focusing. I did use the special low noise imaging mode. normally digital camera's are very noisy during low light photography. in low noise mode, the camera does some averaging to eliminate the random noisy pixels. the color balanced was left in "auto"; life on the edge, I guess. also, a solid tripod is a must have for this sort of photography, although interesting effects can be had with hand holding.

here is a pretty little fountain. the light is from very diffuse sodium vapor lamps. the scene itself was very dark. so dark that it was nearly impossible to frame the shot in the vewfinder and impossible to check the focus. pretty much took a guess. it took a couple of tries and this is what I came up with.





I have taken star streak photos in the past and always liked them. this time I decided to frame a short star streak with some trees. the stars form the head of the constelation scorpio, with libra being behind the right tree. star streaks are interesting to me, since I also like astronomy.







here is a different sort of shot. there is a lot more light here than in the previous shots and it's a different kind of lamp, which gives it a different tint and more colors. there was a dog there who was really friendly and later a cat strolled by. they weren't around for this particular shot.





I haven't decided yet if I want to shoot film for the class, instead of the digital pictures. in some ways digital is easier, since you get nearly instant feedback about the picture you just took. I do like fillm. it's very organic and I like that there is less complexity... i.e. you pretty much get what you get, rather than the camera trying to help you by adjusting white balance and trying to reduce noise, etc... you do have to wait to get the film developed.

today we are putting down our best canine friend and companion who has been dignosed with acute leukemia last week. happy trails buddy; we'll miss you.