This study really helped to show what can be done with artificial light at night time. There were instances where the light came out a completely different colour to what I could actually see and this meant that I could get quite creative with how I wanted the photo to appear. The only issue is that sometimes it could be quite random and hard to predict, but that’s what I loved about these photos!
1/3 sec, f/4.8, ISO 200
0.77 sec, f/4.8, ISO 200
You can see that with the first two photos the, slight change in exposure time means the difference between a very orange looking image and a much cooler blue one. What I could actually see was probably more in between the two tones, but I felt that both had good qualities. The orange image seemed to set off the colours of the lights very well as contrasting colours, but the blue one complements the overall hue and as it was a fairly chilly evening seems to get this message across.
In this shot taken in Guildford town centre you can see that the bright fluorescent lighting looks very unnatural, they cast a very clinical look over the street making the scene appear industrial with the stark shadows and reflections on the glass buildings.
1/15 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200
1/100 sec, f/5, ISO 1250
1/8 secs
f/5
ISO 2500
These two city shots were taken in Melbourne, Australia. As I was shooting handheld I found I had to boost the ISO quite high to be able to use an exposure time that was quick enough to produce a shot without any blur as I didn’t have my tripod with me. The issue with shooting handheld is that you can’t use longer shutter speeds, and as seen in previous exercises higher ISO settings can make an image look grainy. Fortunately in both pictures above I was able to rest the camera on a bridge to help steady the shot so I could use a slightly longer exposure than I would have if I was just shooting by hand. I have also noticed that even though both images are very pleasing to look at, the one taken just after dusk retains more details in the outline of the buildings as there is still a small hint of colour in the sky as the sun sets. It was much harder to find the correct settings to make sure the dark buildings stood out on the pitch black sky of the second image, and I feel it may have lost some quality as the ISO had to be set much higher.
The above images were taken at ISO 2000, again for the handheld reasons, with an F stop of 3.5, but the first was taken at 1/60 sec and the second at 1/40 sec. Again you can see the difference in exposure times changes the colour of the lighting as more light passes through the camera. Also the cathedral was up lit by halogen lighting and you can see that it casts an eerie glow on the architecture, the spire at the rear is highlighted by them very well and the shadows in it become deeper giving vibrant definition to its shape, but it also changes the tones in colour of the brickwork and almost over exposes them. This could cause some problems and my need careful light metering to make sure the highlights don’t become washed out.
I next went out onto some of my local roads to play around with long exposures. As I had recently got my head around metering I was able to use this to my advantage to get shots that held details in the shadows and highlights and were true to the colours I could see in real life, without spending ages messing around with settings and not really understanding what I was achieving. Now I can see exactly how metering helps to determine the correct settings to use for a scene, allowing me to go ahead and over or under compensate with exposure for my desired effect.
2.5 sec, f/14, ISO 200
10 sec, f/36, ISO 200
I own a tripod but didn’t really find an awful lot of use for it until now. Now I can think of a hundred different things I want to use it for in the future! Because the tripod kept the camera dead still I was able to set the exposures to well over a second without incurring any blurriness to the composition. By using the light meter in my camera set to centre weight and aiming at the mid tones in the frame I took a reading and set my camera up accordingly. What I found with this is that was ok when cars were not passing below me, but the reading was out when they were as there lights obviously affected the cameras sensors. By taking a few more readings as the cars were passing I was able to take the first shot above where the tones appear as realistic as possible, and yet the longer shutter speed allowed for some light trails from the cars to appear. So taking this to an extreme and seeing how long I could make the trails I got the second photograph where I used a very long exposure of 10 seconds but the F stop had to be smaller to compensate for the amount of light the shutter speed would let into the camera. The ISO was set for just 200 for all of these, which is why a tripod is a definite must for this kind of shoot so quality is not lost. I also quite like the effect it has had on the street lamps, but if I had wanted an image that didn’t include this effect I would have had to use filters.
4 sec, f/3.5, ISO 200
4 sec, f/3.5, ISO 200
With these next two photographs, I used the same settings but tried panning with the vehicle as it passed to see what would happen. It achieved some interesting effects! There are many uncontrollable elements to shooting moving objects, such as the speed they travel at, the speed in which you are panning at and in turn this can mean that the aperture and shutter speed you are using may not quite be the right ones. I found it interesting the patterns that emerged whilst panning with the cars as it really did depend on how quickly I followed their movement.
30 sec, f/3.5, ISO 200
This was my favourite and most surprising of the photos I took by the roadside. I decided that I wanted to use the longest shutter speed available to me and see what would happen, expecting that the image would just be a completely over exposed mess in which not much would be visible. I was a little shocked when the camera finally clicked shut and revealed this! It was pitch black with no street lighting along this road, and I’m so pleased with the effect of the red streaking through to orange then white as the car moved along the road. I really couldn’t have predicted this outcome, but it has taught me a lot about how the camera processes light whilst using longer exposures, and the way that it can produce details even the shadiest areas even when no light is available. This has given me new scope for ideas in the future, and i can’t wait to experiment some more!
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