Night Photography

Whenever the weather becomes warmer and the days get longer, I like to leave before the sun sets and take pictures. They are usually rich on color. I can even apply a very soft HDR (not the hard core ones please!) and achieve the results I like.

But before I leave, there must be some preparation. Like a recipe, some ingredients are needed:

• I always pack the tripod. Camera usually stays open during a very long time. Long enough to prevent me from hand holding it. I shake a lot due to my alcohol withdraws... bad joke ;)
• I adjust the camera to second mirror lock-up OR I set the shutter delay OR I pack the remote control
• I also like to use ISO 50 or the lower possible ISO
• Eventually, I also autobracket the exposures and take three exposures of the same image. Later one I can play with them
• I always set the camera on Aperture Priority mode (Av) and with an aperture around f8 (ah boring!)

All ready? I put everything on the bike and before sipping the first glass of wine and while Mr. M. is cooking dinner, I leave: a tiny bit after the sun is set but while the sky still has some light.

I park whenever I find a nice subject, arm the entire circus: tripod, camera, lens, remote control and take many shots.

Back at home, I can evaluate the histograms of the images and if I have enough range from highlights to shadows, I stay on Lightroom (like on the picture below) and only correct the basic stuff. If not, if my image has clipped shadows or clipped highlights then I pile the auto-bracketed exposures on Photoshop and work them out to reveal ENOUGH highlights and ENOUGH shadows (to my taste) like on the image above.

I am not an HDR fan, although I have some nice results from it. But I don't really like it.

Personal taste.

Inspired to get out and snap some images? You can also bring some wine and a fishing stick to look more picturesque. Or may be some clogs?