Night Shot Locations In Ft. Worth Texas

[Hill Country Hack]

Hey Gang!

On Wednesday I'm headed to Ft. Worth Texas for a few days. I'll be missing the last golden hours of the day so that leaves me with night shots and dawn. It is so flipping hot and harsh light during the day hours. I won't have much time to scout locations so I am coming to your collective wealth of knowledge to get me to the best locations. Even if the same old locations, I may be able to find a twist or angle.

I know I'll hit the stockyards,but need some more ideas. Is there an area containing a block or two with lots of bars/clubs? Like 6th street in Austin Texas for those familiar. I could get some good candids there. I will spend some time wandering around the skyscrapers looking for a good shot.

Thanks in advance.

[Meadster]

I'd recommend a visit to Sundance Square near downtown... lots of bars/restaurants as well as a good mix of old & new architecture in a small area. I"d love to see your take on the "Scat Jazz Lounge"

Miscellaneous Images - WELCOME TO BLUE LION PHOTOS

I hope you have a productive day ! Bring extra water ... we are on our 17th STRAIGHT day over 100 degrees here in Dallas!

[Hill Country Hack]

Originally Posted by Meadster

I'd recommend a visit to Sundance Square near downtown... lots of bars/restaurants as well as a good mix of old & new architecture in a small area. I"d love to see your take on the "Scat Jazz Lounge"

Miscellaneous Images - WELCOME TO BLUE LION PHOTOS

I hope you have a productive day ! Bring extra water ... we are on our 17th STRAIGHT day over 100 degrees here in Dallas!

Believe you me I know about the heat. I'm travelling north from outside of San Antonio so I know how hot it has been. We've had 4.5 inches of rain all year. I'll also be umpiring State level Little League games all day, then shoot at night/early morning.

Scat Jazz Lounge sounds very interesting. What technique do you reccomend for doing street candids at night? Use shutter priority at around 1/100 and let the camera figure out the f stop and ISO? If I go apeture priority, I'll be stuck with low f number and shallow Depth of field and high ISO. For structures and other still objects I'll be going apeture priority and use a tripod.

[RichardTaylor]

Light levels will be relatively low.

Have a look at these Fort Worth night pics (not mine) as they have exif data.

Fort Worth @ Night - a set on Flickr

They are around at 0.6 seconds ISO 200 & F8
Much too slow for hand holding consistent hand holding.

How slow can you successfully hand hold and at what focal length?

With my image stabilised zoom lens (24-105 F4) I would start at around 1/60 ISO 1600 and wide open at F4 and see how that went. If I found I had enough light I would prabaly go to F5.6
I would be shooting RAW to give me maximum control when PPing

The other alternative is to user a fast wide prime (F2 or faster) as that will give you a fair amount of leeway with exposure settings. I have shot hand held urban night 'scapes with a 35 F2 on a full frame camera without any problems and even with a 24mm F2.8 (but always at high ISO)

If you are using a long fast lens (135mm F2?) I would shoot at maximum ISO (3200 for me)and wide open and take what ever shutter speed I could get and expect quite a few failures due to camera shake..

[Hill Country Hack]

Originally Posted by RichardTaylor

Light levels will be relatively low.

Have a look at these Fort Worth night pics (not mine) as they have exif data.

Fort Worth @ Night - a set on Flickr

They are around at 0.6 seconds ISO 200 & F8
Much too slow for hand holding consistent hand holding.

How slow can you successfully hand hold and at what focal length?

With my image stabilised zoom lens (24-105 F4) I would start at around 1/60 ISO 1600 and wide open at F4 and see how that went. If I found I had enough light I would prabaly go to F5.6
I would be shooting RAW to give me maximum control when PPing

The other alternative is to user a fast wide prime (F2 or faster) as that will give you a fair amount of leeway with exposure settings. I have shot hand held urban night 'scapes with a 35 F2 on a full frame camera without any problems and even with a 24mm F2.8 (but always at high ISO)

If you are using a long fast lens (135mm F2?) I would shoot at maximum ISO (3200 for me)and wide open and take what ever shutter speed I could get and expect quite a few failures due to camera shake..

I am still new to photography but have found I can successfully hand hold up to 0.6 sec with my IS 17-85mm lens at a max focal length of about 60mm. I do not own a prime or any fast glass (yet) so I know I will have to adjust focal length with my feet if hand holding.

I always shoot in RAW.

I will start at f4 and work my way toward f5 and as small as I can get with my ISO at 1200 and still be able to hand hold. The tripod shots will be much less of an issue since I have a pretty good grasp on that. It is the minor details of composition, lighting, exposure that still need work.

[RichardTaylor]

Re lighting.
Try to shoot in the blue hour it makes a huge difference, especially for the 'scapes.

Re exposure.
Know how to use a histogram .... It is your best guide to whether your exposure is "correct".
If I have street lights (bulbs) in the scene I don't worry about them blowing out as they will be very bright compared to the rest of the scene.

Re composition.
The "normal" guidelines still apply, rule of thirds etc In addition there will be the challenge of "capturing the moment" as in example #2 in this tute (on DPS)

Night Photography:2 - In the street.