Capturing a night of light

[MrLentzPhotography.com]

Recently, a snowstorm hit Boulder proper and left me with an opportunity to capture the reflecting light of shopping centers, traffic, and a power plant. Braving near zero temperatures and a numb trigger finger I managed to come clean with these shots.







To get these images I used a simple tripod set up close to the ground. With my camera pointed skyward I set the ISO to a low number around 200 to decrease the chance of noise. I opened up the aperture to F4, except when there were trees close by that I wanted to capture in which case I set it to F11 to avoid a significant blur. I then placed the camera in Bulb exposure mode - which basically puts the photographer in direct control as to how long the exposure will last. I attached a remote trigger to the camera and also set mirror lockup to avoid any possible blur from the mirror being drawn up during an exposure. Each shot was taken with varying lengths of time, all of which are around 3 seconds. - Oh, and remember to bring an umbrella! It sure save me and my equipment!

To see more of my work please visit my site: MrLentzPhotography.com

[lonni]

Stunning, i wish it snowed here so i cold try shots like yours.

Do you think a wet night would work similar? Its not as reflective and the sky is darker but should get some nice pictures.

[MrLentzPhotography.com]

Originally Posted by lonni

Stunning, i wish it snowed here so i cold try shots like yours.

Do you think a wet night would work similar? Its not as reflective and the sky is darker but should get some nice pictures.

I would be very careful shooting on a wet night. It was hard enough to protect my camera in a light snow, but at least the flakes were able to bounce off most of the time. With rain - it is instant damage. You might try some underwater kit, but they can be expensive.

[Silverboarder25]

This may be a silly question, but how do you get that circular glow? With the bright in the middle, blue around the edges and the vignetting? I'd imagine the vignetting could be done by posting it on the original picture and then cropping it for what you want and eliminating a corner or two.

Just that I've seen some pics like that before and it's a really cool look. Great pictures though!