Night Photography

Winter is now setting in and the early nights are upon us. So what do we do when us enthusiasts get home from work of an evening? Do we wait all week for the weekend or are there other ways to get enjoyment from our beloved black boxes?

Photography has always been and will always be about working with light. Whether that be sunlight, flashlight, street lamps, torches, whatever.. It is about capturing what you see or creating something you see in your mind using light.

A couple of years ago I was introduced to the idea of 'painting with light'. This idea opened up a whole new strand of photography for me. Bulb mode was no longer a mystery. Shooting at night more often than not requires long exposures, sometimes minutes. It also involves waiting around, wrapping up warm and the anticipation of what will appear on the camera's display when the shutter finally closes. I love it.

Painting with light can involve many different light sources. I like to use my flash gun and a mag light along with some coloured acetate or 'gels'. The gels add that extra touch to the image by giving the light source different colours. Light shining through the coloured gels projects light of that colour.

There are hundreds of examples of this kind of night photography online. Here is an image of mine that I am particularly proud of :-

Knock Out Wonderboy!

Knockout competitions seem to be becoming somewhat of a speciality for me!

At the end of each season at camera club we have a knockout competition whereby each member is allowed to enter up to 6 images to be projected digitally. The images are all entered into a piece of software on the computer and randomised. The images will then appear in a random order to be voted against the image next to it. Members vote for the image out of the two they like the best and it goes through to the next round, knocking the losing image out.

Long story short, I won! Here is the winning image...

I call it "Sticks and Stones"

Projected Digital Image Competition

Last week at camera club saw the 2nd PDI league competition judging, in which i entered the maximum of 3 images. The 2 highest scoring images are taken into consideration for the league.

The 3 images were completely different. A colourful seascape, a mono scene from a civil war reenactment, and a nature shot of an Arctic Tern with a Sand Eel in it's bill. I personally thought they would score highest in that order from high to low.... However, it just goes to show that judging is very subjective and everyone's opinion is different. My Nature shot came in with 18/20 and the Colourful Seascape was awarded 17/20.

Although not a winner this time around I am very pleased with the scores.

As I have said before a camera club (or photographic society) is a great way to meet other photographers and exchange ideas as well as see what other people are photographing. Whilst social networking sites such as flickr are a great way of viewing other people's images, there is nothing like mingling in person. I personally found that joining a club has helped improve my photography no end as I am sure i have helped others to develop their craft.

To view more on our camera club competitions or find information on our club in general, see Crewe Photographic Society.

Photographers and their gadgets

Whilst you will hear some photographers saying that it is the person behind the lens that creates the picture and not the kit they use, there are some bits of equipment you cannot do without.

A good place to go to compare prices for camera gear that i refer to often is Camera Price Buster

One handy bit of kit is a neutral density filter. This helps to hold back the light so you can use a slower shutter speed. I particulary like taking photographs of seascapes and slowing down the shutter speed enough to give the water a milky effect and the sky a zoom burst effect. I have examples of these on my Coastal and landscape sections on Pepper Art

I currently use and would highly recommend the B+W 10-stop filter for seascapes and landscapes. However it gives a warming effect to your images. Lee have a version called The Big Stopper which gives a cooling effect, which I prefer. I ordered one of these at the beginning of June and it is yet to arrive! Lee have had major production issues for the last couple of years and the waiting time for orders on these filters is currently 6 months.

I borrowed a friend's earlier this year and took the following photograph with the Lee Big Stopper...

12 months plus???

I cannot believe it has been over 12 months since my last post. I didnt feel like i had much opportunity to get out with the camera last year and this just proves it! I started a new job which takes up a lot more of my time these days so photography has unfortunatley had to take a bit of a back seat. :(

The last competition of the season was very fruitful for me. I managed to win the knockout competition with the following image: -

This was taken at Llandullas beach in North Wales using a 10-stop neutral density filter, which allowed me to expose the image for a good few minutes!

Camera club season is over for us at Crewe Photographic Society and the chance to go shooting instead of the weekly club meet has arisen. I have managed to get out a bit at weekends too.

I have so far been on a couple of excursions and I'm happy to report they have been quite successful. I'm really pleased with the direction my photography is going at present and I just hope i manage to capture enough material for the coming season.

You will see some new images on my website.

This Dandelion Clock was basking in the dappled sunlight underneath a tree amongst these Bluebells. I love the colours!