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 :-