a little bit of london by night

[Andy]

i had the chance to head out tonight all by myself, and i must say, as much as i enjoy shooting with a friend, it's nice to get out on my own, too. i really get in a zone, and i tonight i thoroughly enjoyed myself. i even skipped dinner! those of you who know me, know that that is a big sacrifice :)

many of us get the opportunity to tourist-y photography. i find, that when i'm in a tourist-y sort of place, i look for new ways to shoot what's been shot a zilliion times.. and which i could just buy shots of in the gift shop. so i resist those standard shots, and go for scenes that are a little harder to get or that require a bit of creatiivity or going that extra mile for. nightshots are a good example, and if you are going on vacation i strongly urge you to bring a tripod and get out at night - it's a whole new perspective, and your travel photos will get *wow* results back home when you share them :) this and more tips are shared in a thread i made up on "tourist photography" located right here (http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=8370454)

all of my night shots get essentially the treatment described in my nightshot post-processing tutorial, it's right here in this thread (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=24467#post24467)

also a couple things to remember: carefully review your shots for blown areas, it's easy to blow the lights when shooting at night. shoot in raw if you've got it, and bracket if you don't. you'll tend to need to underexpose from what your meter is reading, and for really long exposures on the sony cameras, you'll need to guage it by hand - typically f/4 for 2-3 seconds at twilight and add more time as the night presses on.

i shot at the tower bridge, one of the most famous and picturesque of london's bridges, it's located just next to the tower of london.

canon 10d, tripod mounted. shot in raw, converted in ps cs. exposure details: 10 seconds, f/22, iso 100. in post, curves adjustment.

http://www.moonriverphotography.com/photos/8030216-L.jpg

the tower of london, that famous prison.

canon 10d, 16-35L f/2.8 aboard. 2 secs, f/4, negative ec of 1 2/3s. in post, my standard b&w conversion, plenty of info on that located here (http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=7475823)

http://www.moonriverphotography.com/photos/8030218-L.jpg


enjoy (nightshots in a foreign city)

[ginger_55]

Those are gorgeous, Andy. I particularly like the second one.

I was out Sat night, before the storm in our local tourist area, but the beach place type one. Before I left, I saw a place, well let me show you, because I do have questions.

http://gingerSnap.smugmug.com/photos/7988449-M.jpg
and this one,

http://gingerSnap.smugmug.com/photos/7988446-M.jpg

These were in a small, mostly uninhabited, beach bar. I was so excited that I had gotten these beautiful hot young women. And, night photography, I thought I was hot on that. But no one else thinks they are hot, or particularly likes them.

I entered another shot.

But I do want to use these as a teaching tool. I have gotten feedback on the distractions of the advertising lights as in the ones on the right.

Are they distracting? At night, does one try to avoid lights? I was, and am, confused on that now. Next week, I will probably go to the same place, probably get nothing, but if these girls were there, how would I expose this differently. I thought lights were what you got at night. I am confused. Was going to wait to ask you. As I said, I have entered a shot of shrimp boats that I love. So, I am not concerned re these as entries, I am concerned re these as examples of what I ran into at night, thought were great exposures and then the issue of the advertising lights has been raised.

Can you use these as a teaching too, at least for me?

Are lights like this bad in a photograph? This exposure by the way was about the way it came out of the camera as a jpeg. It was taken at 200 ISO, using my wide angle kit lens, EC about -1, with the WB set on clouds. That was another reason I was excited, I had thought it all through, and it had worked.
Now I hear differently, and I am confused.

ginger (I really do like those shots you did, the first one almost looks unreal, the second one is a unique take, as you said. I am more apt to stay away from our historical places, as you say, often you can buy the post card. That is one reason I really like your second one. I have not seen that treatment before. All of ours have been postcarded at night, too. I am thinking of something else, that I read in a magazine, but since I haven't tried it, I don't know. But I am very confused about this well lit bar and ................. well, any words on it as a teaching tool, what about lights like this?)

[gubbs]

I'm still working on my pictures then I see what you've done and think wow, I can get more! Was the bridge taken last night or Tuesday? I have a very different, almost black!

[Andy]

I'm still working on my pictures then I see what you've done and think wow, I can get more! Was the bridge taken last night or Tuesday? I have a very different, almost black!

there's something called the "magic hour" that's that period of time around the sunrise and the sunset. two nights ago, we were at the thames river barrier, and we were there during the magic hour. we then cabbed it to the tower bridge, the subject in this post, but we arrived there at around 9pm or close to it, and we were past the magic hour. so, we got dark, eggplant-y skies and water. not horrible, just not magic :D

last night, i went over to tower bridge and shot just before sunset, and sunset, on the bridge itself. then, after sundown, i went over to that little park near city hall, and prepared for the shot of the bridge you see here. it's a waiting game. i took maybe five shots, this was the 2nd to last one i took. the light was just right, for that blue sky, blue water look.

thanks gubbs!

[gubbs]

This is what I've got so far, I checked back on the raw file this morning, there is some more detail in the sky which I'll have a go at blending in. Do you reckon its worth having a go (feasible) at taking out the barge?

http://Gubbs.smugmug.com/photos/8031662-L.jpg

[gubbs]

Oh yes, another question when I was scrolling through the RAW, PSD, JPG on ps this morning, I noticed a that the sharpness isn't as good in the JPG as it is in the PSD. I didn't flatten the layers, saved as, jpg, high quality 12. Am I doing something wrong is that just the way it is??

Thanks :thumb