No Traces Blog

Jeez, I haven't written here in a very long time, but I wanted to just drop in some of my thoughts around night photography. I've been pretty much obsessed with it over the last few months. I suppose the reason I love it so much is because it gives me a chance to spend some time with a good friend when no one else is around to bother us - or to spend some time alone when my good friend can't make it. Either way - it's quiet, it's peaceful, it's catharctic -- just plain fun.

People write me everyday - asking how to go about creating long exposures. What's the magic behind it all? How long? What equipment? All those sorts of questions. I do my best to answer, I really do - I think I do a good job at it... But -- you know what? There really is no magic to it - I hate to be the man behind the curtain -- and tell you there's no GREAT and POWERFUL OZ helping me create images -- but the truth is - I just sort of get lucky making the images. It's true.

For me, I sort of have a feel for the light. It's very strange, but the very first night shot I did with my digital camera turned out awesome - I couldn't believe it myself. I was pleasantly surprised by the results. What I mean by having a feel for the light -- it's just a matter of letting ENOUGH light land on your sensor/film - to make a decent exposure. There's no magical formula that I'm aware of - maybe there is, but I haven't seen or read about one -- I just went out and did what my photography instructor told me to do -- EXPERIMENT. If you think it looks cool with your naked eye - it'll most likely look damn cool on film. He was right.

John at Orbit 1 will do a night photography tutorial before too long. Hey, he taught me! However, I'll give you the short version -- get a tripod, a camera that can take an exposure between 5 and 30 minutes -- some slide film -- or your favorite storage card for your DSLR -- a cable release -- a warm coat - a flash light -- and get your ass out there! That's all -- really nothing more.

Find some structure that looks pretty spooky in the dark -- or some running water -- or an old building -- whatever -- and compose the way you might normally do during daylight -- set you camera to the BULB setting -- trip the shutter -- and see what happens! EXPERIMENT! With all apeture settings - and various times -- make note of how much moonlight there is... If you're using a DSLR, you'll see your results -- work from there... That's it...

Now .. watch the moon phases ... once the moon get about a quarter full -- go for it. Full moon is best -- but hey, remember what I said?? EXPERIMENT. Okay? Get out there and have some fun, dammit!

Posted by Bob at 09:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

My mother sends me old photos from when I was a child. I like this one because it reminds me of a Lomo shot -- and I'm a fan of the Lomo. I just thought I would share it here. Pretty cool, huh?

UPDATE: That's me in the front -- and my brother in the back on the left. I'm not sure who the other boy is -- a cousin, I'm sure.

Posted by Bob at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Man oh man -- I don't know how people keep up with all this stuff. It used to be that all I had to worry about was loading the camera with film, finding a decent subject, meter, set aperture and speed, focus, and shoot -- that's it!

Now -- I have to worry about workflow -- processing RAW files -- printing with the right profiles -- calibrating my screen -- adjustment layers -- on and on and on and on... I will say that I'm having fun. It's a great hobby. I'm just glad I don't do this stuff for a living.

Posted by Bob at 08:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm getting serious about Photoshop CS. Ryan at Light Tight recommended a great book to get me started - 'Real World Photoshop CS' - it's great.

If any of you have tips and tricks you want to share, post them here! What would be nice is an example photo to go along with the post -- a before and after, if you will. Dave at Chromasia does a great job of including comments which clue all of us into what he does to create those wonderful images we salivate over. I've learned a lot from lots of people - and I'll try to post some of what I've learned as I go along.

Posted by Bob at 08:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have a nice, new D70. I like it well enough, but I find that I've been using my film cameras so much more than I thought I would. I think I have less than a handful of images from the D70 up on my site. I'm not sure why. I suppose it has something to do with learning a whole new process - Photoshop and the likes.

Maybe it's something more than that. I see it on other sites as well - film is still strong, and in many cases I see a resurgence of interest in the medium. For me, I just know the characteristics of what I'm working with when I work with film. I know how the light will lay down its image. I'm not a professional - and most of the time I'm more concerned with capturing the FEEL, rather than the actual image. I hope that comes through somehow -- point being, I can capture the feel of the image better on film -- dunno why -- it just is.

I'm certain that I'll eventually get the hang of the way lights plays upon the digital sensor - I'm sure of it. Until then, my film cameras are safe and sound.

Posted by Bob at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)