Night Photography Class 6c: Fountain abstracts

So I finished my first photography class.  This is the final post for the photo shoot down in San Pedro. After getting scores of photos of the "Fountain Fanfare," I started to get bored of shooting the same thing. I then tried turning my camera to give my shots a different angle. Coupled with the black & white, this made for an interesting photo. While we were taking shots of the fountains, Bernard (our fearless instructor) offered a new perspective on the subject; "Try moving the camera vertically with the movement of the jetting water." I gave it a try and captured some great abstract shots of the water. I am very pleased with the effect (almost like fireworks in some cases) and I think it looks even better in black and white. As this was our final class, I won't have any more night posts for a little while. I may upload some of the "odds & ends" photos that I took during the course that didn't quite fit in with the assignment subject I was capturing for the week. Thanks for all the comments.

1/80 second exposure, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 100
1/10 second exposure, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 100
1/10 second exposure, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 100
1/10 second exposure, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 100
.5 second exposure, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 100

Night Photography Class 6b: Fountain Fanfare

This is part two of three of our shoot in San Pedro. After the first portion of our final night photography class in Ports O'Call village, we hopped in the car and drove a few blocks north to the "Fountain Fanfare." This area is near the cruise ship terminals and is a knock-off of the Bellagio hotel's dancing waters. It is lit up at night and every 15-30 minutes it has choreographed water jets synced to music blasting from speakers. I was totally pumped as it is an interesting place with lots of angles, lights and movement. I switched to black and white at times while we were here as it gives a very different feel to the water and fountains. I took a hundred or so pictures here but I pared it down to ten. I'll have one more post with some abstract shots from this shoot. Hope you like them.

2 second exposure, f/9, 27mm, ISO 100
1.3 second exposure, f/3.5, 18mm, ISO 100
10 second exposure, f/18, 18mm, ISO 100
4 second exposure, f/11, 18mm, ISO 100

4 second exposure, f/11, 18mm, ISO 100
2 second exposure, f/11, 18mm, ISO 100
1/60 second exposure, f/4.5, 29mm, ISO 100
1.3 second exposure, f/5, 40mm, ISO 100
1/100 second exposure, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 200
1/60 second exposure, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 400

Night Photography Class 6a: Ports O'Call

So I know I just said I was in a funk but I think I busted out of it. For our final night class I shot a bunch of great photos. Too many to put into one post. I think I will break it up into three separate posts so stay tuned. So for the first part of the night, we shot down in Ports O'Call village in San Pedro. Because of the time change on Sunday, I was able to take some shots at dusk; coupled with the lights from the harbor, giving the skies a nice purple color. The shops down in the village are very charming and I can see how this can be a nice tourist destination for the cruise ships that frequent the port of Los Angeles. Even the public restrooms get a taste of the New England architecture! My favorite shot of the night has the blue lights of the Vincent Thomas Bridge (4th longest suspension bridge in California!) reflected in the harbor with a tall ship silhouetted in the foreground. Look carefully and you can see a crane (bird) on the dock. I was pleased with many of the photos I took. Here are a few more than I normally post:

1 second exposure, f/8, 25mm, ISO 400
1.3 second exposure, f/8, 55mm, ISO 400
4 second exposure, f/16, 33mm, ISO 400

4 second exposure, f/16, 28mm, ISO 400

4 second exposure, f/10, 18mm, ISO 400
6 second exposure, f/6.3, 55mm, ISO 100

8 second exposure, f/6.3, 18mm, ISO 100
5 second exposure, f/18, 90mm, ISO 100
10 second exposure, f/11, 40mm, ISO 100

Night Photography Assignment 5: Around Town

So I appear to still be in a funk this week. I'm not too happy with this weeks shots as I was stretching to come up with an assignment. On the way home from Monday night's class at the Manhattan Beach pier, I pulled into a parking lot and shot the Chase Bank across the street. I have passed this bank many times and have always said, "I should take a photo of that bank. It's really neat looking." So I decided to take the shot. I probably should have spent more time setting it up but I was driving home so I didn't want to take too much time. I didn't use my tripod and simply set the camera on a low wall. It's a cool building and I like the photo. Fast-forward to Sunday night. I have no idea what to shoot for my assignment but force myself to do something. I decide to take shots of people in coffee shops, a la Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks." Only problem is, nothing is open up here after 8:00 PM (thanks daylight savings time! :-p - it would have been dark last week at 7:00!). So I decided to shoot lit up store fronts. There is even another Chase Bank up here! (A really neat one with a mosaic mural by Millard Sheets.) Now I have an assignment. Unfortunately, I spent most of the evening shooting with some gunk on my lens, which I ultimately rubbed off at the last location of the night. Below are my better photos which feel sadly uninspiring this week...
5 second exposure, f/22, 50mm, ISO 100
10 second exposure, f/22, 23mm, ISO 100
8 second exposure, f/22, 40mm, ISO 100
15 second exposure, f/32, 100mm, ISO 100
4 second exposure, f/16, 41mm, ISO 100
15 second exposure, f/29, 32 mm, ISO 100

Night Photography Class 5: Manhattan Beach Pier

So I feel like it has been months since the last class. After a week off (planned - ski week) and another week off (unplanned - weather), we finally had another class. This week we met at the Manhattan Beach Pier which is very different to its Redondo Beach counterpart. This pier is very simple with only one building on it (an aquarium that was closed during our class), a few benches, a number of pedestrians (though much fewer than in Redondo), and many lampposts. These lamps became my primary focus of the night. To switch things up, I tried shooting in black & white and was pleased with the results. After an unsatisfactory "light writing" attempt, I shifted my attention back to the pier. I tried to capture the shuffle of people that walked up and down the pier. Additionally, I took many shots of a large bank of clouds that rolled into Redondo and Hermosa Beach. The city lights illuminating the clouds created an eerie scene, reminiscent of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Not a super-exciting night but I did create some decent photos. Below are some of my better shots:

2 second exposure, f/13, 50mm, ISO 400
10 second exposure, f/22, 50mm, ISO 100
2 second exposure, f/3.5, 18mm, ISO 200
10 second exposure, f/13, 50mm, ISO 100
20 second exposure, f/11, 50mm, ISO 400
20 second exposure, f/11, 50mm, ISO 400
8 second exposure, f/16, 50mm, ISO 400

Night Photography Assigment 4: Light Painting

So I did not have class this week due to the "ski week" holiday. I decided to stretch my assignment to encompass the two weeks. I started out last week trying to do some light painting with my flashlight in my backyard. After numerous "graffiti-esque" shots, I finished with a couple of "drawings" that looked fine. Later on in the week, I read about the gizmodo shooting challenge, "Steel Wool" which fit right into this assignment. This turned into a fantastic failure but is something I will try again. This week I returned to the backyard to try some new light painting shots, this time with color. I was super pleased with my Pac-man photo, which I tried the night before, then realized if I held a string in my hand, I could make Pac-man into a cleaner, better circle. The color shots were done using my iPhone app "flashlight" which allows you to change the color of the screen. I finished it all off with a fun spin (fearful my flashlight would fly out in mid-circle). Hope you like the photos this week. I had a lot of fun but I feel that these aren't the best I could do. They seem a tad elementary. I'll keep trying some more of these shots to see if I can improve.

30 second exposure, f/16, 18mm, ISO 400
30 second exposure, f/16, 18mm, ISO 400
43 second exposure, f/18, 18mm, ISO 200
30 second exposure, f/16, 18mm, ISO 200

30 second exposure, f/18, 18mm, ISO 200

Night Photography Class 4: Redondo Beach Boardwalk

So I can't believe how windy it was! The wind nearly blew my camera and tripod over a few times during our class at the Redondo Boardwalk and Fun Factory. High winds don't help with crisp photos. Apparently, most of the business are closed on Monday which made for a less-than-vibrant shooting experience. We met at the Fun Factory which, to be honest, isn't that fun. It is a relic of an arcade that is filled mostly with ticket style games in which you roll a quarter down a slot and hope the moving arm pushes some quarters off the edge. Mostly empty, I tried to find some interesting shots in the arcade. It was much brighter than I was expecting so in order to get some long exposures, I had to shoot at a higher f-stop. My photos are a little boring but they are below. We then moved out onto the boardwalk and into the marina. Some flags flapping madly in the wind caught my eye and was curious as to how they would look photographed. When I was taking the photo, I was imagining in my mind that the flags would appear as stiff rectangles. They are still blurred with motion. I wonder if the exposure was shorter, I could have got what I was looking for? I spent the rest of the evening wandering around, taking shots of the boats on the water and of the boarded up businesses. The long exposures of the water came out well - almost looking like solid ice. I got separated from the class and ended up packing up a little early when I couldn't find them again. Of course, when I got home, eager to go through all my shots, iPhoto was not cooperating and I had to wait until the next day. When I was starting to crop and straighten the photos, I ended up cropping many at the 16x9 setting. I never crop at this size but the photos seemed to warrant a more wide screen, panoramic shot. I'm not sure I will use this format again but the photos seemed to fit better. All in all, the boardwalk was an interesting place to shoot, although it may be much more exciting on a night less windy and in which there are more people and more activity. I'm most pleased with the last shot. The light streaks and blur from the boats came out quite nice. My better shots are below:
0.6 second exposure, f/22, 50mm, ISO 100
2 second exposure, f/22, 50mm, ISO 100
14 second exposure, f/14, 33mm, ISO 200
11 second exposure, f/22, 18mm, ISO 200
25 second exposure, f/22, 18mm, ISO 200
22 second exposure, f/18, 18mm, ISO 200

Night Photography Assignment 3: City Lights (abstract)

So I have been battling a really rotten cold this week. I haven't been up to taking many photos. On Sunday, I realized I hadn't taken any additional photos than the daily 365 shots I always do. I had to force myself to go out Sunday night to go and capture some night photos. I should have worked on the weekly Gizmodo shooting challenge too, but I felt that the night photography was more important. Last week at our class, I asked for some assignment ideas. The themes I got were interesting but nothing struck a chord with me. When I left my house on Sunday night, I still wasn't sure what I was going to shoot. I went down the street and tried some long traffic exposures (which I may post later) but felt I wasn't getting anywhere. I decided to head to my parent's house where they have a nice city lights view. I shot some long exposures of the LA basin that were rather boring. I decided to switch to my zoom lens and try some "zoom exposures:" During a long exposure, I zoom in and out on the lens creating an interesting effect. These photos were better so I decided to go with "city lights" for the assignment. I even tried a new technique in which I start the shot vertically, zoom in and out, then turn the camera horizontally, and zoom again. Although I like the wiggly light lines caused by my unsteady hand, I would love to be able to zoom so smoothly that lines are straighter. Oh well, perhaps I can find some kind of tutorial on how to build a "smooth zoomer." Here are my better shots this week:

45 second exposure, f/22, 300mm-75mm, ISO 100
31 second exposure, f/22, 75mm-300mm, ISO 100
24 second exposure, f/22, 300mm-75mm, ISO 100