In the Dark

by Linda

"You never listen to the voices inside
They fill your ears as you run to a place to hide
You're never sure if the illusion is real
You pinch yourself but the memories are all you feel

Can you break away
From your alibis
Can you make a play
Oh, will you meet me in the dark
In the dark
In the dark
In the dark
In the dark
In the dark"

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Raise your hand if you know the name of the song these lyrics come from and the singer.

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But I digress.

What I'm really trying to say is I am fascinated with night skies. Even though my supermoon photo is just kinda "meh" it has taken years of practice to get a photo with the clarity I have been looking for. If you have ever taken pictures of the moon, you know how difficult it can be.

The next challenge for me, when photographing the moon, is getting the stars to appear in the photo. This can be done in post processing and/or using bracketing. I also need to make moon pictures more interesting with a silhouette or something in the foreground, tree, house, mountain whatever.

Still learning.

Did you know that there is a name for photographing a star filled sky? It is astrophotography. Sounds kinda like a big deal. Imagine saying it to someone-"sorry, I can't see you tonight, I have to do some astrophotography"

(whatever)

Starry skies are on my "must photograph" list. Have you ever seen Northern Lights? I want to and I want to photograph them. How about the milky way? Another "must photograph"! Oh and star trails! and spirals! (swoon!) "Must photograph"!

One thing that is a must for night time sky photography is finding the right location. (location, location, location, where have I heard that before?)

A dark, clear sky is very important, as far away from a big city as possible. Here's a website that has a few locations in the US that have very dark skies. If you're not near any of those locations, you can enter your location and find a dark sky near you.

One location I want to visit is Chaco Canyon in northern New Mexico. There is much to see there besides one of the darkest skies in the US. Chaco Canyon is near "Four Corners"

(bonus-can you name the four states that meet to form the "Four Corners"? Sorry Terri, you cannot play)

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Since I am a rookie night sky/moon photographer, please share you tips and favorite locations with me!

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Don't forget to leave your guesses in the comments!

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Trees at Night

by Linda

Do you dream? When you are all tucked in your cozy bed at night, after you fall asleep do you dream? Do you dream about falling or your teeth are falling out or you have to take a test at school and you didn't study? Do you dream in color? We all dream, even blind people, but we forget about 90% of what we dream and not every one dreams in color. I remember very few of the dreams I have had, a nightmare from my childhood is on that very short list as well as a very vivid dream involving my MIL. 

I was riding passenger as my MIL was driving her 1970 Chevrolet. We were trying to get up a very snow packed and icy hill. With lots of slips and slides, she manages to crest the top of the hill. Immediately we begin to slide backwards, at a high rate of speed, back down the icy hill. My MIL barely flinched as she grips the steering wheel tightly and leans slightly over it and stares intently through the windshield, then hits the gas. I didn't think we would ever stop sliding backwards, I knew we were going to end up back at the bottom of that hill but somehow, through sheer strength of her determination,  we are once again safely on top of the hill. She never looks over at me or says a word, just carries on driving us to wherever we were going.

I told my trophy husband about this dream and he said "that's about right, nothing ever stopped her"  Once she decided to do something, she did it. If she encountered any obstacles she would either work around them or through them. If any one tried to tell her she couldn't do it she didn't listen. She really didn't care what anyone else thought, if she wanted to do it, she would. And she would do it well. Because, by God, she was going to finish.

With photography, I have been frustrated taking pictures at night, in low light. Inside or outside the light was so low that my pictures were not good, very bad, just hit delete.

One night while I was out back with my little dog, I noticed how the backyard light was hitting the trees. I noticed the lights installed in some trees by my neighbor. The trees looked so pretty. The light made them so interesting. Even though I see these trees everyday, I was seeing them in a new way. I needed to take a picture. So I started walking around the yard snapping pictures from different vantage points each night. With my phone. And I even put a few through some fun apps, something I have not done for too long.

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They way I see things, sometimes you have to be open to trying new things, sometimes you have to be open to see things in new ways.

Sometimes you have to just grab the wheel, look straight ahead and hit the gas.

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Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Grab the wheel and hit the gas, you might find a pot of gold!

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Focus on Phoneography

It has been a beautiful month full of your stunning night photography! 

This week we are so please to share these beautiful images from:
 @gailo_oliag @karenpickles_images 
@lyahle@limez 
@melody_sanders @anniestril 

A new month is upon us, so be sure to check the theme for all the details.  And as always...thank you so much for sharing your beautiful art with us!  We are so grateful for your continued support.

Happy Sunday.

Focus On You

I chose this moving image by Anita Cline for our Focus On You feature this week. Besides having a very emotional subject, (Anita's daughter-in-law) this is a perfect example of being in the dark, but using an external light source to light the subject. What an evocative image - isn't that the reaction that we all strive for?

Anita is a frequent contributor here at FOL. You can see more of her work
here,   here or here!

In The Air Tonight

by Leigh

Night photography has always scared me….even more than standing this close to a flame and lighter fluid!  So when someone contacted me about photographing his marriage proposal (starting to get nervous) and then tells me that it's at night (now REALLY nervous!) I had my reservations. I was about to turn it down when I decided I needed this push outside my comfort zone.  He told me about his proposal and some of the ways he figured out to provide some light sources for me.  My 50mm 1.4 would have been my fastest lens, but I really needed a lens that I could use wide and zoom in a bit closer as I needed to be in the background not up in their face.  So I chose my 28-70mm. My plan was to set up with my tripod and stay in one place since I knew I would have to crank up my ISO. I wanted to avoid any extra variables that would cause more noise in the photos. 

When I arrived he walked me through his plan.  He has cleared a pathway through a wooded area.  At the start there were logs that had been made into Swedish flames which he had learned about in his boy scout days.  A pathway had been lit from above with warm white lights creating a welcoming, intimate space.  The path opened to a larger clearing with two adirondak chairs, a fire pit, more lights strung from above and a bottle of champagne.  He had thought of everything down to the last detail.  And as prepared as I thought I was….I quickly realized that my plan to stay stationary and shoot from a tripod was not going to work.  I was just going to have to wing it.  I'm realizing that winging it usually serves me better than trying to carefully plan and account for everything. 

The moment was so beautiful and I felt so honored to be a part of it.  Once she arrived I didn't have time to be nervous.  My instincts kicked in and I knew what to do.  I just had to trust myself and my camera.  All my well thought out plans were thrown out the window as I realized that spontaneity is my friend.  My creativity comes through much brighter when I let myself be present in the moment and just go with my gut.  And what do you know….I took some photos at night and I like them.  And more importantly….she said yes!

Star light, star bright . . .

by Kim

First star I see tonight,

I wish I may, I wish I might,

Have the wish I wish tonight.

I am always up for a challenge to try something new, to expand my horizons . . . to just play.

In fact I've been wanting to try some nightscapes of downtown Houston, and missed the opportunity awhile back when my photography meetup, met up on a street corner downtown. And while I'm completely okay with going to the sunrise by myself, I'm not as comfortable at night by myself.

In the first image, I set up my tripod, set it to bulb mode, using my wide angle lens and an f-stop of 16. I had planned on light painting with a flashlight and then I had one of those aha moments. Instead of light painting words or squiggly lines, I would try to make star bursts instead. So using my remote, with my camera and tripod on my neighbors sidewalk, I walked back over to my front yard and simply stood in different spots flashing the light on and off. It's the same concept as getting a star burst with the sun during the day, only with a different light source and for a longer period of time.

Next time though, I would turn the lights in the house off and maybe enlist a few more people with flashlights in a few windows. If you look close on the left hand side you can see the red trails of a car that went by during this exposure.

This next image is a bit wobbly. Again using my wide angle, ISO at the lowest setting (100), choosing to start at 5 seconds with an f-stop of 10, I held the camera as still as possible. But that's pretty impossible to do in the car, especially in a smaller car. We were on our way to eat, and were driving our compact car so front seat it was for me. I would like to try this one again, with the tripod, in the back seat of my van (sounds like a game of clue for photographers). My goal was to get fairly straight light trails. I've tried this many times, only I used camera movement for really abstract images. I had a few that had the dashboard in them, but this was the best I could get of the trails. A fairly smooth road at a lower speed seems to work better.

The last image below was my husband driving in a circle in our cul de sac. I was just waiting for someone to call the police to report a crazy drunk guy turning his lights on and off and using his flashers! lol  I think this would have been a better image if either before or after he drove in circles that I used a flashlight for a few seconds to light up the car. This was a 30 second exposure on f16 . I feel it needs a little more interest and will work some more on this one too. I'll try the van next time and maybe even enlist my son to sit in the passenger side with a flashlight?  

So many possibilities, so little time! Go ahead, experiment, get creative. Share them with us and tell us how you did it.

"Night is not something to endure until dawn.

It is an element, like wind or fire. Darkness is its

own kingdom; it moves to its own laws. And

many living things dwell in it."

- Patricia A McKillip

Focus on Phoneography

Stunning night photography in the gallery this week!


Row 1- @saurand @katerhaar @present.moments

Row 2 - @shutterhuff @javavenus @limez

Row 3 - @lizs_b @groovygrapevine @kellykardos



Thank you for sharing your pictures with us!

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Evening at Biltmore

by Dotti

Our theme this month is so intriguing, and, for me, challenging. True confession time: although it fascinates me, I haven't ventured very far into the world of night photography. There are some reasons for this. One, when I'm out at night, it's for some specific purpose and photography usually doesn't morph with that purpose. Two, here comes another true confession: I hate lugging my tripod around. And tripods are essential for night photography.

Except when they're not.

My husband and I visited Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, the weekend after Christmas for their delightful seasonal display in the house and on the estate. Some of you, I'm sure have been to Biltmore, some have not. If you haven't been at all or haven't been lately then you are overdue for a visit but be forewarned, there is no photography allowed in the house. It had probably been 20 years or more since we'd visited but the enhancements to the house {more rooms and areas open to the public} and the grounds {more buildings, activities, dining, retail} are nothing short of stunning. I won't take up your time here but if you're interested, you can find get the scoop right here.

So, back to the original topic, not using a tripod for night photography. When we left on our trip, I wasn't really focusing on the opportunities for night photography so I grabbed my monopod and everything you see on this post was taken using my monopod.

I do wish I'd been able to read Carol's great post introducing our theme before we made our trip. Most of my shots were taken with high ISO rather than lower ISO. If I had been using a lower ISO, though, I think the tripod would have been superior to the monopod. 

Although it had been a long time since our last visit, we were pretty sure that these trees were not in the middle of the green out in front of the house nor could we remember any photos showing these. From the terraced walk behind the trees, these trees really spoil the view of the home as you'll see in a photo below. My husband was so curious that he asked one of the docents in the house about the trees and she told him that, no, they are not there year round. They are planted each Christmas season just for the Christmas at Biltmore celebration. Yes, you read that correctly. They are planted there before Christmas and removed after. It would seem no trouble is too great for their holiday celebration.

As Carol pointed out, night photography is particularly suited to black and white photography and I found that I did like using a black and white conversion. 

This is the view from the terraced walkway opposite the house. Note the luminarias, which were everywhere and were replaced and relit every evening. {How would you like that job?}

And finally, the terraced walkway opposite the front green and front view of the house. I just have to tell you, the sight of all these luminarias, honest-to-goodness paper bag luminarias with sand and real tealight candles, totally mesmerized me. {No, it doesn't take much.}

This probably represents my first serious foray into night photography and these are the results I got with my monopod. But the next time I attempt night photography {which I hope will be sooner rather than later}, I'm going to take Carol's advice and lower the ISO and use my tripod.

Please keep sharing your lovely night photography photos with us on Flickr and Instagram. This is a great theme and what better time to practice night photography than in January when days are short and nights are long. 

But stay warm!