Blue Shades

My name is Rob, and I wear my sunglasses at night. So I can...

So I can...

Whatever, you know the song.

It should come as no surprise to you that I like night time photography and long exposures. The longer the better.

With a sufficiently long enough exposure you can turn night time into day time.

What happens when you wanna go even longer?

Well, highlights start to get blown out, and you lose detail everywhere. Unless you have a pair of sunglasses.

A neutral density filter acts as a pair of sunglasses for a camera. It blocks a certain amount of light from passing through without affecting color.

This means a number of things, all related to the exposure triangle, which I'll touch on more next week.

For a lot of people, it means you can make amazing pictures of waterfalls during the day, not unlike this

That's not taken with an ND filter, but it gives you an idea. That's only a 1/4 second exposure during the day. With my ND filter, that same shot would have been captured with a 4 second exposure, all other things being equal.

When you apply this to a shot at night time, things tend to go a little bit bonkers.

I just got to play with my ND filter at night for the first time a few weeks ago. I ventured out to Big Spring Park, one of my favorite spots.

When I got there, I noticed that the spring was lit up blue for Autism Awareness Month. Having a bit of a novelty to it, I decided to set up camp there.

After some back of the napkin calculations, I determined that the shutter speed I needed given the aperture and ISO I wanted to use was 160 seconds. That's not a typo, not 1/160 of a second. 2 minutes and 40 seconds.

This is what I ended up with:

Notice that the water almost looks like glass? That's the effect I was after, and could only be accomplished through use of my sunglasses.

If you want to zoom in even more, you can download a larger version of the image here.

Time Keeps on Slippin'

My name is Rob, and I make the most of it. Sometimes people give me good ideas that turn out to bad ideas that I turn into good ideas.

A few weeks ago, I saw someone post in a local photography group about going to shoot star trails that particular evening, which I've dabbled in before. After doing a little bit of research, it seemed like the perfect night - clear, no moon, cold weather, and low humidity. I even had a location that I thought would be suitable.

I headed out around 11:00 p.m., picking up my buddy Mike to keep me company.

We arrived at Ditto Landing to find a sign that says the place is closed at sun down, and that campers and boaters should check in with the security desk. Security desk, eh? I decided to be responsible and seek out the security guard to explain what I was doing there.

Driving directly to my destination, and not spotting a security hut, I decided I didn't really need to be responsible after all.

Upon exiting the vehicle, Mike and I both look up into the night sky and see something completely unexpected.

Clouds. A sky full of clouds.

Shit. What am I gonna do now? I can't shoot star trails like this.

After a brief discussion about trespassing, and getting arrested, and not being able to get the shot I was after, we decided to set up shop and take pictures

I found my composition, and set the exposure just so. I then locked in my remote shutter release to keep snapping away until I told it to stop.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with all these pictures, exactly, but that's what I had set out to do initially and I was sure I'd come up with something once I get them unloaded onto my desktop.

The next 45 minutes or so were spent chatting, and watching YouTube videos on my phone, and bitching about how chilly it was outside.

Mike and I decided to pack it in right around 1:30 a.m. Examining the shots that were captured in a rather rapid fashion, it became immediately obvious what should be done with them.

Time lapse.

I've always kinda wanted to do one, and now that I have one under my belt, I can't wait to have another opportunity.

Keep On Keepin' On

My name is Rob, and I am mute. When it's winter, when things are slow, I watch a lot of YouTube. I watch videos of equipment reviews, and lighting techniques, and what people are doing in the world of photography.

I watch these things when I cannot find the motivation to brave the cold, dreary, outside world to create something I call my own.

Among my perusal I've run across folks like Jared Polin, Chase Jarvis, and Zack Arias - all interesting guys with valuable lessons to give.

One video recently gave me pause, and I've been thinking about its implications ever since.

It's a talk by Zack about being honest - a trait I like to think I have.

In this video, I find that Zack and I have a few things in common.

He started out working for the same company I do shooting apartment complexes.

He talks about being down to earth, and not puffing yourself up to impress whoever you happen meet - a characteristic I've been told I exhibit.

He talks about getting into a funk in the winter - something I experience mildly with Seasonal Affective Disorder

He goes on to talk about a guest blog post he did for Scott Kelby, and it left me floored.

Here's a short transcript from the beginning:

Who am I as a photographer?

What is my voice?

I don't even really know what that means, but it keeps me up at night.

What is my vision?

What is my goal?

What do I bring to the table that countless others have not already served up[...]?

I've considered these questions. I've examined them at length over the last several days. I keep coming back to the same answer.

I don't have a fucking clue. Not one.

I have no voice as a photographer. I'm a baby in the photographic world, having not yet learned how to speak.

I'm nobody in the photographic world.

I've yet to find my style, my signature, my voice, my thing that separates me from the crowd.

I don't know where I'm going as a photographer, and I don't know how I'm going to get there.

All I know is that I must, and that I'm on my way.

It's a struggle, and it's going to be for some time to come, and that's okay.

It's okay because I pay rent with my camera.

It's okay because I get to eat breakfast with my girlfriend on the back porch at 10:00 am on a Monday.

It's okay because I love what I do, and I'm passionate about it.

I'm content with my life, but I'm not satisfied.

What am I to do about this?

Keep going. Keep pushing. Keep struggling. Keep pressing the shutter release. Keep creating. Keep making noises until they form words, and use those words to make my voice loud and clear.

That is precisely what I'm going to do.

Spring has sprung. There's new life, new opportunities, new inspiration.

It's time for me to get off my ass and keep on keepin' on!