Any Night at an Airport

Simple but effective—the lens flare of the lighting tower is what makes the shot, plus the hard contrast between the background darkness and the illuminated areas of the apron. The ;lineup of the aircraft and the tower is appealing composition, and the scene was static, enabling a long exposure. This is Newcastle Airport in the November of 2007, as I began my homeward journey after my second UK excursion. I’ve posted some shots from this point before—taken through the terminal plate glass windows, juggling my own shadow against the glass and the camera often flat to the window to exclude reflections of the brightly lit interior. The old chip handled the low light nicely, and with the camera held rock-solid, there’s no motion blur. Minor adjustments to colour, contrast and sharpness in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

 

Holding it Just Right

Here’s an exercise in placing the camera right against a plate glass window with darkness outside and light behind you. Under these conditions, losing reflections is always the big thing, and here I’m happy to say I excluded them completely. I let the chip handle the dark conditions, and held the camera rock steady against the glass. This is the A380 that is about to bring me back to Australia on April 21^st, 2014—unfortunately the very last time I was on a plane. (It was a fast three-day trip away from teaching, to take in a pop culture convention in London.) I love to watch the activity “air-side” as the technicians and handlers service the big planes, a ballet of vehicles and supplies to turn the plane around for its next flight. This is almost exactly as the chip recorded the image—there was nothing to do baring introduce a dash of extra contrast and a ghost of sharpening. Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

Colourful Night

This was the very last frame I took before leaving Sunderland after the conference at the university in November, 2011. I was almost back to my boarding house just off the Roker seafront, and took this shot from the street corner. As I recall, I had the camera balanced, held rigidly against something, probably a post cross the road. This was the best of the set. Fog had rolled in and I got many interesting studies as I walked back from the last social with colleagues from the event, but all suffered from softness and camera shake to one degree or another, as light registration speed was just not there in those days. Oddly enough, I still use the same camera all these years later—it’s reliable and keeps on going! The colour always engages me with these shots—the late evening blue sky scattering through the fog, the burn-in of the street lights, all very atmospheric. Minor adjustments to colour and contrast in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

The Dark Capture Lottery

 

To an old chip, low light could be the kiss of death. But, in a way, the new super-fast light-gathering digital cameras have taken some of the trickery out of it, because it used to be very creative—trying to accommodate a long shutter speed in low light without blurring the shot. Now you can point and shoot at thousands of ISO (ASA as film speed was rated in the old days), without incurring unacceptable digital grain, but a decade and a half ago it was not so easy. This is the Georgian Crescent in Whitby (the hotel where Bram Stoker wrote Dracula may actually be in this picture!), the night before I set out for home at the end of my November, 2011 trip. I took a wander around the town with my camera to see what I could catch. Light on the river, street lights, street scenes—but all hampered by the light gathering ability of the reliable (old) camera. I’m unsure exactly how I got this one to come out sharp—I may have balanced it against a street lamp or other vertical post. If it was hand-held then it was simply luck that I didn’t move while the shutter was open. But by this point in my travels it was second nature to support the camera against something solid to prevent movement when shooting in the gloom. Minor adjustments were made in Irfanview. Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

Neon Extravaganza

 

Sometimes things take you by surprise and you shoot almost automatically. This was such an occasion—this is the weather awning of the main entry to Heathrow Airport, west of London, and I was making my way back to Australia on the evening of Tuesday, November 16^th, 2010, having come down from Sunderland by train to King's Cross, passing through much fog on the way, then making my way through the metropolis as the sun went down and finally out to the airport by train from Paddington. Just as I was walking into the airport, they turned on the neon and the effect was stunning! It looks purple but I remember it being individual red and blue fluorescent tubes that together created the illusion of colour. I shot several frames to record it, having already photographed the night-time environs—the camera was in my hand as the lights came on. I could have squared up the image but it would have cut into the thematic material, so this time I'm posting it just as it came off the camera, other than a touch of sharpening, contrast and gamma correction. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Ghostly Exposures

 

I love doing long exposure night photography, and have captured city scenes in Adelaide, London, Sunderland and Whitby. The trick is supporting the camera solidly, usually just resting it on some surface, then opening the lens and seeing what you capture. If things are barely moving, the effect can be amazing, while the blur and streak effect of objects bright enough to register in motion is always artistic. I took this shot at the tram stop in Victoria Square, Adelaide, on July 3^rd, 2012, looking across to the state administration buildings and the Flinders University City campus. People are blurred, vehicles almost transaprent, while in the clear, cold evening the solidarity of the buildings and fixed lights registered beautifully. No processing was used at all. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

When Everything Holds Still...More or Less

 

Shooting after dark is a hit and miss affair with a camera that was never rated for it. These days digital ISO settings are into orbit and you can dial up undreamed-of sensitivites to capture scenes in effective darkness. But older and cheaper cameras are not so fancy, and when I visited England in 2010 I had never heard of such “virtual film speeds” as are now commonplace. I took a stroll around the Yorkshire seaside town of Whitby on the evening of Sunday, November 7^th, 2010, and got some interesting results. The Whitby lifeboat towed in a boat that had apparently broken down at sea. The swing bridge was opened to allow the craft to pass up-river to the trawler berths, and I was there to record the interesting effects of town lights upon the waters of the harbour. The evening was luminous, a while after sunset, and though most of the pictures were blurred, here and there a few magically crystallised out. Here is a view of the bridge opening, and the lighting seemed to gel perfectly—this shot is not enhanced in any way. I'll post others from that evening at a later date. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Stark Stone and Light

Parliament House, North Terrace, Adelaide, photographed after dark. The symmetry of the columns is a pleasing perspective, and looking up into the floodlights is unusual. The building, completed in 1911, if memory serves, was thoroughly cleaned of soot and vehicle carbon many years ago—Parliament House was a dark grey, almost black, when I was a young child, but the stonework was deep-cleaned and taken back to its beautiful native tones. The same program cleaned the General Post Office, the Town Hall and the cathedral off Victoria Square, removing a reminder of the days of rampant air pollution. I took this shot on the evening of Sunday 5^th December, 2010, on my way home from the Celtica Festival at Hart's Mill Waterfront, Port Adelaide. Very little enhancement, this is pretty much what the raw pic looked like. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

The City By Night

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This is the third of my night shots in Sunderland, UK, taken during a chilly walk on an evening in November, 2007. Here I'm approaching the St Peters bridge, just visible at right, from the south side, and the streetlighting has registered the muted tones of buildings and grass amazingly well. The image was enhanced with gamma correcion to bring up the middle values, then contrast and colour saturation were used to restore visual density. The camera was held solidly against a lamp post to defeat shake, allowing the long exposure to do its magic. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

The Adelaide Hilton Hotel

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After an evening band shoot at a city pub, I was heading home via public transport from Victoria Square, Adelaide, and could not resist trying again for a definitive portrait of the Hilton Hotel, in the full beauty of its floodlights. I steadied the camera against the uprights of the bus shelter and picked up a few frames of which this one has the most comfortable composition. The chip does a remarkable job of registering the intense contrast in a night time image, the length of exposure can be seen from the blurring of the pedestrian and car at lower left, and the frame was enhanced with the usual round of tweaks via Irfanview for publication. August, 2009. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Lens Flare by Night

Given that this image was also taken through a window, it turned out very well. After several hours delay for weather, my plane finally backed away from the terminal at London Heathrow bound for Australia, in the third week of November, 2007. I had photographed the aircraft from the terminal, and at last got some shots through the window as she started to move. Here the massive flood lights burn out in lens flare, and reflect from the wing. The shot was cropped down to better focus on the area of interest, then sharpened. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Night on the Street

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Sometimes digital cameras can amaze you. This is a full night-time shot in streetlighting, and it's as clear as if you'd stepped into the street and looked around. It was a bitterly cold night in November, 2007, and I was leaving a function at the Bonded Warehouse Restaurant in Sunderland, UK, to walk back to my boarding house. I held the camera against the wall, rock-steady, to let the chip work its magic with a long exposure. Note how the wall is distorted with the wide-angle effect of the lens. Mid-tone areas were enhanced with gamma-correction, then contrast and sharpness were increased, and a slight custom rotation (a fraction of a degree) was used to minimise the proximity-distortion of the wall. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Trucks by Night

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This was one of the set I did at Newcastle Airport, England, in November 2007, shooting through plate glass as evening deepened. It was an experiment in exposure latitude and shutter speed, and especially in holding the camera steady actually against the glass. This was a long telephoto shot after full dark looking into the light pool of major floods. Though the tanker was moving, the shutter speed was sufficient to freeze the action. The composition is an interesting industrial scene and the contrast of the white vehicles against the night is quite striking. Sharpness and colour were enhanced. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Lights on the River

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This is the River Wear in Sunderland, in the stretch just beyond the Wearmouth Bridge, looking across to the St Peters Campus of the University of Sunderland. At top left is the church of St Peter and St Cuthbert, on the site of a church where the Venerable Bede was based in the 7th century. It was about 10 at night, and very cold in mid-November, 2007, and I shot several frames on my walk from a dinner at the Bonded Warehouse (now a trendy venue on the south side) back to my boarding house by the Roker seafront. The streetlighting was quite strong enough for me to be hopeful that a supported camera would get the goods, and it did. A handrail provided a firm footing for this shot. At least three frames were good enough to be shortlisted for the blog, and this one has the most interesting subject matter. Enhancements include sharpness, colour and a tiny bit of contrast, otherwise this is a verbatim example of night photography -- what the camera can see that the eye on the night might not, at least not consciously. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

The Liquid Mechanics of Flame

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Fire is an amazing thing -- luminous, ever-moving, obeying the laws of fluid mechanics as if it was water. A fire by night provides amazing photography as the chip deals with the flames against a dark background, and exposure length dances around the margin where individual flames will move while the shutter is open. It's not difficult photography, frame and shoot and the camera does the rest, but the result can be amazing. This photo was taken at a gathering of friends in the country north of Adelaide in November, 2008. Enhancements include simply contrast and colour. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Aspects of the Journey

"Inward, Looking Outward" could have been the title of this post. This was one of a batch of frames I took late one evening in November, 2007, at Heathrow Airport, London, while waiting for my outbound flight, a Qantas Boeing 747-600, the Longreach, named for the original headquarters of the company in Queensland. It was delayed four hours due to weather on the flightpath, a great many disgruntled people could only sit around and wait. At least I had photography to help pass the time! Had lighting been less bright maybe shots through the plate glass could have been managed to create an outside perspective such as with my shots at Newcastle Airport earlier the same evening, but that was never going to be possible here, and this time the reflections tell their own story: two images, superimposed, the travellers in the lounge and the plane they are about to board, interleaved, thus two aspects of the journey. Sharpened and colour-saturated for publication; Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic exposure. Image by Mike.

Architecture by Night

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Two things make this image worthwhile, the subject matter and the conditions. While it's an old English pub, a hotel in traditional terms, those Tudor-era beams decorating the upperworks are unlikely to actually date from the period (compare them to the genuine historic buildings in York in my post Past Meets Present), more an architectural tribute from later times: the western side of Whitby, North Yorkshire, where this photograph was taken, was extensively developed in the 1700s and the oldest buildings on the commercial waterfront, where The Jolly Sailors stands, feel younger than this. Without knowing exactly when it was built, the layout feels 20th century. But the conditions are another matter: it was around 8pm on a chill, windy night in November, 2007, I had wandered the town looking for somewhere to get an affordable bite to eat after arriving back late, and was exercising the camera's ability to record true night images. Here the burn-out of the pub's lighting and the solidarity of the shadow areas speak of a short exposure: the cumulative lighting of the facade had pushed the lumens to the point the chip could handle it like a daytime shot. Handheld, there is no blur at a virtual 200ASA. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Candy Lights on a Dark Harbour

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This is one of those times when basic theory cross-cuts even the most sophisticated automatic metering system. It was a very cold evening in Whitby, North Yorkshire, the day after Guy Fawkes' Night, '07 (there were still a few fireworks going off) and I had ridden the bus back from Scarborough, shooting all day long. Walking back from the bus exchange to my hotel I took the opportunity to try artificial light shots under full dark, and though exposures were always excellent the shutter speed was very low, which made holding the S5600 rock steady was the name of the game. (I didn't want to experiment with virtual filmspeed, I'd had a long enough day!) This frame was taken with the camera jammed down hard on a railing on the harbour swing bridge, looking seaward along the cafes and amusement arcades on the waterfront, and was one of a few shots where I avoided any motion streaking. Image by Mike.

Fly By Night

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This shoot was the result of having a couple of hours to kill at Newcastle Airport, UK, while waiting for my first leg of the way home in November '07. I had plenty of room on my last flashcard so amused myself photographing the ramp area as sunset thickened into night. I wanted to see how the FinePix S5600 performed on automatic (and how I could handle it) as exposure times got longer and longer. I found a black piece of furniture to stand against and for most shots in this sequence the camera lens surround was hard against the plate glass window to avoid reflecting myself in it. While material after dark was streaked by motion, when the subject was stationary I got crystal clear results. Photo by Mike, 2007.

The Full Moon of September

This was an opportunistic shot! I was on my way to a concert at a city hotel to do a band shoot, and there was the full moon of September rising over the rooftops. I shot this frame from the bus stop thirty yards from my front door. I was amazed by the symbology of the full moon, which triggers cycles of growth and life, seen amongst the first buds of the coming spring, it was a very metaphorical juxtaposition. I took several frames, allowing the automatics to compensate for the difficult light and focus conditions, and this was the one where they gelled. It was taken with the Fuji FinePix S5600 on full automatic, with the camera held rock steady against a solid object to compenate for exposure time.