The main selling point of photographing the city, in my opinion, is the light.
Lighting up the darkness is one of those things we humans excel at. Yeah, there’s a lot of ecological problems that stem from our need to splash lights all over the planet, but I think we’ll get that sorted out one way or another sooner than later… Or it’ll get sorted out for us. But that’s a topic beyond the scope of this blog post.
I made mention of this in a post at the old blog, that has since been deleted in an effort to force people to this address, but cities at night do this wonderful thing with light: It shapes it. The streets, the alleys, the signs, the cars, the reflections off the walls and windows. These things force light to take on these lovely patterns that simply do not exist in the natural world. That we know of. It’s a big universe after all. Perhaps the unique geography of planet Arcturus IV has created a structure that shapes light in the same way.
My photo up there was taken on a bridge that wasn’t too far off the water so I’m as close to ground level as I could be. The patterns are still there, magnified by their reflections in the river. However I think the shaped light really reveals itself from a higher elevation. Which is one of those things the locals have up over tourists like myself: They know where all the best views are. The only problem with this is that the best views also tend to be the most photographed ones. So my gorgeous Fukuoka skyline looks like the skyline everyone else takes.
Unless you have a super fast lens, one of those new anti-shake doohickies, you’ll need a tripod and a release cable/ remote control for night shots. Generally speaking, the darker it is, the longer you’ll need to keep the aperture open, which means the more likely it is you’ll get blur due to anything from your pulse, to a passing car, to a breeze. A tripod steadies your camera and absorbs vibrations, and the release cable keeps your twitchy fingers from ruining things.
Another thing I find you need to look out for, that you normally don’t think of, is lens flare. There were a few of them in this image, reflecting some of the signs again, creating a blurry blob. I’m pretty sure that higher grade lenses keep this from happening, or maybe the AI clears it all up, but it shows up at night as well. I guess the problem is that the light is usually too dim for you to see through the viewfinder.
For me, one of the main things about night imagery is the sense that something sexy and exciting is going on. That you want to go on the prowl and see humanity do human things. As the wise men once said, the freaks do come out at night. It’s both exhilarating and frightening at the same time.
It makes me feel like potential is waiting just around the corner.
