When I started taking photography seriously I shot, almost exclusively, night-time landscapes. Believe it or not, I actually learnt around Washington D.C. — back in 2002 I could be found tramping around the US capital at two in the morning trying to catch the perfect photo. I took a killer photo of the Watergate complex — one of my favourites of all time! — but about 3 years ago I lost it. My hard disk died. Sucks.
But anyway, for about 2 years I took lots and lots of at-night landscapes. Some industrial (check this one from university), some urban, but mostly very-long-exposure shots of trees and fields to bring out the stars, or give the clouds a dreamy, smooth appearance. And then one day… I stopped!
And then last night, after 5 years… I started again, afresh! You can see the results below. A little note: I’m not going to give away all the secrets, but the colours in the photos are ‘true’. When you play with long exposures you can achieve some pretty startling effects! To the naked eye the colours would be no where near as intense. But the point is: they haven’t been altered; it’s just the magic of photography!
(If your monitor is setup correctly you should be able to see the shadow of the tree, thrown by an almost-full moon! Also, there are many more stars in the full-size version (if you bought a print you would see ALL of them).)
(Really, I’m not cheating with the colours. Note the stars — is that the Big Dipper? And would that make it Polaris at the top of the frame?)
pinkjellybaby
Sep 2, 2009
How pretty
Abi
Sep 2, 2009
And really folks, that is no cheating with the colours.
I actually happen to think (which is what I was going to tell you, before tiredness overcame me) that they look good side by side, or as a pair. So maybe people need to buy both!.
Jo
Sep 2, 2009
Really amazing! Yes, that is the Big Dipper. Well done!
Helen
Sep 2, 2009
Beautiful shots! I spent a few evenings at the coast plaing with shots of lights on the lagoon… not nearly as pretty as yours but I’ve got a tripod now
zoeo
Sep 2, 2009
these are excellent photos. which cam use you? in the past i try to take night-photos but i am honest it is not my favorite part of taking photos. have you ever try to toss the cam. you get very great effects.
Sarah
Sep 2, 2009
Those look great!! i’ve seen pretty photoshopped (…does the photoshop verb have two Ps? It does now) sky colors but nothing like that. Fantastic!
sebastian
Sep 2, 2009
Hooray, I got my star-spotting right! So is that the North Star or not? The Big Dipper points to it right…?
We’ve always wondered if it’s ‘photoshopped’ or ‘Photoshopped’ — the actual phrase used on the internet is usually ‘shopped’ (I guess that also has the same connotations of taking your car to the ‘auto shop’ for a new paint job…?)
The sky’s colours are by virtue of being in the countryside, but with some light pollution quite nearby. I’ve never seen the blues that deep before though — might be caused by light from the moon, not sure
The light behind the trees is pretty exceptional too — again, location, location, location!
With a tripod you should be able to get photos that you can later manipulate in Photoshop, Helen — don’t expect anything good straight out of the camera unless you really know what you’re doing. But long exposures are quite hard to ‘get wrong’, just very hard to ‘get right’.
Zoeo: I never really got into anything abstract or ‘modern’. I like fine-art landscapes, that’s my ‘thing’. I could try moving the camera, but I would never make those photos public…
Jaime | Fast Times
Sep 2, 2009
You can see the dipper in both pictures!
V nice Sebastian.
sebastian
Sep 2, 2009
Ah, you think so too? I’ve looked at it for a bit, and it LOOKS like the Dipper, but it’s too… stretched? Like, the ‘bucket’ is much wider in the first picture than the second. It could be due to the lens adding a bit of curvature, I’m not sure!
MinD
Sep 2, 2009
Gorgeous. You are really talented mister. No doubt about that.
Bryan
Sep 2, 2009
Nice shots! In the second photo, the small, separate cloud looks like some kind of animal spirit playing in the night sky.
I’ve only ever shot the night in urban areas with plenty of light pollution, which leaves me with funky sky and star colors like purplebluebrown – I think I’ll have to get out to the mountains some clear-skied weekend.
sebastian
Sep 2, 2009
Thanks, MinD! Hopefully I am getting better too… at least my ratio of good:bad seems to be improving
That wisp is beautiful Bryan, I’m glad someone else spotted it. If you’re in America, you have some of the most unspoiled landscapes available to you. I can only begin to imagine what you could do out on the salt plains! I hear you can go to Death Valley and get some nice light pollution from Las Vegas too…
(I’ve thought about heading to the USA for a few years, travel around a bit, take some photos!)
Eleni
Sep 2, 2009
So pretty! If only our eyes could see it that way.
sebastian
Sep 2, 2009
Well the cloud bank was definitely visible, and some of the stars — but the light pollution obviously means there are less stars naked to the visible eye.
But yes… if only. Bionic eyes are coming soon…!
floreta
Sep 3, 2009
wow, that is really gorgeous.. magic indeed! i love the big dipper and polaris, the north star. haven’t tried night photography..
Hezabelle
Sep 3, 2009
The second picture is my favourite, so beautiful!
Amanda
Sep 3, 2009
God… that is really beautiful!
Con
Sep 8, 2009
That is indeed the Big Dipper, or the Plough as I call it.
Really lovely photos here Seb!
sebastian
Sep 8, 2009
Woo, I got it right! Cheers, Con
joemill
Sep 16, 2009
Amazing how you managed to capture it as if owing it to the effects of photoshop. Excellent pix bro!
sebastian
Sep 16, 2009
I’m not sure I follow — I certainly didn’t Photoshop them! — but maybe you just mean they look like they should’ve been… in which case, thanks