Blue Bridge

photoflyer · Mar 20, 2021

@SquarePeg shared a very nice shot of Longfellow Bridge this week.

Longfellow bridge at “sunrise”

and this motivated me to finally get out and shoot a local bridge I'd been intending to photograph for some time.

I have no idea if it even has a name. It is an extension of the 14th Street bridge that connects Virginia and Washington. It's entire span is clad with a thin blue neon light providing interesting reflections off the water.

The first shot is a single image. The second is nine 3 second exposures combined in camera. This simulates using a neutral density filter.

Feel free to share any bridge shots you may have. Taking this got me to thinking about how many famous and noteworthy bridges there are historically and architecturally around the world.

SquarePeg · Mar 20, 2021

Nice. Glad to help inspire a shot. Send the check directly to my daughter’s college lol.

I love the way so many cities have started lighting up their bridges. It’s so photogenic. Around here they change the colors based on different causes and holidays. For prostate cancer awareness it was purple I think and St. Patrick’s Day everything had a green light. There is a website we can go to to look at what colors the Boston bridges and buildings are going to be wearing. The Prudential building lights up as well and so does the Zakim bridge and the Converse building and TD Garden.

That’s a very cool feature in shot number two. What are you shooting with again? I think it’s one of the new mirrorless from Nikon or Canon?

photoflyer · Mar 20, 2021

SquarePeg said:
That’s a very cool feature in shot number two. What are you shooting with again? I think it’s one of the new mirrorless from Nikon or Canon?

The first was with the 6D Mark II but that is a single shot. The second is with the R6. Both are capable of this: I set it for multiple exposure, 9 shots (the max) and Average. Then I turn on the intervalometer for nine shots. Turn the ISO down and the f stop up (22 in this case). Exposure was around 3 seconds. If you look really close in the foreground you can see ghosts of a couple of ducks. I left them in.

I've also done this in the rotunda of then National Gallery with an ND filter. In that case the exposure was at least 10 seconds per shot. The people in the shot, so long as they are moving, disappeared making it look like I took the photo when the museum was closed.