Rob- Neon Street Lighting

DanOstergren · Sep 25, 2017

I found a great location in downtown Portland recently. During the day it has some great natural lighting through some old windows, and at night a large neon sign shines in from across the street. It makes for some very interesting lighting at night, as the light mixes with the fluorescent lighting inside the location.

It was fairly low lighting, so I had to shoot wide open, slow the shutter speed way down and push the ISO to a high setting (high for my old camera). As a result there is significant grain, and I had to use manual focus so there is a tiny bit of softness to the focus.
Canon 5D MKI (Classic), Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 set to f/1.8, 1/40th sec (handheld), ISO 1600.

Heres a shot from before there was no daylight available.

vintagesnaps · Sep 26, 2017

I rather like that first one, with the golden hue to the light and the reflection in shadow, it captures a mood well.

DanOstergren · Sep 26, 2017

vintagesnaps said:
I rather like that first one, with the golden hue to the light and the reflection in shadow, it captures a mood well.

Thank you. I love the golden hue as well. It's from the fluorescent lighting that would normally be green, but I shoot with my white balance set to shade 99% of the time, which really warmed it up.

FITBMX · Sep 26, 2017

Very nice, and I am loving that first one!

DanOstergren · Sep 30, 2017

FITBMX said:
Very nice, and I am loving that first one!

Thank you!

Evertking · Oct 6, 2017

Your pictures are amazing.

DanOstergren · Oct 6, 2017

Evertking said:
Your pictures are amazing.

Thank you!

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CherylL · Oct 7, 2017

I love how you use light to sculpt your subjects. Your photos have soul.

pixmedic · Oct 7, 2017

the only thing that bothers me in #2 is that very OOF arm. it just bugs me for some reason.
guy is pretty though. I would totally make out with him. my wife said she would too.

#1 i think would work better as an 8x10 tall. just not seeing any reason for all that space on the right, even with the shadow there.
i love the profile of that shot though.

DanOstergren · Oct 14, 2017

CherylL said:
I love how you use light to sculpt your subjects. Your photos have soul.

Thank you.

DanOstergren · Oct 15, 2017

pixmedic said:
the only thing that bothers me in #2 is that very OOF arm. it just bugs me for some reason.
guy is pretty though. I would totally make out with him. my wife said she would too.

#1 i think would work better as an 8x10 tall. just not seeing any reason for all that space on the right, even with the shadow there.
i love the profile of that shot though.

That's a detail that bugs me a bit as well, but I choose to overlook it.

I would never, lol. He's one of my closest friends, he feels like a sibling to me. He is beautiful though!

For #2, the lighting, expression and his gaze toward the window make me think of a dramatic movie scene, and a portrait crop would ruin that. I also find the reflection in shadow to be one of my favorite details of the shot. If he was looking into the camera I would have given it a portrait crop, but that's never how I envisioned these shots.