some night shots & christmas lights for C&C

brush · Dec 25, 2011

After reading the Strobists blog entry about photographing Christmas lights, I decided to give it a whirl. Then stayed out a bit later & did some shots in the dark too because I was enjoying myself. Got a few shots I'm pretty happy with, thought I'd toss 'em up here for some feedback...

#1 - the most well decorated house in town.

Polk St. Christmas House by Bill Rush, on Flickr

#2 - The fountain in the park.

Glover Park by Bill Rush, on Flickr

#3 - Tommy's Sandwich Shop

Tommy's by Bill Rush, on Flickr

#4 - The Alley - my favorite shot of the night, albeit the least Christmas-y.

The Alley by Bill Rush, on Flickr

cgipson1 · Dec 25, 2011

Nice!! Now those are some decent Christmas shots! Love the composition on #2! Mind if I use your shots as a reference for another person here that is "trying" to take decent christmas light shots?

brush · Dec 25, 2011

Thanks! I'm flattered you want to use my shots as an example of what to do, go for it.

photo guy · Dec 25, 2011

The first 3 are nice but the last one just doesn't seem to go too well with the rest. I think it would have been better with a few people walking around or sitting there. Nice shots though. Do you have any of the 1st one at a later time to show how bright it is in total darkness? If so, I would like to see it.

LightSpeed · Dec 25, 2011

photo guy said:
The first 3 are nice but the last one just doesn't seem to go too well with the rest. I think it would have been better with a few people walking around or sitting there. Nice shots though. Do you have any of the 1st one at a later time to show how bright it is in total darkness? If so, I would like to see it.

I hope you're kidding about this.
The last one is the best of the bunch.

Number 2 aint to shabby either.

Aragorncito · Dec 25, 2011

Agree the last one doesn't have the same line as in the first 3 , despite of that it's a nice photograph

brush · Dec 26, 2011

I agree the last one doesn't go with the rest, it's my favorite though. When I look back over these and it's not Christmas time, that one will still be a photo I like...the others will just be christmas pictures.

Photo Guy, I don't have any from much later of this house. This shot is at about 20 minutes after sunset and I left about 5 minutes later. The sky was actually considerably darker than it appears in this shot, I did a 5 second exposure on a tripod at f8 & 100 ISO...and on recommendation from that blog I linked to, set the white balance to Tungsten which made the blue from the sky absolutely scream out. I also tweaked the levels a little in Camera Raw to get some separation from the trees & sky, and improve the definition of the lights just a tad.

cgipson1 · Dec 26, 2011

LightSpeed said:
photo guy said:

The first 3 are nice but the last one just doesn't seem to go too well with the rest. I think it would have been better with a few people walking around or sitting there. Nice shots though. Do you have any of the 1st one at a later time to show how bright it is in total darkness? If so, I would like to see it.

Click to expand...

I hope you're kidding about this.
The last one is the best of the bunch.

Number 2 aint to shabby either.

I like #2 better.. but #4 rocks! I think this is proof that PhotoGuy doesn't understand composition and exposure too well!

We will have to "help" him!

LightSpeed · Dec 26, 2011

lol

I know I'm giggling a little, but I do kinda feel bad for photo guy.
He's trying and I can't fault a man for that. He's just not paying attention.

nmasters · Dec 26, 2011

MARIETTA SQUARE!? Is that the location of these photos? I love that place! I live around there too. Fantastic shots! I plan to shoot there soon!

brush · Dec 26, 2011

Yep, that's the Square nmasters! Awesome place to shoot, there are so many good pictures waiting to be taken. Check out this set on flickr for some shots I took last summer of a couple who came to me for sexy shots of a girl & a bike. I hit the trolley depot, the parking lot behind Thaicoon, the railroad tracks, and then headed down the road to the cemetery. So many great spots to shoot around there.

photo guy · Dec 26, 2011

Brush, have you ever thought about talking to some of the businesses or tourism bureau in that area about using them for marketing the area. It could help you too if it would work out where they could even work it out with you for more photos. Just an idea for the nice work that you do.

brush · Dec 26, 2011

That would be pretty awesome, photo guy. I've tossed the idea around, and the town I shot these in is probably as likely as any to be interested in buying some good shots...they've got a very active chamber of commerce & a lot of marketing trying to push tourism and community activities. So far it's just a pipe dream though, at best maybe I could sell some prints at the local artist markets they hold in the square where I shot these ones. But I like the idea of it! And thanks for the compliment.

photo guy · Dec 27, 2011

Not a problem. Just something I thought of. Kind of like me with my FD photos, the chief has asked me if I would be interested in submitting some of the photos that I have taken for the dept. in some magazines that deal with that kind of stuff and has offered to help me in doing it if I say yes.

reissigree · Dec 30, 2011

photo guy said:
The first 3 are nice but the last one just doesn't seem to go too well with the rest. I think it would have been better with a few people walking around or sitting there. Nice shots though. Do you have any of the 1st one at a later time to show how bright it is in total darkness? If so, I would like to see it.

Because it doesn't have Christmas lights in it?!?!
Number four has to be my favorite, with number two coming in second. I love these, keep it up.