At least it is a picture of something

[darren]

Haven't been able to really do anything lately, but over the weekend I finally was able to at least go to the beach with my camera. I didn't shoot too much and didn't really get started shooting until too late. I shot this well after dark. A 10 second exposure made things light back up so it looked like evening.

I know it is not a great shot, but I figured I would post it because 1) like the title of the thread says, at least I took a shot of something, and 2) it was pitch black when I took the photo and I had no idea that the sand would get lit up all the way near me by the street lights in the parking lot. Kind of a cool effect. Oh yah, the long exposure makes the water look calm, but there were 3' waves.

Those thin lights in the distance against the cliff are cars. This is Sandy Beach, which is a few miles from me.

It was really dark and I got spooked out when I saw a ghost taking pictures right behind me...

- darren

 

[Tom Rankin]

It was really dark and I got spooked out when I saw a ghost taking pictures right behind me...

Yeah, and I think I see Elvis in the cloud formations!

Nice pics. It must really suck to live in Hawaii!

 

[DougPaul]

One can do some fun things with available-light night photography...

2) it was pitch black when I took the photo and I had no idea that the sand would get lit up all the way near me by the street lights in the parking lot.

Just a nit--I think the sand in the first pic is being lit by natural light. If it were being lit by the street lights it would be bright near them and dark farther away. The lighting looks fairly uniform to me.


I've taken some 30 sec exposures of my back yard on a moonless night. (I was able to get the autofocus to work by shining my headlamp on an object ~80ft away on some of the shots.) It gets positively blinding when the moon comes up...
yard: 30 sec, F4.5, ISO 1600, eFL 28 mm

Aiming the camera up at the night sky can be amusing too. (There are some tips in http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/d60-night.shtml.)
big dipper: 4 sec, F3.5, ISO 1600, eFL 28 mm

sky: 30 sec, F4.5, ISO 1600, eFL 28 mm

And, of course, one shouldn't forget the moon. (Just in case anyone is wondering--the moon is a sun-lit object and the correct exposure is about 2 stops greater than a daytime scene.)
moon: 1/400 sec, F5.6, ISO 100, eFL 469 mm

I wouldn't call any of the above great works of art, but it was fun to experiment. Didn't see any ghosts, though...

Doug

 

[bubba]

Nice, gimp.

 

[darren]

Nice, gimp.

Which one? (gimp that is)

- darren

 

[darren]

Just a nit--I think the sand in the first pic is being lit by natural light. If it were being lit by the street lights it would be bright near them and dark farther away. The lighting looks fairly uniform to me.

Actually you can see the line in the sand where it is fully lit up by the street lights. Closer to me you can see where the light from the street lights is on the right side of the little bumps in the sand and the left sides of the bumps are more in the shade - or even light from the sky. I could see the light in the sand close to the parking lot, but I could not see the light from there near my feet. It was interesting to see it appear in the photo.

- darren

 

[DougPaul]

Which one? (gimp that is)

Should be you.

Yours was a picture, mine were just some test photos.

Doug
Gimp #3

PS. Just noticed--we have 3 of the 4 gimps here...
Paging SK. Paging SK...

 

[BillK]

Nice shots Darren. I like the clearly visible footprints in the first shot.

- Bill

 

[Carmel]

Question

when people looked at the ghost picture, do you see one or two ghosts????

now...be honest....

 

[Bobby]

when people looked at the ghost picture, do you see one or two ghosts????

now...be honest....

2! Do I get a prize? Nice shots Darren. Good to see you getting out.