When the lights go out, everything we don’t see gets all that much more beautiful. Here are your photos of night.
Winner: Quiet
These were shot on a Canon SL1 with the kit lens 18-55mm. These were taken on the outskirts of Lake Del Valle Park around Livermore. ISO 400, f5.6, 20sec. I set my alarm for midnight and I took off, it wasn’t too scary because the moon actually gives of a good amount of light but I was only taking pictures for about 20-25 minutes before a sound kept getting closer and closer. I am about 90% sure it was just a cow but I didn’t feel like risking it after reading a bunch of /r/nosleep. The light you see isn’t the sunrise or sunset but rather the light coming from the city.
Efren Quiroz
Our Galaxy
This was my first time ever photographing the Milky Way. I used an older Canon Rebel xsi. Anyway, this weekend i went camping at Zion National park, Utah and decided to take my camera with me. I slightly edited the photo in photoshop (total noob). I’m able to provide the original as well. Anyway, here is the photo!
Jorge Rico
In Search
I went out after hearing that we would be able to see the northern lights in Indiana. I didn’t find them but I didn’t want to waste the opportunity of the night. Set up a wireless flash in the intersection, set the timer, and walked out about 20 feet in front of the camera.
5D3, 17-40 f4, 30sec f4 iso800 5 vertical photos stitched into a spherical panorama in photoshop. Taken just after midnight 11/4/15
Raymond Hatfield
The Superstition Storm
I decided to go wonder out to a place called The Superstition Mountains in Phoenix. I was not expecting there to be a giant storm that night but low and behold there was. I ended up setting my camera on continuous shooting at 30 sec exposures and ran for cover. Ended up taking a Taco Bell bag and using that to keep the rain off the camera while I sat in my car. Needless to say, I am glad I went out that night.
Russell McGuire
Two Guns at Night
An old abandoned Route 66 trading post off I-40 now in Northern Arizona. Somewhat creepy located firmly in the middle of nowhere. Windy night, just before a storm hit, so last night of clear skis this week. The Structure is just above Canyon Diablo. Further adding to the creepiness of the area is the history of the murders is laid out below.
Shot with Nikon D810 with the 14-24 f2.8 lens at 14mm f 2.8, 30 second exposure at ISO 2500. Mounted on a Gitzo 2500 series tripod using a Nikon MC-36 controller. One pass of light painting with a slotted down LED converted Mini-Maglight.
James Wallace
Electrical Storm
Recent electrical storm. Shot taken on a late night walk from a hilltop in San Dimas, CA. Canon 20D, 18mm focal, 20sec Exposure, f/ 4.5, ISO-400
Mark James
Car Love
Camera is resting on the ground propped up slightly by a tripod plate. Didn’t have a cable release so can’t do proper bulb exposure. The picture didn’t turn out that great but I think serviceable and moody. Raw processing done with DxO and then some post with actually Google Photo.
Main reason I went out to shoot was because of the Aurora, but nowhere near me has good enough horizon view to see the northern Horizon. Ended up just snapping a few pics of trees and my car…We are having a warm week here in SE Michigan and temperature is low 60s at night, which is just beautiful, so I don’t feel bad at all sitting on the ground in a random park’s parking lot….Camera is a Sony A77II, with a Minolta AF 28 F2 Lens
Andrew Wong
Purple Rain
HTC One Mini Two. Flash only. Have no clue why pink purple hues. Not so clear night.
LaVonne Brow
My Sanctuary
I have been shooting this lighthouse for over a year now. This is one of my favorite places to take photos at night, It is my sanctuary. It always has something new and beautiful to offer. As soon as I saw that there was a Night photo challenge, I knew exactly where I wanted to shoot! Enjoy! Shot using a Nikon D610 with a Tokina 11-16mm at F2.8 ISO 1000 exposure 19 seconds.
Devin Atsat
Pastel Street
Unfortunately there isn’t a real good story to this one. I was leaving a pub late last night and there were some emergency crews holding up traffic. I stood in the middle of the street and took a few shots and walked away. It wasn’t until I imported them that I saw how the colours popped off of everything, and had an amazing pastel effect to it. Had I noticed that I probably would of stayed out all night shooting. Shot on Canon 5diii with a nifty-fifty, 1.4, 1/200, 200iso.
Matt Vatcher
Dunedin Causeway
This is a shot taken on Monday evening just after sunset on the Dunedin Causeway in Dunedin, Florida. I went out specifically because of the new adjustment to our clocks and the loss of daylight so early now. Not a fan of the twice a year shock to our systems, but going out and having a little fun helps ease into the new routine. The light trails are from a car going by and bouncing up and down in all the divots in the sand on the beach. This causeway is a great spot to fish, exercise, launch boats, watch sunsets, and hang out after dark right on the Gulf of Mexico. Truly, a great place! I used: Nikon D750, 38mm (24-120 f/4), f/9, 15 seconds, ISO 100
Scott Jukabik
Phoenix
This photo is a double exposure; one 30 second exposure of the Phoenix skyline at f/5, and one 30 second exposure of the stars above at f/3.5. Both were at ISO 100. I wanted to get both the stars in the sky and the city in the same shot, but it was really cloudy that night, so I had to improvise. I shot this with a Canon 7D, using the standard 18-5mm kit lens. The plane trails in the sky was an unintentional but very welcome bonus, and I think it really adds to the picture.
Conner Owen
Planetary Reflection
About an hour before sunrise on Sunday morning, I went out to a pond near the Pennsylvania border. My approach upset some resting geese, who honked loudly in protest. The Moon, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter in alignment made for a striking sight along the edge of the pond. I wish I had come out earlier, as the long exposure picked up quite a bit of the pre-sunrise light, and the moon and planets were getting high in sky. I also got a great shot of the passing ISS in front of Ursa Major, but chose this one for the symmetry and brightness. Tripod mounted Canon G7x, 2 second timer, f/5, 30 second exposure, ISO-125. Edited with GIMP.
S Wootten
Technicality
Thursday Night my wife needed some pictures to put on her blog for school. One of them had to be low light so I took this. I waited until after sunset it was technically night.
I took this with my Canon T3i. ISO at 125 and f/3.5.
Nick Kastanis
Copter
I’ve just recently gotten into photography but have always been a fan of the shooting challenge. So when this challenge came up I immediately knew what I wanted my subject to be. I work for a helicopter air ambulance company and I wanted to get this great picture of my aircraft under the stars. So I went into work on my day off a few hours after dark to get a picture and literally as soon as I walked through the door, the crew got a scene flight request. So instead of a starry night, I was challenged with getting a good picture, without a flash, of the helicopter with it’s intense position and anti-collision lights on. In all, I think it came out alright, but I’m going to be going back at some point to try to get the original picture I wanted. Photo was taken with a Nikon D80, F3.8, ISO100 with a 30 second exposure.
Will Harner
Lucky
I was lucky to be far away from light pollution in the Flat Tops Wilderness Area backpack hunting this week and had a clear night the first night but no tripod so I ended up going WIDE (15mm) and setting the camera on it’s back using the self timer. The wind was blowing about 40mph so you’ll see the motion in the trees but I liked how they contrasted with the stars as points of light and the Milky Way. Nikon D750, Nikon 14-24 f/2.8 @15mm f/2.8 30s ISO3200
Sean Bjork
Northern Lights
I got the alert of a geomagnetic storm on Monday. It continued on to Tuesday. After a night of shooting over the prairie Monday, I decided to give the mountains a try on Tuesday. I went to a spot I knew of that was north facing in the Alberta Rockies, about an hour outside of Calgary. It was pretty cold, with about 25 cm of fresh snow on the ground. My feet got a little cold, but the aurora show did not disappoint. Here is the northern lights with the big dipper visible with some nice mountain foreground. I am still just learning – bought my first DSLR in July. Shot on a Canon SL1, 18mm, f/3.5 (lowest I have available currently), 1600 ISO, 4 seconds. Minor edits in lightroom to bring out the colours and get rid of some noise, but this is essentially what my eye was seeing. There was rapid movement in the aurora, so I had to keep the exposure on the shorter side. Two nights of shooting into the morning with work the next day wiped me out this week, but the images I captured were so worth it!
Kevin Thompson
Brooklyn
This shot was taken on a Canon 5D Mark II with a 35mm fixed lens at f/8, ISO 400, 6 second exposure. This is from the recently opened roof of my high-rise in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Never really took the time to get up there at night (I guess one can take roof access for granted sometimes), so decided to go up with my camera for this challenge. Tried different settings with a narrow aperture, but this shot was just the most crisp.
JP Abello
Santana Row
Out for a stroll at Santana Row, facades like this make it easy to drift away to old town in Europe.
Dan Rose
From the Flames, Dust
I took advantage of the early Illinois nights to capture this image over the weekend. I drove 40 minutes outside of my medium sized town to escape the lights, but they are still there, glowing orange on the horizon. On the plus side, I was happy to find that it was a clear enough night that I could see the Milky Way with my eyes as well as through the camera. I always enjoy gazing at a darkening night sky, watching the satellites fly past as more and more stars reveal themselves.
This was my first time working with RAW images from my camera. I decided this was a good time to try it out so I could capture all the details of the night sky. I don’t really have the best setup to capture a star-filled sky. My camera has an APS-C sensor (smaller physical size) so noise is a bigger issue. In addition, I don’t have any prime lenses with a wide open F/stop, so I had to use my general 16-80mm lens with its widest setting. All in all, I am quite happy with the result. Sony A77, 16mm, f/3.5, 13 sec., ISO 5000
Kevin Dejewski
Bridge
Lights, camera, action (in the rain)! ISO 1000, 24mm, 0ev, f/4, 0.8s
Diego Jimenez
High Trestle Trail
Shot of the High Trestle Trail bridge about 35 minutes NW of Des Moines, Iowa. Over the past 10 years, Iowa and Des Moines have been aware of the increasing number of cyclists and higher demand of nice trails. The High Trestle Trail, about 25 miles, is built on a former railroad bed, previously owned by Union Pacific Railroad. The bridge itself overlooks the Des Moines River. During biking season any given week sees about 3000 bikers, walkers, and runners on the trail. At night part of the bridge lights up, and is a hotspot for night time bikers and drinkers. Taking this picture required about a half mile walk in complete darkness.
Jason Harmer
In for the Night
There is a small retention pond in the parking lot of one of the local strip malls. It doesn’t seem all that remarkable until night falls. When it gets dark, dozens of long legged wading birds decide it is the perfect place to roost. The night I took the picture there were around 50 wood storks and another dozen roseate spoonbills.
Mike Case
Unseasonable
I was in Chicago shooting some interviews for a documentary about the band Jawbreaker. On the first day, my shoot wrapped early and it was unseasonably warm in chicago, So I grabbed 3 cameras and my skateboard and hit the streets. I skated all over that city and found myself at the end of the day heading up the sears tower. I spent a few hours watching the light transition from Day to night and took many photos with my three cameras (go pro hero4 black, Hasselblad Xpan, and fuji x100s). Haven’t gotten the film from the xpan developed yet, but thus far, this was my favorite pic of the night. I love the way the endless parallel streets of chicago fade into the distance. From this height it almost feels like a look at some futuristic motherboard.
Tim Irwin
Zion National Park
Took a nice little road trip to explore Zion National Park this weekend. Some friends left a night earlier than we had planned so I decided to use my extra time to take the long route back to Denver so I could see Horseshoe Bend. Due to the timing of how everything played out, the only way I could see the Bend in any kind of daylight is if I camped out there which meant a 10 hour Sunday drive home after seeing it. Finding that to be undesirable, I chose to explore the bend at night.
Having never been to Horseshoe Bend, I was unfamiliar of the 3/4 mile hike to get there. No problem, but still 3/4 miles more hiking than I expected or wanted to do after after hiking all day at Zion and then driving over. I strapped my headlamp on, packed a few beers, a snack, chair, and my camera gear and set out. I arrived at where I thought the bend was and confirmed as much with a satellite view on Google Maps. After killing my headlamp and letting my natural nightvision kick in, I could faintly see the bend and the water when I got closer to the cliffs. Moving around anywhere remotely close to the edges at night was completely unnerving and, frankly, terrifying. I took some nice landscape shots of the Bend itself, but then started playing around and I particularly liked how this shot turned out. Certainly worth all the butterflies and army crawling I did trying to position my tripod and avoid certain death.
Canon EOS Rebel SL1, f2.8/11mm, 30sec exp., ISO 3200
Randy Johnson
Sunset on the Lake
I was driving home from work today and caught a glimpse of this incredible sunset over a lake near my house in suburban New Hampshire, so I pulled over and snapped this photo with my Canon point-and-shoot camera. The reflection on the water looks pixelated, but it’s actually just an optical illusion from the ripples.
Chris Andrews
Columbia River
Enjoying this night fishing on the Columbia River in Eastern Washington!
Shutter Speed: 1/10, Aperture: f5.6, ISO: 1600, Focal Length: 135mm
Kalon Peterson
Luxor
I snapped this shot using my Sony NEX-5R attached with a fisheye lens, I was able to catch the moon perfectly aligned with the Luxor’s sky beam in Las Vegas!
Julius Sales
Especially spectacular photos this week, everyone. Now I just want to escape the city and discover the stars again. Stay tuned for a new Shooting Challenge tomorrow.
