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chromasia.com

I was tempted to use this one for this week's Photo Friday challenge – Speed – but I suspect I can come up with something noticeably better. I am quite pleased with this one though, not in terms of its quality as a photograph (it's not too great, to say the least), but because it's the first long exposure I've put up on chromasia. My old G5, at anything slower than a couple of seconds, produced images so noise-riddled they were unusable. This shot though was a 30 second exposure and there's barely any noise at all. I'm beginning to see why night photography is so fascinating.

All that said, I have a long way to go before I manage anything as good as this shot by Keith Kin Yan / Overshadowed.

capture date
camera
lens
focal length
aperture
shutter speed
shooting mode
exposure bias
metering mode
ISO
flash
image quality
white balance
cropped?
9.49pm on 2/10/04
Canon 20D
EF 70-200 f/4L USM
200mm (320mm equiv.)
f22.0
30
aperture priority
+0.0
evaluative
100
no
RAW
auto
no
 
3x2 + night shots [long exposures]
comment by Daniel Olovsson at 12:23 AM (GMT) on 3 October, 2004

Lovely shot; with two visible cars and the speedy lights in front makes this shot very interesting. And the fact that the noice-level is so low, if not none at all, makes it even more fun to look at. Great job!

comment by miklos at 12:31 AM (GMT) on 3 October, 2004

30 second shutter speed? Those cars must've been going really really slowly. Damn I was going to say I am the first one to post a comment, but someone beat me to it as I was examining this photo.

comment by djn1 at 12:35 AM (GMT) on 3 October, 2004

miklos: these cars are part of the Illuminations traffic along the sea-front at Blackpool – it crawls along. Add to which that this is an intersection, and you can see why they were going so slowly.

comment by Jessyel Ty Gonzalez at 04:15 AM (GMT) on 3 October, 2004

Hrmm... the cars are too detailed for it to be a 30 second exposure. Either that, or they were waiting for the light to change? An interesting exposure... almost looks like multiple exposures...

comment by tiffany at 04:29 AM (GMT) on 3 October, 2004

Makes me feel a bit drunk. :-)

comment by Charlie at 05:08 AM (GMT) on 3 October, 2004

This is great! I love the random phantom tire in the lower right... it really does seem like a double exposure. Really interesting shot!

comment by kalinka at 09:05 AM (GMT) on 3 October, 2004

Hey, Dave! You've been out shopping quite a bit
lately, no? Congrats, will enjoy seeing what you
can do with your new toys. You're the best!

comment by chrys at 09:08 AM (GMT) on 3 October, 2004

hey, glad to see you're enjoying that 70-200mm lens! i'm glad i picked it up as well - compliments the 20d nicely. still waiting for the remote to show up in the mail so i can do some night photos...

comment by Camille Boulière at 09:21 AM (GMT) on 3 October, 2004

Don't forget to delete the number, on the car !

comment by djn1 at 10:27 AM (GMT) on 3 October, 2004

chrys: I don't have the remote - I just used the self-timer as I figured, with a 30 second exposure, that it's not all that crucial that I can start the exposure at a specific point.

Camille (or anyone else): is it a problem photographing cars and including their license plates?

comment by miklos at 06:06 PM (GMT) on 3 October, 2004

dave: I usually try not to take pictures of people's cars and licence plates. I'm not sure if there are any rules, but I personally don't do it.

comment by Jessyel Ty Gonzalez at 08:43 PM (GMT) on 3 October, 2004

It's illegal in some states here in the States, such as Colorado where I'm from. You need permission. I don't know if you've noticed some 'reality' TV shows, but they blur them out.

It's easier and easier to do identity fraud through these methods.

comment by djn1 at 11:49 PM (GMT) on 3 October, 2004

Jessyel: thanks, I'll look into the position in the UK.

comment by Em at 01:16 PM (GMT) on 6 October, 2004

I really like the feel of this photo, it looks just how nightlife should look!