Gondai the Thinker: Playing with Lights

Night photography is an art which is not easy to master. Recently, I decided to test out my understanding on this type of photography on top of the overhead bridge crossing the Guthrie Expressway and linking BJ and TTDI Jaya.

I tested with Time-priority setting letting the camera to select the best aperture, and added +1/3 stop to enhance the exposure. Most of the pictures I took were set between 20 to 30 second shutter speed and most importantly, with my tripod properly set-up to avoid image blurring.

All these photos were shot just before 10PM and there were actually many cars on the roads albeit from the photos we can see none. This is the beauty of prolonging the shutter opening where images of moving objects will 'dissappear' and what's left are 'trail of lights' in red and white.I did not really have a 'perfect' angle to shoot the pictures as I was standing on the bridge and there was very little distance between me and the road behind. While I was busy snapping pictures, my other half was waiting patiently in the car parked about 50m away, just before the bridge.

I also took some daylight photos of Guthtrie Pavillion and the minaret of Masjid Shah Alam. Daylight photos are much easier to snap. In these photos, I also used Time Priority setting mostly between 1/125s to 1/60s with the aperture decided by the camera.

I have yet to use the aperture bracketing function. I have read about image recomposition using aperture braketting for condition with varying brightness.Under such condition, for instance snapping an object with the lens facing bright light, it is very important to ensure enough light can illuminate the blocked object to avoid underexposure.

If the object is closed enough, the fill-in flash can be used. Otherwise, one has to adjust the exposure setting such that the main object is nicely exposed and thats where the aperture bracketting comes into play.I am very eager to try out this technique and this will be my next small project hopefully sooner rather than later!