American Steam Locomotive 5197

usa 5197 b, originally uploaded by foto-art.

American Steam Locomotive 5197, photographed on the Churnet Valley Railway. Winter is a great time for this sort of shot, which was taken close to the shortest day of the year. A wet evening in the city also provides a great subject, with the wet streets providing reflections of the street lights. Using a digital camera with night mode and the flash turned off is the best way. But you need a sturdy tripod!

New York - Times Square

new york - times square, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Times Square, New York. A spur-of-the-moment shot whilst on holiday in New York. The camera was set to night mode and it is essential that one uses a tripod or some sort of ad-hoc camera rest for this kind of shot, else it will simply suffer from motion blurring due to camera shake. Such motion blurring can be quite effective....see the image 'Jazz' for example. But here I wanted a sharper image and had no tripod. In this case, any flat surface will do: a bollard, a bit of fencing, a rubbish bin, anything where the camera can be rested flat and still. This of course restricts vantage points and perspectives. Afterwards in Photoshop, converging verticals were corrected. (See tutorial on converging verticals)

Jazz....!

jazz, originally uploaded by foto-art.

A hand-held camera with a slow shutter speed has captured a sense of movement and vibrancy in this shot of a band playing. This shot was taken indoors, using available light with the camera set on night mode.