It was over 20 years ago I saw the brightest stars in the night sky in my life, and ironically it was the furthest I had ever been from the stars themselves as I was at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Now, I unexpectedly have seen the second brightest night sky in my life here in the tiny town of La Veta, Colorado. Strolling outside the Airbnb it was like the Universe had suddenly created 5 times as many stars in the heavens. It was a spectacular site and a nice bonus on what has been a hard photo & drone work trip.
Cool things can happen when you leave the shutter of your camera open for more than just a fraction of a second. Look around the photo above where I left the shutter open for 10 seconds. In that time I managed to capture 3 lighting bolts, and the light trails made by the head and taillights of passing cars. Plus, the long exposure created a starburst effect with the street lamps.
Stylistic Commercial Real Estate Photography in Albuquerque
Looking for a new place to live in downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico? Opening soon are the Zocalo Lofts right on the corner of 4th & Coal. I was hired to make interior and exterior photographs to highlight the lifestyle of living in this new construction building. I used a variety of techniques to capture these three images. The top is using a long exposure to make light trails out of the tasing headlights and taillights to add a dramatic style to the building exterior shot. Then for the gym photo, I used the absolute best interior technique there is, flambient. Finally, the lobby photo was made with a realistic HDR processing.
Lightning in Commercial Hotel Photography Albuquerque
Almost one month to the day I returned to the San Mateo Inn for more commercial exterior photography, this time at night! My first shoot was all during the day with clear blue skies overhead. For this second shoot right after sunset, the clouds were rolling in and a storm was approaching. I was working as fast as I could with my new Sony a7R IV mirrorless camera. In fact this was the very first shoot I used it for! I could hear the thunder and see the lightning, and in a happy accident, during one long exposure photo of the front of the hotel, I caught a sharp bolt of lightning! I got the remaining photos I needed of the pool and front sign, and was back home safe and dry before the actual rain started. Thank you to the owner, Yvette, for braving the storm with me and watching my back as we were very close to the road to get some of these shots.
As best as I can remember, for the first time since I was a kid, I saw a movie at a drive in theater. The experience was great (the movies were not)! This was part of an ultra-rare, full weekend off, out of town, not part of a photo job holiday. It was me and Jessica and our dogs Kiki and Artie all in the M3 with the top down completely under the stars, looking up at the big screen. And the stars! They were so bright and vivid! Not since I spent the night at the bottom of the Grand Canyon did they look as vivid to me.
If you asked me, I would tell you that a tripod is a must for making long exposure photos. In fact, I have already shared some long exposure ocean photos from San Diego featuring the Ocean Beach Pier that were all shot with my Nikon mounted on a tripod. That said, if getting a tack sharp image is not needed, handholding a slightly long exposure photo, especially with a lens that has VR (vibration reduction), can produce some very cool shots. The latter was the method I used to hold my Nikon right above the incoming water at Imperial Beach, San Diego, California at sunset. Why do a long exposure? Because it makes the water look like stretched out cotton. In the above shot you might easily think it was taken from a boat in deep water, when in reality it was me in less than ankle deep water letting that few inches of water whoosh past me as the camera’s shutter stayed open for 1/6th of a second.
For the first 4th of July in a long time I had my camera out on a tripod using bulb mode and an index card to capture multiple fireworks burst in one exposure. Setup in a wide open field at Balloon Fiesta Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico I had a clear view with little wind to blow smoke into the frame, but on the other hand not much of a foreground to set the fireworks in. My step-by-step guide for making fireworks photos goes into even more detail about how and why I like to photograph fireworks. Still, I was pleased with the images I was able to make even from a good distance away.
