Night

Title:Fusion

Date taken: 11/20/12

Camera: Panasonic Lumix

Lens: Standard

Shutter speed: 15 seconds

F-stop: f/4.7

ISO: 100

Focal length: 17mm

Tripod: yes

Other Comments: I achieved this effect by putting the camera on my tripod and slowly rotating it as the shutter was open.

Title: Like Stars

Date taken: 11/20/12

Camera: Panasonic Lumix

Lens: Standard

Shutter speed: 15 seconds

F-stop: f/3.9

ISO: 100

Focal length: 9mm

Tripod: yes

Other Comments: I retook this picture after the first one showed some shaking. I also reduced saturation on photoshop to add a more calming effect. 

                Because I am naturally a night owl, the night project was the easiest and most convenient for me to finish.  The first night I started taking pictures, I was inspired by the full moon which appeared to be much larger than usual in the sky.  Trying to find a spot on the rims, I pulled over and set up my camera and tripod.  However, because of the time it took me to prepare I missed taking a good picture of the moon.   Though I didn't take a good picture of the moon, I drove a few more miles to the spot where the flashing tower for the airplanes is located.  After reaching this place,  I took several shots of the surrounding night landscape as well as the tower behind me.

                After capturing these pictures I was surprised at the clarity of the shots, but there was a faint jitter in the one overlooking the city.  Wanting to fix this, I went back to the same spot a couple of nights later, and tried to recreate the composition and location as closely as possible.  I also used the same 15 second shutter speed and ISO settings -- but this time I used the self-timer instead of manually clicking the shutter so that I could reduce the shaking.  Once several more pictures were taken, I then uploaded them to my computer and was much more satisfied with the results.  With the image overlooking Billings I lowered the saturation and cropped some extra space off of the edges to finish it.

                Though I wanted a beautiful shot of Billings, I also wanted something experimental as well.  While moving lights were one of the suggestions, I wanted something completely different, yet similar.  Because I felt this way I decided to move my tripod slowly in a circle while I was overlooking Billings during a 15 second shutter speed.  While this was a fun idea, I also put quite a bit of thought into it, and picked my favorite example out of the many pictures I took.

                While this was a fun and easy assignment, it was also one that made me think and try, try again.  I enjoyed it, but I also believe that I learned a great deal from it, and to consider shutter speed, ISO, and exposure bias.  Though I can't manually adjust many of the settings on my camera, I was able to learn how to manipulate the various pre-settings as well as work with what I had access to.  Overall I'm please with what I learned and the pictures I took, and I plan to continue experimenting with night photography in the future.