Recently in Night Category

This marks the transition between old and new. Photos prior to this date were part of my old photoblog, photo.saroy.net. Photos after this date belong to salcantay.net. That's not to say that there's any particular difference between the two. Only that they belong to a different site that I made after a long hiatus. Read into that what you will.

I didn't take a tripod to Yosemite, only the remote trigger that was already in my bag. This and the previous two shots (all long exposures, obviously) were taken with the camera perched, sometimes precariously, on a wall or a step or propped against a rock. This one was taken using the last technique -- propping the lens on a rock and hoping the camera wouldn't slip while the shutter was open!

It was working well enough until a car drove past...and not only drove past, but decided to brake right in the middle of the frame. I quickly closed the shutter and started another exposure once the car had passed, but ended up liking the effect of the headlights and brakelights.

Exposure was 79 seconds at 21mm f/4.

Here is another night shot from Yosemite, taken looking generally east from Glacier Point. That's Half Dome featured prominently on the right, and if you look carefully you can see a light on its sheer face -- someone must have been climbing, or settling in for the night.

Exposure time was 93 seconds, with slight exposure compensation on the RAW image done in post-processing.

I spent Saturday in Yosemite National Park, which after two visits is quickly becoming one of my favorite places on Earth. Two friends and I hiked about 13 miles total, 4.5 miles from the valley floor up 3,200 feet to Glacier Point followed by 8.5 miles back down to the floor past three beautiful waterfalls.

This was shot Saturday night from the tunnel view turnoff along the road to Glacier Point. The moon was only one day past full, and it lit up the granite brilliantly -- no flashlight necessary. This was taken at about 11:00 p.m. with my 17-40 f/4 lens wide open on both accounts -- 17mm and f/4. Exposure time was 109 seconds in RAW mode, which allowed me to adjust the exposure compensation to brighten it a tad more. On the left is the 3,000 face of El Capitan. On the right, far in the distance, is the obvious shape of Half Dome.

A final shot from the Boat Parade, and another close-up of my favorite boat with the 3D Christmas tree lights.

I ended up with a few blurred shots of the boats passing by, but this one ended up looking cool, I thought.

My favorite boat was the one pictured yesterday, with a Christmas tree hung in 3D on the mast. They were Phil and Renee's neighbors, and accomplished the effect with a lot of PVC pipe. Here's a closeup.

Last night I watched the Clear Lake Holiday Boat Parade for the first time, eager to both see the decorations and attempt to get a few good pictures. I wasn't disappointed by the parade, and hope you won't be disappointed by the photos!

We watched from the marina where Phil and Renee live (on their beautiful 42-foot sailboat). The waterway narrows as it goes past their docks, so we got a great view of the boats both coming and going.

I also took a lot of moon shots the other night, but many of them turned out looking too blurry for my liking due to the movement of the clouds. I thought this one struck a nice balance. The lit portion of the moon is way overexposed, of course, but the clouds look very cool.

This is one of the few night shots I took the other evening that actually turned out decently. I'm not experienced with night shooting, so I was playing around a lot.

This view is from my balcony, looking across JSC toward Baytown and its many brightly-lit chemical plants and refineries. The plants, which are very ugly during the day, actually don't look so bad at night. If you use your imagination and blur your eyes, they look like cities twinkling in the distance.

I also like the car light streaks across the bottom of the shot.