City At Night

By Staff • Posted: Sep 4, 2012 • Published: Aug 1, 2012

Our Picture This! assignment this month was City at Night, and we were seeking images that capture the unique combination of energy, light, and activity that characterize the nocturnal urban scene. Readers responded with images of great monuments lit by blazing lamps and tall buildings soaring through the night sky into the clouds, yet our eyes were also attracted to images that included people, admittedly often dwarfed by the manmade environment around them, but making their way through the streets and byways nonetheless. Images like this challenge us to find the right exposure times and ISO settings under sometimes tough capture conditions.

Liverpool Mall

Alfred J.R. Plant made this photo during the Christmas fairground in the Liverpool One shopping mall. Exposure at ISO 100 was f/8 at 1.9 seconds with a Nikon Coolpix P7000.
© Alfred J.R. Plant

New Year’s Eve Champs-Elysees

Irwin H. Segel caught Paris on a rainy holiday night with a Nikon D200 and a Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens; exposure was f/9 at 1/15 sec at ISO 1600.
© Irwin H. Segel

SoHo Windows

Gilles Vauclair photographed these mannequins in SoHo, NYC, with a Nikon D5000 and an 18-55mm lens. Exposure was f/6.7 at 1/20 sec at ISO 400.
© Gilles Vauclair

Midnight Preacher, L.A.

David A. Bradlow made this photo in Westwood, Los Angeles, with a Nikon D300 and a Nikkor 28-105mm lens; exposure was f/4.5 at 1/80 sec at ISO 1600.
© David A. Bradlow

Fremont Street, Las Vegas

Fredric Fink used a wide-angle 10-20mm lens on his Canon D-SLR with an exposure of f/4 at 1/40 sec at ISO 400. He enhanced color and contrast with Topaz Adjust 5.
© Fredric Fink

Roundabout

Jim Mitchell’s 20-second exposure illuminated the street and recorded the taillights of cars in motion in Paris. His Nikon D300 was set at f/18.
© Jim Mitchell

The Skyline From Brooklyn

Joyce Williams made this nostalgic and romantic photo of a couple gazing at the Manhattan skyline with a Nikon D90 and a Tamron 18-270mm lens and an exposure of f/5 at 1/6 sec at ISO 6400.
© Joyce Williams

Rapid Transit Passing By

Truman Holtzclaw wrote about his luck when photographing during a camera club night shoot in Sacramento: “As I was exposing this image at the entrance of our local theater our local rapid transit train came passing by, adding a very striking and interesting blurred look to the image.” He photographed with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II with an exposure of f/13 at 3.2 seconds.
© Truman Holtzclaw

Art Show Figure

This figure was one of many placed along building roofs as part of an art show sponsored by the Park Association near Madison Square Park in NYC. Steven Smedresman’s exposure, composition, and sense of design gives the photo a most surreal feel. Exposure with a Nikon D3 and a 70-300mm lens at ISO 3200 was f/5.3 at 1/8 sec.
© Steven Smedresman

Trolley Pan

Jim Renfrow’s excellent panning technique gives the interior of this trolley a most Hopper-esque feel. Exposure with a Nikon D300 and a Tamron 18-270mm lens at ISO 800 was f/7.1 at 1/4 sec.
© Jim Renfrow

City Quilt

This HDR technique photo of Vancouver, British Columbia, was made by Jay Styron using a Canon EOS 7D and a Tamron 10-24mm lens. Aperture was f/11 at various shutter speeds and processing was in Nik’s HDR Efex Pro.
© Jay Styron

Silver Streak

Paul Hoffmann caught this speeding train as it made its way through a foggy Chicago night. Exposure with a Canon EOS 40D and a Canon 18-200mm IS lens was f/9 at 2 seconds at ISO 800.
© Paul Hoffmann

Her Majesty’s Theatre

This handheld shot by Francis Hines outside a London theater was made with a Nikon Coolpix P7000 with an exposure of 1/13 sec and f/2.8 at ISO 400.
© Francis Hines

Walt Disney Concert Hall, L.A.

Bartley D’Alfonso mounted his Nikon D200 atop a Bogen tripod to make a 30-second exposure (at f/13) of this now-iconic L.A. building and surroundings.
© Bartley D’Alfonso

Midtown

This night scene of Midtown Manhattan was photographed from Gantry Park in Queens by Edward Kaercher with a Nikon D90 and processed with Photomatix Pro software.
© Edward Kaercher

Picture This! – Our Next Assignment
Made In The Shade
While making images in full sun might be thought of as the best light in which to photograph, in fact when photographing in the shade you have less bothersome contrast to contend with and can often get images with rich detail and great color. Shade shooting requires working with white balance and perhaps slower exposure times, but the rewards can be great. We’re looking for nature, portraiture, still life, and more, as long as each shot was “made in the shade.”

This photo was made in a shady grove in Hilton Head, South Carolina, with a Nikon D5000 with an exposure of f/4 at 1/60 sec at ISO 400.
© George Schaub

Please Read This
It is important that you read and follow these guidelines. We need to follow this procedure because of the large volume of images we receive. If you have any questions, please e-mail us at: editorial@shutterbug.com.

1) Images sent to us cannot be returned. You retain complete copyright over the images, but do grant us permission to print your image(s) in the magazine and on our website, www.shutterbug.com.

2) Because images are not returned please send a quality print or duplicate transparency. We will not accept or view images on CD, ZIP, or any other electronic media.

3) Images will be selected on the basis of content and technical quality. Please mark your outer envelope with the topic of the month (for example, “Wide View”).

4) Enclose a short caption with the image stating camera, lens, film and exposure, plus location. If you are submitting an image with a recognizable person we must have a model release or signed permission from that person to reproduce their image in the magazine and on the website.

5) Please submit no more than three photos for consideration (4x6 up to 81/2x11).

Send your image and information to:
Picture This! Shutterbug Magazine,
1415 Chaffee Dr., Suite #10, Titusville, FL 32780.
Deadline for submission: September 15, 2012.
Images will appear in our December 2012 issue.
Our next topic: In The Forest
Deadline: October 15, 2012
Publication Date: January, 2013

Please note: We receive hundreds of submissions for Picture This! each month and want to be sure we properly identify each image we publish. Please put your name and all camera, exposure information on the back of the print or attached to slides when submitting. Also, please include your e-mail address in case we need to contact you.

Want to see images selected for past Picture This! assignments? Go to www.shutterbug.com and click on Picture This! in the “More Articles…” box on the homepage.

Please note: If you submit images with an enhancement through software beyond contrast, exposure, and simple saturation adjustments please indicate the software and “filter” used to attain that effect.—Editor

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