Night photo techniques

Scott Turner Wrote:
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> Your night shots completely avoided an effect I
> usually see (in mine and others' images) in
> flood-lit night shoots - indistinct, blurred out
> steam and smoke. The only times I've avoided that
> effect have been shooting on the Nevada Northern
> with Steve Crise's strobes - and years ago with
> Gordon Osmundson's old-school flashes. That's why
> I wondered if these were strobed.

I'd vote for Gordon's old-school flashes. I'm guessing you mean good old No. 6 flash bulbs (the big ones). Combine those with old fashioned slow ISO film, and you could open the shutter at f/22 for say a minute or two and walk around and pop off a few flashes in different locations. Of course you needed to try a lot of bracketing because you had no idea of what you had until the film was developed. The big advantage of that approach was a combination of picking up the ambient light so that the flashes just filed in where you needed them. And the flashes would tend to "freeze" the steam. In my mind that provided a much more natural lighting effect. I would think you could figure out a way to so something similar with digital media and a strobe, although the time exposure might create some "reciprocity" or similar issues with the digital sensor. Been a looooong time since I have tried any of this, but here is a narrow gauge shot from back in the 60's.





Looking a that bottom picture, I wonder if the Chama roundhouse still has that bracing holding up the back wall where an engine tried to visit the boiler room.

JBWX



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/2020 03:03PM by John West.