For the last few months I had my heart set on using my tax return to get a good SLR camera again. Rob and Blake’s cameras made me realize how much I missed real photography, and I decided it was time to get back into the game!! So about two weeks ago I ordered a Canon Digital Rebel XT. I have always had good luck with Canon, and the XT was 8 megapixle with a lot of higher end features that I wanted to take advantage of.
Last night was the first night that I made the time to really go play with the camera and try out a few things. I always have enjoyed long exposure photography, and high aperture photography and wanted to try out the second curtain synchronization flash (** see the footnote for a simple explanation). So I went to three different bridge locations that I found and knew were safe. I took my 19 dollar Wal-Mart tripod and was ready to go. I took a ton of pictures and was very happy with the results.
You can find most of the pics I took that night here.
My first stop was a bridge over LBJ Freeway in Dallas. I didn’t use the self timer on all of these (other than the ones I am in) and I haven’t built a remote switch yet. That was a mistake. On longer exposures using the self timer will help you have really clean background images; the shake from pushing the shutter release will cause a slight blur. All of these pics were taken at f22 with 6 to 8 second exposures.
Next I went to a foot bridge that crossed the freeway and used the tripod and the self timer every time. I was very happy with how the pics came out. These were 20 and 30 seconds at f22. Note that the bridge was totally dark, no lights.
My final shooting spot was under a bridge that was just built. I found a perfect spot that is closed to traffic and great lighting. These were all 30 seconds at f22. The white lines, and ghost images were produced using a small white LED light. I tried to write a Z on the concert on a few of them, but didn’t come out very well.
This one isn’t laid out as well as the one below, but I like that you can see Orion through the bridge gap.
** Second curtain flash is simple. Most cameras flash as soon as the film or CCD is exposed to the image (first curtain). When you take long exposures, the flash will burn in a clean image, but will then blur as more light keeps hitting the film/ccd durring the long exposure. Second curtain flash fires the flash right before the curtain closes. This burns in the clean image and keeps it from blurring. My e-mail link is at the top of this webpage, feel free to write if you have any questions.