Neon Lights Photography

When its dark one more category for a photographer to explore would be Neon Lights. The bright shining colors of neon lights most commonly seen along commercial corridors of big cities attract several customers. Display of Neon lights can be in form of Text or Graphics. Huge electronic digital display boards with multiple graphics are most common in modern world in boosting the economy. Photographers need to use low ISO, adjusting apertures depending on colors and distance, allowing shutter speeds from few to several seconds and finally taking the Images just after sunset or with contrast backgrounds mostly in dark. Manual exposure would give good results in taking Neon lights pictures.

Few pictures I took on Neon Lights are shown here.

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These Three pictures show the Neon Signs of commercial business units. Each picture has variations in color, background and location.  Exposure time changed from 1/5 to 1/15 seconds and aperture settings are between f5 to f8.

This picture shows the Neon lights indoors of a commercial Game center. Neon paints and lights exhibit a different environment. It is a struggle to capture true colors in a closed environment for neon lights.

These two pictures show how a decorative LED/Neon lights reflect when pictured at night. With no flash and low ISO settings these images were photographed during Christmas holidays.

These Three pictures show the reflecting Neon signatures in a Digital environment. Electronic chips and flashing lights enable the pattern of neon lights to display Info on huge boards and are sure signs to catch attention.

What if you look at huge cities from vertical section during night? Several lights when photographed from aerial view displays the following pattern. There are several neon lights within complex environment getting mixed with dominant color.

This picture shows the bright radiance of neon lights when projected over a structure.

This last picture shows the beautiful colors painted on a glass to show a pattern of Neon signature in olden days when there was no electricity. Wonderful work and when sunlight passes through these glass pieces it resembles the perfect neon signature in a smooth texture. ISO is 200 and f-stop at 4.

Snow Photography

Taking pictures in Winter with special emphasis on Snow is interesting topic. Many photographers try taking snow pictures during dusk or in early hours to get magical moments captured. Applying techniques to capture the Snowfall is another story. Reflecting light of snow will cause hindrance in balancing the white light.  If careful exposure mode/settings are not applied, the resulting pictures might be different showing snow in blue or grey colors. Using tripods and hood over lenses are always suggested while taking Snow pictures. Slow shutter speeds/rapid fire techniques (specially to capture snowfall) and with correct focal lengths you can capture wonderful snow time Images.

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I took this picture when there was a good snowfall in form of flurries.  Exposed at f/4 with shutter speed setting at 1/1250 sec. and ISO being at 100.  

These two pictures show examples of  snow at countryside and urban setting during winter. Blanket of snow covering  the ground and mountains in one picture and over the settlements and mountains in another give contrast appeal.

These two pictures show the same area in an urban setting. I clicked the above picture just before light snowfall and another after heavy snowfall (at different times). 

This picture shows good amount of snow powder on ground  reflecting bright light in sunlight with foliage covered with snow in background. I took this picture with focal length being at 60 and f-stop at f/4. Shutter speed was set to 1/2500 sec. and ISO setting at 100.

Another picture showing a tree covered with the snow instead of green leaves.

This picture shows you the details of a SNOWFLAKE. I took this picture using Macro lens when there were flurries. A tiny speck of snowflake has beautiful pattern when it strikes either ground or any smooth surface.

These two pictures show the dazzling pattern of snow flakes when piled together on a surface in freezing temperatures. These pictures give you feeling of an artist drawing snow paints over canvas. A Photographer gets few chances to click such dramatic appearances of snow times.

These two pictures show how the running water  freezes when a snow fall occurs in freezing temperatures. 

Another Picture showing a frozen pond after snowfall in freezing temperatures. You can see Geese walking over frozen snow. Some water still in liquid form is seen at the center of pond.

Finally, what is a snowfall when there is no fun? I took this picture of my second son Deepesh, who goes crazy in snow rolling, hiding and playing in snow building caves and digging holes.

Night Photography

Another area to experiment and enjoy in photography is taking pictures at night. This is totally in contrast to taking pictures during daylight. You have the potentials of daylight, perception of colors and you have many options to change settings in camera and click your desired pictures. At night you have less lighting, each location is different due to presence of different kinds of lights like neon, incandescent, halogen lights etc.

It varies much when you prefer taking pictures indoor using studio lights and taking pictures with available lights outdoor at night.

A photographer needs to be cautious and careful in using settings while taking pictures at night. Generally many photographers use long exposures and don't use flash while taking pictures at night. Exposures ranging from f/8 to f/16 give nice results. Using Tripods will prevent shaking and using self-timers or remote triggers will help to get best results. Several latest DSLR's now have nice features to click night time pictures in Auto mode and Night Mode.

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I took this picture from Skydeck, Chicago showing part of city at night time. Got satisfied results with ISO at 1600 and applying white balance in Auto mode. Focal length was set to 18mm.

Applied quick firing technique on this picture. Instead of taking long exposure, I was banking on quick shot to capture minimum light trails of moving objects. Reflective lights within the cross-walk bridge and outdoor street lights differed in luminous levels but gave good balanced result.

With Low ISO setting and fixing focal length at 65mm, I took this picture after 45 minutes of sunset. Looks like Dusk shot but I took this picture at night time.

Another shot I clicked after sunset and at night time before it got complete dark. The reflective colors in sky are vibrant and the land features formed silhouette pattern. Exposure time was 1/125 seconds.

When it comes to night time photography Fireworks pictures become a must category to experiment. Long Exposures and low ISO with right settings gives you nice artistic results while taking pictures of Fireworks. Exposure time for this shot was for 8 seconds.

I used  External Flash while taking this picture going against the rule. Wanted to capture full balloon and had to frame the shot from distance.

Another category under Night Time Photography is Festival Lights. With no Flash and setting low ISO you get good shots when clicked using tripods.  I took this shot to show contrast of bright street lights when compared to small festival lights decorated .

Picture of a Indoor decoration and I have not used Flash while taking this shot. With available source of light, I carefully framed this picture to get dramatic results in soft tones. f-stop was at 4.

Truly this picture was taken after 1 hour of sunset when moon was in nice radiance. People were celebrating under lights in shed and vegetation was fully grown in backdrop. ISO setting was at 1600 and f-stop was set to 5.6

Now can you tell me this picture was clicked at night time or daytime? It was indoor under lights and at dusk time.

Another street shot at night time. Wanted to capture the street lights and reflective lights on walls.

Structural picture at night time. Lights reflecting only at top of the building and at bottom. Pitch black night backdrop adds nice contrast to building reflecting lights at night time. f-stop was at 4 and ISO at 1600.

Spring Colors

It’s quite common to see the fall color pictures took by several photographers around the globe. Spring time photography follows the similar path with special care aiming towards flowers and budding flora. Surprisingly we see very few photos of spring season though several photographers try to click the buds, leaves and flowers which start blooming at spring. Most photographers try capturing these budding moments using their Macro lenses to get one on one magnification and colors. It is best to capture these cool, soft and vibrant colors of spring during dawn or dusk to capture the eye pleasing images.

I tried to capture some pictures of spring colors with my little known knowledge and techniques using my gadgets of photography. Mostly these colors of flora are seen in Colorado and I guess there might be several different eye pleasing colors seen in other parts of world during spring.

Few pictures I took on Spring Colors are shown here:

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This is one picture to show the spring setting with neighborhood and vegetation. Notice different shades of green, white and red trees with spring flowers and Rocky Mountains in backdrop with shining snow during spring.

This is one more picture showing different shades of Spring Colors in close proximity within neighborhood. Can anyone imagine shades of Purple to dark green within one home?

These are few photos showing Purple flowers of Oklahoma Redbud tree. The Oklahoma Redbud is one of the first trees to flower in early spring, blooming petite purple-pink flowers in large clusters.

Pink/Red shades of Profusion Crabapple tree. This tree is with bright color and beautiful to see during spring along the drive ways and in neighborhoods.

These two pictures are showing spring flowers of Siberian Crabapple tree. Siberian Crabapple is one of the best trees for adding color to neighborhood landscape during spring. 

Few pictures showing Lavendar color flowers during spring. Veronicas/Fringes, Moss Phlox and Speedwell plants with spikes and clustered flowers are common and widely seen as ornamental bush plants in neighborhoods.

These pictures show Lynwood Gold Forsythia flowers during spring. Contrast Yellow color with nicely bloomed flowers completely on stems gives a beautiful and dramatic appearance during spring.

These are few pictures showing different spring flowers and a Tulip. Tulips are first plants to bloom during spring.

Spring is also seen with budding leaves and glowing foliage with light green shades.

Mix of White flowers with Red spring leaves of plum/pear trees are beautiful to see.