Corey Brown Photography

What do you do when you are feed up with being in the house all day watching the kids and trying to get work done. (If anyone does not know getting work done with kid is usually a losing battle on all fronts.) So as soon as I could get out of the house I did. Unfortunately this was after dinner around 7:00 P.M. In a small town such as Toledo Iowa where I live every thing is pretty dead in the evening.


With the streets being empty gave a great opportunity for some long exposure night photography. So that is


exactly what I did. Night time street photography can be a lot of fun. However there are some challenges that do come with it. One is the street lamps and the color cast they put off to me is just ugly and if you WB (white balance) correct for the lights the scene can look unnatural. That is why B&W can be nice in this kind of shooting not only can it give you more leniency with your WB but it also can give your photography a more dramatic feel.


To achieve the photo above it has to be a long exposure night shot. by shooting it this way instead of a high ISO shot I get a very clean photograph that you can see the light on the snow all the way up the street. Giving the photo above a lot of depth.


This photo has a lot more light to the overall scene. As you can see there does not seem to be as much depth however it has other benefits. The lights in the garland are not blown out and ugly they to me have a very nice timeless feel. I also used a unique composition to draw more effect out of the lines not only with the strings of lights but the single middle of the street traffic light as well as the building behind. In photographs like these it is hard to get the full impact at such a small size so feel free to visit the Gallery and check them out in full detail.
So next time you go for a walk take your camera. If it is after dark then grab the tripod as well Image Stabilization will not work for this kind of photography.
I hope you have learned a something and feel free to leave your feedback and comments.
God Bless,
Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)