Pittsburgh at Night

[ktuli]

Last night, Mike (KTHXBAI) and I met up for some night photography of Pittsburgh. Admittedly, I didn't get the best results, but here are a couple of the ones I kept.

A set of bridges dubbed "The Three Sisters" (the second and third are a little tough to see)

50mm, f/11, 25 sec, ISO 100.

Some traffic

300mm + slight crop, f/45, 45 sec, ISO 100

Some more traffic

176mm, f/36, 41 sec, ISO 100

My favorite bridge in Pgh, though I didn't do it justice (not sure why the headlight trails have that wavy pattern to them)

168mm, f/36, 35 sec, ISO 100

I think Mike will post some of his here soon too. Hopefully his are better than mine...

- Bill

[KTHXBAI]

Hey Bill I'm not too happy with what I got, Here goes... BTW you got some great streamers on your traffic! Mine not so much. I had problems keeping the camera still I think. What ISO were you using? I should of kicked it down and tried some loner exposures obv.

[dje]

Hi Bill and Mike

In my humble opinion, the first image in each of your sets is the best. I like the reflections in the water. Freeway light trails can be a bit un-interesting IMO. I find night stuff with long exposures fun and suggest you keep at it.

Cheers Dave

[ktuli]

Hey Bill I'm not too happy with what I got, Here goes... BTW you got some great streamers on your traffic! Mine not so much. I had problems keeping the camera still I think. What ISO were you using? I should of kicked it down and tried some loner exposures obv.

Mike - you got some nice shots there - I think your shot of the Smithfield St Bridge is better than mine.

Honestly, I think my tripod was what was helping me keep things steady. It is heavier than my old one and way more expensive, but it really does make a much more stable platform. Perhaps we can convince Tom to share some of his shots here as well, as he was using the same tripod I used to use.

I annotated my original post with exposure information.

In my humble opinion, the first image in each of your sets is the best. I like the reflections in the water. Freeway light trails can be a bit un-interesting IMO. I find night stuff with long exposures fun and suggest you keep at it.

Dave - Thanks for the compliment. I agree that in both cases, the first shot is the best.

I also agree that the freeway light trails can become a little overdone, and as you can see from mine and Mike's shots, there really weren't that many options for good compositions. But I do like the nice pattern that interchange produces with the lights. I think it is one of those fun photography styles that every photographer plays with at some point in time just to say they've done it, but rarely are you going to get anything you'd print and hang on your walls.

Thanks for looking!

- Bill