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Photo 101 2nd Installment: Night Photography - It's in your bag Night Photography 101 . . . If It's In Your Bag . . . Know What It Is . . . Next earlier lesson: Night Photography 101 . . . Don't Look Like the Lookout! By John E. Moss Jamestown, KY Standing in the dark Jamestown cemetery, I once lost a photograph when sometime during the setup preparations the camera exposure dial was accidentally bumped from my predetermined manual setting to something else. I knew by the familiar sound of the shutter I was in trouble. It would seem a minor malfunction and adjustment, but in the near total darkness of a high crescent moon, I couldn't see the dial to make the correction. Walking slowly all the way back to the highway and the illumination of a street lamp to reset the camera, I lost the darkness and the frame. The morning sunrise sky appeared. The small window of opportunity coveted by all photographers had closed. That simple fact is not good when you are a night photographer. Lost the last shot of the night, for lack of simple penlight The morning shoot had been ruined for lack of a simple piece of equipment that could have been purchased at any local grocery store checkout stand. I had stalwartly braved the unknown darkness, possible small critters with sharp teeth racing out of the darkness toward my legs, stray dogs, ill-tempered cats, curious law enforcement personages and who knows what else with shiny little night eyes. The last shot of the night gone . . . all for the want of a simple key chain penlight that should have been in my camera bag. Just about everyone has a camera bag of some kind, but it is often an afterthought. Most are stuffed with the camera of course and all kinds of catalog gadgets and accessories. For the most part, few people have a clue about the use and recommended operation of what they are lugging around. That's not good both for your back, personal finances, and or ability to pull an image out of the darkness. One of best pieces of equipment is instruction manual for camera One of the most important pieces of equipment I have in my camera bag is the instruction manual of the camera and flash I am carrying. The reason is simple. It is comforting to have a high tech piece of equipment in your hands, but if you can't make it light up, sound off, buzz, whistle or do something truly amazing that will make your neighbors go 'ooooooha', then you are just carrying around dead weight. You have reduced yourself to point and shoot capabilities. And that's not good when you are a night photographer. Fortunately, instruction manuals these days are not as their brethren were way back when. Nikon for one is really good about instructional graphics which makes the learning process easier. This is especially true with complicated flashes with hundreds of setting combinations. Nothing helps the understanding mode like pictures. It will also tell you pretty much what the camera can and cannot do during the course of its operation. The simple rule is . . . if it has a battery . . . learn the basics of its use from the instruction manual. Then carry all of them as reference material. You'll always be looking back to it for something. This is especially true when you have to look up if the bright visionary idea you just thought up is possible with your camera. Camera bag of choice is backpack type I lug around a backpack type of camera bag. It's personal preference tested by experience. The old over-your-shoulder designer purse type bag, free from the camera manufacturer for buying an extra gadget, just didn't work for me. When you're crawling down into a deep rock infested ravine with a raging stream at the bottom, bugs and critters assaulting you to no end, you don't want your camera bag slipping off your shoulder and down your arm which is already tenuously grasping your tripod. Believe me, balance is essential when tempting and testing your good sense, gravity and fate. From experience I can assure you, it's hard to fight gravity and your equipment at the same time. Think about it for a while and then get a practical bag that is comfortable to carry down a long country road and will, to the best you can figure, hold near about everything for that shoot you have so carefully planned for out in the wild. What you carry in your bag speaks a lot about what you are going to be shooting and any contingencys that may present themselves. As an example, a quick inventory of the backpack camera bag I carry everyday. This is only an example. When you plan your location shoots, you will realize you don't have to carry everything you own and will carry appropriate equipment. Main CompartmentThis outfit will cover a large range of outside shooting opportunities, including sports and wildlife, as well as night long exposure night photographs. A tripod can be tied to the side of the backpack with a leather chord if you don't want to carry it even should you have an extra free hand. Normally, I carry a wide selection of lenses since even though each shoot is planned. You just don't know what will happen. I once stopped in the middle of a back country road and changed from an 18-55mm lens to a 300 mm lens to shoot two red-shouldered hawks that were sitting on a tree branch stretching out over the road. For the record, they were highly uncooperative and flew away just as I was ready. If you think you are going to be using light stands, umbrellas, clamps, wireless triggers, radio triggers, additional flashes and all that sort of stuff, you will have to have extra bags, cases and hopefully access to cheap labor willing to carry and help setup all that stuff. I keep all this sort under the bed where it won't scare the dogs or draw lighting. In all of my night time travels and locations, I have used a flash, light stand and umbrella only once. There's reason for not carrying only backup camera If it wasn't noticeable, personally, I do not carry my backup camera in my camera bag. I leave it in the car or at home. It's as simple as should something happen to my camera bag, both my cameras won't be broken, or lost, or have to be replaced at the same time. Pros carry differently with an excess of equipment, sponsored equipment and help. Unless you are independently wealthy, and can pay replacement value upfront, right now, don't put all your chickens in the same basket. On a location shoot a short while back, I wanted to photograph the far side of a valley. I found that unless there was a full moon a night shoot was not going to happen. The entire valley disappeared in the dark. So, I considered a daylight shoot and looked around to see what I had to contend with to get a good fame; even a possible return on a full moon. My best vantage point was behind a roadway guardrail spanning part of the steep hill. Unfortunately, there was only about two feet of solid looking footing to be had along the overlooking ridge. In a few places, there was no footing at all because erosion had caused the guardrail to be standing independently or more precisely without a visible means of support. Being a personage that gets dizzy being as tall as I am, this was way beyond my comfort zone. Looking just over the tops of my shoes, it must have been a couple of hundred feet or more nearly straight down to the small creek at the bottom of the ravine. I was nervous and could imagine standing there in the dark. Being an older guy, my balance isn't what it was years ago, and my coordination possibilities are not only questionable, but debatable. Fortunately, I did not fall, or drop anything like my camera, or camera bag over the edge, but it was always a possibility for all of us. I got the frames, and out of there. Unfortunately, the images were not up to standard and mostly erased from the memory card. When the full moon returns, I'll take another look at it. Could be a great full moon shot. -John E. Moss Jamestown, Kentucky Next Time: Night Photography 101 . . . Planning A Shooting Schedule And On Location This story was posted on 2010-03-07 15:09:11
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