Sydney night tourist shots

[Glen]

I have been working pretty hard recently, so when it was calm and pleasant tonight thought it would be a good chance to get out and take some photos. Haven't had time to PP, just run through Nikon Editor to make jpegs and resized, plus two were cropped. That is the beaut thing about night photography, black doesn't need much PP

My apologies to all from Sydney, these will look like a bunch of cheap postcards from a rundown newsagent, but I love the icons of this city and they may be of interest to those further afield. All exif data should be intact.



The Bridge




The City




The Opera House

OperaHouse.jpg" alt="Image" />


Bridge again




Opera House front on




Fort Denison




Opera House from Luna Park




Bridge over a peaceful harbour

[Onyx]

Glen, wow... you're making me homesick.

It's great that you're able to appreciate the very city in which you live in, I think most people take it for granted. Superb shots, I guess all your investment in supports and glass has paid of dividends.

I'm guessing #1 is the 12-24 at work, lovely wide field of view. I could get all 'straighten horizon' on you for some of them, but I'll only be hypocritical.

Fort Denison didn't really work for me, I was more persuaded by the Amex building and the two on the right (they were perfectly exposed!)

I'd say it was a productive night, gauging by these images.

[Nnnnsic]

Nice shooting Glen.

Do I see a replacement for your avatar on the horizon?

[NetMagi]

1 & 3 are my favs. Incredible, just incredible. . . .

-Rich

[Neeper]

Wow!! What beautiful night shots. When I look at those pictures, it's hard to believe I have actually been there before. Though, it was many years ago.

[flipfrog]

glen
number 1 is an amazing shot...
post card perfect......

is that kit lens?
all very sharp images

very impressed with this bunch

(p.s. just a few horizons need fixing)

[Geoff]

Awesome shots Glen...nice to see a posting from you matey! Sorry to hear you've been working so hard, but maybe you deserve to buy yourself the D2X now?

[KerryPierce]

Beautiful shots, Glen. Exposures and sharpness were excellent. Very nicely done, sir.

[BBJ]

Stunning shots Glen, wonderful and yes they all are great i have only been to Sydney once when i was younger but yeh would love to get there oneday to see the lights.
Cheers
John

[the foto fanatic]

Nicely done, Glen. Water, lights, iconic buildings. Thanx.

[Hlop]

Good shots Glen, especially #3. But IMHO #3 and #2 going to slip away from the frame Could you straighten them a bit?

[HappyFotographer]

Good Lord Glen, don't apologise, they are fabulous images.

I must admit I looked at them with great envy. As a female I would never feel comfortable taking night time shots of Sydney (or any area at night really). I feel like I have a sign above my head annoucing short, out of condition, easy to mug, girl flashing for all to see.

I think I might save a couple of these for inspiration.....

Cheers
Deb

[MHD]

I would have to say #1 is my fav... great comp, like the fence...

[below-0]

Lovely, the exposures are so nice. what aperture and exposure did you use for these? I take many night shots, I usually get the 'what it looks' like as i don't like overexposing but for the public they like them slightly bright.

[stormygirl]

These are fantastic! Beautifully sharp and wonderful colours. Love the compositions, and it's hard to pic my fave! But possibly #1. Just amazing...I really have to get out more.... !

[sirhc55]

Wink, wink, nudge, nudge - Gitzo, RRS BH55, Sigma, Nikon and your icons - Glen - a wonderful iconic reflection of Sydney from the North shore - fab pics but you will henceforth be known as ”The Night Stalker”

[gstark]

Nice shooting Glen.

Do I see a replacement for your avatar on the horizon?

Only after he straightens it.

Nice range of shots Glen, and well exposed too. Not easy to do, so well done.

[Glen]

Thanks all for the nice comments. All shots were taken with two of my three favourite lenses, the Nikkor 70-200 VR and the Sigma 12-24. Most at F8 or F10, about 8-10 secs. I had some difficulty seeing the grid lines in the dark, they only flash for a split second on partial shutter depress, so as everyone says, some horizon straightening is in order. PSCS is still a mystery to me, so Nikon Editor with its 20 seconds per image got the nod for posting.

[stubbsy]

Glen. Firstly - great shots (#2 and #3 are my faves). Also shows how good the Sigma 12-24 is in the wide shots.

Secondly. Nickon Capture has an excellent straighten tool in the Image menu. Choose Rotate, then custom (or it might be arbitrary - I'm going from memory), then click the draw line button at the top of the dialog. The dialog will go away. You then have a different cursor and draw a line along a "line" that you want straight. It will then automatically rotate for you. Very easy. I use this a lot

[dooda]

Truly great shots Glen. I don't think I've seen such wonderful takes of the opera house. Great work.

[Glen]

Stubbsy, thanks for the tip, didn't even know it was there I was using Nikon Editor, the lite version as only resized for the web, very, very quick but will try Capture in future and before I do anything with these images. Thanks

[PiroStitch]

Great photos! Nice and sharp. Trying cropping the last one to a pano ratio and see what it looks like.

[Glen]

Thanks for the suggestion Piro, tried it but must say myself am a fan of the complete image. What do you think?



Could make a handy bookmark

[mic]

Ripper shots Glen, You are the BRIDGE MASTER.

Alllll hayle the Bridge Master, Allll hayle ye olde Bridge Master.

Sorry, got carried away again

I might try a couple of inversions on these tonight Hmmmm.

Mic.

[Alex]

Glen,

Excellent and sharp shots! Have to try taking night photos now that I have a tripod

Thanks for the inspiration
Alex

[mic]

Hope you don't take offence Glen, I was only mucking around but thought I would look at it Inverted Totally different with a real modern feel about it.

I do like yours better, but this looks so different ( I thought )

Mic.

Blame Stormy for this.

[PiroStitch]

Thanks for the suggestion Piro, tried it but must say myself am a fan of the complete image. What do you think?

Could make a handy bookmark

Agreed that it looks a bit out of place without the water or part of the foreground

[stubbsy]

mic

did you take those anti inversion pills tonight? or have they stopped working? I thought you'd turned over a new leaf

[Nikkofan]

As a female I would never feel comfortable taking night time shots of Sydney (or any area at night really). I feel like I have a sign above my head annoucing short, out of condition, easy to mug, girl flashing for all to see.

Here's a thought for the Sydney-ites. I also have hesitations about going out at night by myself on shooting expeditions (except trying for the moon in our front yard!) but that's 2 of us - Deb and myself. So, chances are there are others too. SO ... how about sometime getting a group together to go shooting around the city at night? I mean for everyone, not just for the girls of the forum. I had a night shoot around the Rocks about 5 weeks and it was great but we were in a big group and ended up in the Lowenbrau Keller for dinner and a bit of a debrief afterwards.

Would anyone else be interested in something like this, for perhaps a few hours?

Just a thought ...

[mic]

Yeah, I know Stubbsy, I just couldn't resist.

I'll go take them know, 2 greens ones tonight I think, Oh ooooo better watch out what I post afterwards.

Good leaf joke by the way He he

[stubbsy]

Good leaf joke by the way He he

Thanks - we aims to please

[Onyx]

Further to Nikkofan's suggestions, yes please - schedule a Sydney night meet! After the 20th of May...

[MCWB]

Would anyone else be interested in something like this, for perhaps a few hours?

Certainly, I might have to look into getting a tripod and head first though. Dinner at a nice pub somewhere in the Rocks sounds great. I have a personal bias for the Belgian beer cafe, but that's just me.

[Glen]

Nikkofan you beat me to it, after seeing Deb's post I was going to suggest something like this. I always like night shots, add Deb, Trent, Chi (Onyx), etc that is 4 or 5 to start. I would respectfully suggest there is two sorts of night shots of the city, ones taken within the city looking at detail and ones taken from outside looking at the city like the above. The wow factor of lights on water tends to make the outside ones look good easily (thats why I took them ). I would suggest we start northside to take some pics of the city, half an hour should be plenty (it took me 45 mins to get all the above shots at three different locations) and that way everyone will take home a few spectacular shots to show the family, then proceed over to the Rocks to take some slighly harder, grittier shots, maybe with a bite before or after the Rocks. Maybe people would like to show their interest on this thread and preferred day and date?

[Glen]

Ps I have a couple of spare tripods if anyone needs one, which are crap compared to the Gitzo, but a tripod is an absolute necessity for this. Trent PM me if you want to borrow one.





ps Mic, forgot to mention, the inversion is different, maybe we can try and sell it at the punk concert someone was photographing

[sirhc55]

Sounds good to me - a night shoot with a group is safer than doing it individually

[HappyFotographer]

A night shoot sounds ideal. After the 20th of May works for me as I hope to no longer be preggars by then, otherwise I can still go, but might slow you all down....top speed isn't all that fast right now! .....the man can surely handle a newborn for a short couple of hours!

I would also like to borrow a tripod if at all possible. The piece of crap I have is just laughable, I don't trust my camera on it at all.

I like this plan, this plan is good.......

Cheers
Deb

[Glen]

Deb, sounds good, I will also bring a 12-24 anyone can borrow to get the wide angle shots

[wile_E]

Sign me up for after the 20th as well.

[gstark]

My only concern about this is the suggestion of The rocks as a venue. Parking is always a bear in that area of town, as may be finding a restaurant (after dark) that could accommodate us.

Regarding dates, it comes to mind that the next full moon will occur within the week following the 20th. I've not yet checked calendars or anything, but might this be an interesting add-on?

Now consider the possibilities of getting the coathanger, sailboat, and a full moon all in the one image!

Gordon, are you lurking? Where would the moon be in relation to Sydney's landmarks at various times of the night?

My only caveats (at this time) are that it's Lindy's birthday on the 30th, and (again, I need to check the calendar) I have the usual SBS end of month jam session on the last Sunday of the month.

My thinking is that the full moon might be around the 25th ???

[Glen]

Full moon sounds very interesting. Maybe up near the Lord Nelson (I think they do food) or maybe make the food a quick interlude between the two sites?

[birddog114]

Next full moon is on the Saturday 21/ 05 Saturday.

[Glen]

Is that too son after Onyx gets back or OK? Also means 22/5 would have a big moon if 21 is too soon.

[Click]

I love your last one Glen, it has a couple very pronounced vanishing points!
Well done!

[rokkstar]

I love these shots Glen, they are lovely and sharp.

I would totally be up for this night out because my night shots never come out like this at all. Would be interested in technique sharing.

I fly back to the UK on the 25th for a couple of weeks, so if its before then brilliant!

[Onyx]

 w/end of 21-22 May suits all?!

[gstark]

I'm inclined to go for the Sunday, rather than a Saturday night.

That gives Chi a chance to get over his jetlag, and as Glen points out, the moon will still be very large.

Do we have general agreement on this ?

[Nnnnsic]

My only concern about this is the suggestion of The rocks as a venue. Parking is always a bear in that area of town, as may be finding a restaurant (after dark) that could accommodate us.

I assume that you're not including the crap that's been happening around The Rocks as of late?

If it's still occuring then... do we really want to go with our cameras?

[birddog114]

You have to take into account few factors when doing shooting around the Rock on Saturday night, a group of 5-8 photogs with cameras & tripod wandering in the dark and mixed with the crowd, it shoud be fun

Parking is another fun on Saturday evening around that area, after shooting, you have to pack your gears in the car and walk to the pubs or find something to eat? is it safe? and the cold is now approaching very fast in the early evening.

We have done one at Blue Point and we had dinner earlier, but not many people stay back long enough, and the breeze brought the cold after dark.
Just my thought and I'm not in.

[Glen]

Gary, I think Sunday the 22nd May is a good choice, lets take a vote now from those interested to see if it suits all?

Sunday has some big advantages parking wise, so should be good. You are spot on about Saturday parking Birddy. Leigh what has been happening in the Rocks? My guess is kick off at Luna Park about 6pm (500 metres from Milsons Point train station) spend up to an hour there, probably 30-45 mins, then either eat then the Rocks or maybe 1.5 hours in the Rocks then food.


so

DOES THE 22ND MAY SUIT THOSE INTERESTED?