Downtown Fredensborg - Deserted

Taken at 23:03 at night and totally deserted it's almost eerie, but great for taking photographs. At this time of night there was still enough light in the sky to balance nicely with the street lights and end up with a single shot containing a wide gamut of fairly even exposure. This sort of photography always requires a tripod as we have to deal with longish exposures and hand holding is impossible without getting a blurry and unusable photo. Tripod = sharp and clear. Get a good sturdy tripod, it'll do wonders for your photographs!

Most people shoot until the sun goes down and then they head indoors for dinner. I try to hang around for an hour or two (or more) after sunset to get this sort of light. It can make for long, cold, hungry evenings, but it gets pictures that very few people are willing or able to take simply because they lack the dedication and commitment to suffer a little inconvenience to get the photo they really want. But then maybe I'm a little too obsessive about these things? ;-)

Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 VR, sturdy tripod, remote trigger, f10.0, 13.0s, 18mm, VR off, ISO 200, Auto White Balance, Matrix Metering, Aperture Priority, quick run through Dx0 Optics Pro 8, and then some adjustments in the curves tool of PSP X5.

Traffic Circle in Fredensborg

How Colour Can Change (Quite Dramatically) from Day to Night

Just a quick comparison between a photograph of the same subject taken several hours apart, with the first in all natural light and the second at night with mixed artificial light sources. First up, daytime:

Very nice light coming from the setting sun and giving a very pleasing and (at least to me) quite interesting quality of light. And now for the night shot:

Very different photograph, despite being of the same subject from just about the same angle. Which one is better? Well that is a very subjective answer and one that will undoubtedly elicit a very different response from whoever is asked. Flavour to taste I always say, sometimes I like mayonnaise and other days I like tomato sauce, but neither is better or worse. Today I choose the night shot, next week it may well be the day shot... or I might hate them both and prefer a Black and white!

Landskrona Stadshuset

The Landskrona Stadshuset, or in English simply the Landskrona City Hall, offices of the towns municipality, and very beautifully located overlooking part of the harbour.

Fountain in Landskrona

In my ongoing quest to document everything worthy of photographing in Landskrona I now have this unusual fountain that stands in the middle of a roundabout at the intersection of Östergatan and Regeringsgatan.

Landskrona Station

The Landskrona Station was opened in 2001 to replace the original station in town which is now used as a freight only station. The little metal flag on the top of the roof has the year 2000 on it which I assume means it was built in 2000. Both Pågatåg and Öresundtåg stop here providing easy transport links to pretty much anywhere in Sweden and to Denmark.

In the picture above a train is departing the station heading towards Helsingborg and leaving some nice light trails in it's wake.

Town Square in Landskrona

Cobblestone Street in Landskrona

I am really enjoying Landskrona, mainly because it is such a picturesque and historical little town. It is 600 years old now and much of the old architecture is still in great shape making for a very wonderful place for a photographer to live! ...or visit. If you are in Southern Sweden then please drop by for a fika, and I'll tell you how to get to all the really good spots!

As always a tripod is a must for this kind of photography, this exposure was 5 seconds long and no amount of VR is ever going to make that hand holdable.

A (slightly) Different View of the Landskrona Citadel

I adjusted the angle a little to have a view of the bridge over the moat.

Water Tower - Landskrona

This huge water tower dominates the landscape at the harbour area in Landskrona and just begs to be photographed! ;-)

Landskrona Citadel - a High Dynamic Range Photograph.

From Wikipedia: Landskrona Citadel (Swedish: Citadellet or Landskrona slott) is situated in Landskrona, Scania, southern Sweden. Initially built 1549–1559 as a purely defensive fortification with two complete moats, the inner with a width of 70 metres (230 ft). The outer (complete) moat is between 40 and 70 metres (130 and 230 ft) wide, and has cross fire bastions for artillery and guns. Outside the outer moat, a third narrower moat covers the northwest and northeast. There also exist remains of a fourth moat (between the two outer moats). The fortifications and moats system surrounding the castle is known to be one of Europe's largest and best preserved.

Three bracketed photos taken 2 stops apart, a quick run through DXO 8 for the special pixie dust magic that the elves at DXO lavish upon RAW photos to make them look better, and then "Exposure Merged" in Corel Paintshop Pro X5. Tweaked the levels, contrast and did some sharpening, also in PSP X5. For this type of photography a sturdy tripod is essential because of the very long exposure times. I used my D90 and the 18-105mm kit lens, Aperture Priority and f11.0, always RAW. :-)

Walking Street in Malmö

Nikon D300s and 35mm Nikkor f/1.8G DX AF-S lens. Lightroom 4.

Evening Light and an Apartment.

Tivoli Gardens - Fountains - Copenhagen

Another view of the fountains at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen.

Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens at 18mm with VR off, Velbon Sherpa tripod, f/10, 1.3s, ISO200, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Building in Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen

Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens at 18mm with VR off, Velbon Sherpa tripod, f/10, 6.0s, ISO200, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Chinese Lanterns - Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen

Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens at 18mm with VR off, Velbon Sherpa tripod, f/10, 4.0s, ISO200, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

The Fountains in Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen.

Another after dark, motion blur, magic/blue hour, long exposure photograph, and yes it looks soooo much better at night! :^)

Take a look at the fountains during the day:

Yeah, that's right, no magic in this one... :^(

Tivoli After Dark

It's a great place to take photos after dark, I highly recommend it!

Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens at 18mm, Velbon Sherpa tripod with VR off, f/10, 15.0s, ISO200, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

One more "Why I Like to Shoot After Dark" photograph:

Taken in Tivoli Copenhagen about 40 minutes after sunset. Still lots of blue light left in the sky but it is dark enough to balance nicely with the lights on the building and in the pond.

Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens at 18mm with VR off, Velbon Sherpa tripod, f/10, 2.0s, ISO200, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Why I like to take Photographs at Night!

When I am out taking photos at night I often get asked by passers by why I am "shooting in the dark"! Until I show them the pics on the LCD screen of the camera and then they are sold on the idea. ;-) But I thought it might be a good idea to illustrate the difference between the results of daytime and night-time photography.

The photo at the top of this post was taken in Tivoli (Copenhagen) about an hour after sunset on a sturdy tripod and
with a long exposure time. The result is bright saturated colours and a rather striking image of the Chinese Restaurant. Now compare that with the pic below that was taken during the day from more or less the same spot.

Dull, bland, flat, and totally boring! Just another file waiting to be deleted. But it's what most of the tourists would take home judging by how many of them were taking snaps before the sun went down and how few (almost none) were still taking any after dark had settled in. The few that were taking pics at night all had their flashes firmly on. Yuck! Worst part though were how many of the same folks had big expensive pro gear that they were essentially using as giant point and shoot fashion accessories! Haha! Do I detect a hint of gear envy creeping in? ;^)

Not that I'm against taking photographs during the day, just look around this blog and you will see a LOT that were! Just pointing out that for certain subjects, especially ones with lots of coloured lights, night-time is the right time. Just remember to take the tripod and you are good to go!