Saturday, October 04, 2008

Phoctober the third

Yes, I know it is the fourth. I got home last night and simply crashed out until this morning. I had nothing to drink or anything, and yet still have no clear recollection of returning home, or of going to bed. My work life is sort of complicated right now, apparently exhausting, and I suspect I've caught a minor bug during the annual "Let's everyone get sick because the weather is changing" event. I'll make up a post tonight to get back on track. I could always backdate the entry, but I don't want to start lying to you.

At least not about what day of the month it is.

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Night - Part One

Most people who know me would not be surprised to hear me say that I prefer the night. I've probably written about this before, so I won't go into too much detail about this particular preference. When I discovered that I loved photography, it was inevitable that I would discover quickly that I love night shots a lot.

I'm not a great dark shooter. My finished photos tend to point out some of the flaws I have as a processor. My tastes rune to very dark darks and bright brights, and I often blow out the whites entirely when I do my level adjustments. Also, I do not have a tripod, and I've lost more than my share of night shots to the lengthier amount of time the shutter is open, and my image comes out slightly blurred. But while I'd like to fix the blurriness thing, the blown out lights and pitch black darks are something I kind of like. This summer, I sent a shot to a friend that I was rather fond of, and he sent it back to me a few minutes later, having done some level adjustments (he does this sort of thing for a living). I had to laugh when I saw that his adjustments had turned the file more or less back to the original exposure.

Here are some night shots for you. I think I'll be doing another set of nights soon, hence the part one in the subhead.

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This first one, I think I will go reshoot at some point. I did virtually nothing to this shot, but somehow the lighting made everything but the statue into a strangely beautiful faux sepia. It looked so amazing on the viewer in my camera, and I was heartbroken when I discovered the focus problem.






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Other Phoctobering:

All Phoctober posts from this site.

Kyklops with a spider he says is only partially terrifying.

Taffiny gets started with yet another spider, and the view from inside her car.

It isn't too late to join the fun. Just do a photo post, mention Phoctober, and come and tell me about it in the comments.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

its good to know about it? where did you get that information?

Rick said...

No scary spiders today, just a sleeping cat.

Rick said...

BTW, those are some nice night shots, Maht.

Unknown said...

Oh, those are so good.

Am I supposed to have started this? Ooops.

Jannie Funster said...

Pretty decent pix, methinks, ye self-professed-not-so-good-with- night-shots and such.

The lonely bridge is a freaking poem to me! I'd dare pass there to get to Elephant and Castle.

Jannie
(found you via the "songwriting" tag on Blogger.

The Moon Topples said...

Hot Penny: I've thought and thought and I must confess I have no idea what you mean by your comment.

Kyklops: Thanks for the cat. Much nicer than mean old spiders. And thanks for the compliment.

Minx: Thanks. And Phoctobering is optional, of course. But I recall you had some nice shots last year, so I have some fingers crossed you'll grace us again.

Jannie: Not sure how much I've blogged about songwriting. Apologies if I have disappointed on that score. But you can click over to MySpace to hear some of my songs if you like. And thanks for the comment. That bridge shot is a favorite of mine as well. I can barely believe I got that much out of it; I was certain I would have a shot that looked like I had left the lens cap on.

Taffiny said...

Your credited with my first laugh of the day (and perhaps my only) "Let's everyone get sick because the weather is changing"

Like all photos but, the horse butt, it is grande picture indeed, but I feel like he is falling backwards, and that I am about to be in some serious pain. And love the bridge one, for all the obvious reasons. Agree with Jannie about it being a poem.

Baino said...

Hi Maht been 12 months already? Where did the time go? I'm in . . but only one a week! Sunday's Phoctoberday Down Under. Now crack on there sunshine, you're lagging behind!