Tag Archives: Long Exposure

Nocturnal Streets

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Nocturnal streets offer a different face to the daytime version – a busy, central area now quiet, almost no people, little traffic, all but deserted

Nocturnal Streets 01

Nocturnal Streets 02

All the same buildings are there, the traffic lights wink and change in their pattern, regardless of the lack of vehicles passing, but it is all just somewhat different, while still being the same place. I think that’s one of the reasons I like taking long exposure shots at night, it just reveals a version of the city your eye can’t see.

Nocturnal Streets 03

Nocturnal Streets 04

Nocturnal Streets 05

These were all improvised shots – I was coming home late from the cinema, and so no tripod with me. I had ten minutes to wait for a bus, so I set the timer and sat the camera on bollards, ledges and posts to steady it for a few shots while I waited, and this is what I got, all around Edinburgh Quay, the modern buildings around where the Union Canal now ends (although originally it continued on over the main road to an inland port nearby).

Nocturnal Streets 06

Blue Hour Reflections

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Walking home this week, and while it is still dark by the time I leave work, with it being lighter till a little later every day as we move into spring, there was a smidgen of blue light in the western sky. I didn’t have the tripod with me, so sat the camera in timer mode on the stone wall by the Walker Bridge over the Union Canal, where it runs between rows of Victorian tenements.

Blue Hour Reflections

And I was lucky enough to catch this gorgeous Moon rise over the Union Canal, as dusk fell, the Moon chasing the setting sun across the sky.

The Moon Chased The Sun Across The Heavens 02

Night Vision

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While many are depressed by the long, dark, winter nights in Scotland (dark by around 3.30pm by mid-winter), I tend to take the chance to snap some night shots of the city. I’m always fascinated by the way the camera, on a long exposure, can drink in more light to see more than the human eye can, and also how different the city seems at night, or how different again on wet nights to dry nights.

Wet Night, Bright Lights

Gorgie Road, Dusk 02

Dusk skies, the very tail-end of Blue Hour, just that little hint of fading colour in the western sky.

Gorgie Road, Dusk 03

Dreich Night 02

A wet evening by the Union Canal – the wiggly line you can see is a “light trail”, caused by a passing light caught in the long exposure into a line. When it is on a car or bicycle, it tends to be a smooth line, here it is dipping up down like a sine wave because it was a head torch on a jogger running alongside the canal

Dundee Street On A Wet Night

Passing traffic creating light trails on a wet evening

Warp Drive

Warp speed!!! A double decker bus, caught on a long exposure as it passed, creating this interesting light effect.

Union Canal On A Wet Winter Night 01

Union Canal On A Wet Winter Night 03

The Union Canal at night, the upper pic around a four second exposure, the lower image was a much longer (thirty seconds) exposure, capturing more light, even that light reflecting in the water and puddles, and a long, white light trail from the lamp on front of a passing bicycle, the bike itself invisible in the long exposure, only the light coming out as a solid line.

Picking Up Their Dinner

Picking up their dinner – person going into a restaurant at night, Dalry Road.

Travelling By Light Beams 01

Travelling by light beams – traffic stretched out into light trails by long exposure shots

Kirky After Dark 01

Light trails crossing the junction at Townhead, Kirkintilloch.

Nocturnal City Scenes

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Although we are slowly edging towards spring, with it being lighter for a little longer each day now, it is still dark by the time I leave work, so I have been experimenting with the new camera’s night mode.

Bruntsfield At Night 01

Bruntsfield Place at night. Improvised night shot, setting the timer and sitting the camera on a flat-topped traffic bollard to steady it for some long exposure shots. This means you get no choice over angles, as you would with the tripod, but it’s a handy way to take night shots when you don’t have the tripod with you (like when walking home from work!).

Light Trails

Light trails from traffic crossing the junction of Holy Corner, where our old bookshop used to be (it gets its name from the fact there is a church on each corner of the junction)

Night Over The Union Canal 02

Reflections on the Union Canal after dark.

Nocturnal Roads 05

Nocturnal Roads 03

Light trails on the Western Approach Road at Fountainbridge

York Place With Added Light Trails

More light trails, this time as traffic passes the Conan Doyle pub at Picardy Place. The pub is named for the creator of Sherlock Holmes, who had his family home near this spot (a statue of Sherlock stands nearby, just a few metres behind the vantage point of this photo, near the tram stop)

Playhouse

Playhouse With Added Light Trails

Playhouse Theatre at night, then a closer shot as the traffic lights changed and the cars started moving, so I got some more light trails.

Ghost Lights

A couple of different light trails this time, the line of headlights, the cars themselves ghosted out of the photo, but the camera also picked up these unusual, overlapping light patterns lower in the image, which I rather like.

Wet Roads

I am a sucker for a night shot with streetlights glistening on wet roads after rain, especially a monochrome take. Took this the other evening walking home from the railway station after visiting dad.

As ever, to see the full-sized versions, click on the pictures to visit my Flickr stream (which somehow racked up well over a million views last year).