When winter weather moves across the Plains quickly there’s a brief time between when the snow stops falling and the sky clears up. During that time light from the city bounces up against the low clouds, is redirected downward and makes the snow covered ground glow with an even light. Long exposures reveal a soft light that envelopes the world to show off sights our eyes can’t capture. Combined with ambient man-made lights the overall effect is magical.
At a local lake the other night I set up just as the wind was blowing the clouds away so the city light was varied but the clouds in long exposure gave interesting textures to the sky as the remnants of the fast-moving clouds glowed over the various well-lit shopping areas. This, combined with the few lights in the park, gave me the opportunity to create some interesting black and white images. Don’t be fooled by the illumination – it was quite dark where I set up but 25-50 second exposures just suck in the light to reveal what our eyes don’t notice.
ISO 200, 27mm, 50 sec., f/7.1
ISO 200, 27mm, 25 sec., f/7.1
ISO 200, 35mm, 25 sec., f/7.1
ISO 200, 27mm, 50 sec., f/7.1
Mel Mann Photography - The Blog 
Very cool. Has a sort of a eerie feel about it. In the first picture, is the fence shadow from the moon or a street light?
LikeLike
Sam,
That’s from a street light behind me to the left. The moon was just coming out of the clouds but only 1/4 phase so little light contribution from it.
LikeLike
The 50 sec exposure on the last images just nails it for me – it provides an invitation to the image.
LikeLike
Thanks. I liked how the entrance was bathed in light, surrounded by the softer night illumination.
LikeLike
Nice cool lighting, I like the building shot, shows how something mundane can have impact if you strip away the colour too.
LikeLike
No color means paying more attention to the tones. I’m working on my Zone System for nighttime images!
LikeLike