Insomnia 4/29/11

    The weather is often a large factor in my shooting, and this last week has been no exception. I was glad to welcome the warmth of the new Spring season, but somehow I overlooked the fact that it comes with an abundance of rain.
    Because of the interchangeable lenses and numerous moving parts, to my knowledge, there isn't any company currently making waterproof DSLR's. In order to protect my investments I devised a system to keep them dry. I covered my camera and lens with a plastic bag from the grocery store. It was simple, it was cheap, and it worked.
    I remembered to bring my recently upgraded camera bag, tripod, and umbrella. However, by the end of the night my Nike sneakers were soaked through to the sock.  I was standing in puddles and walking across fields of tall dew soaked grass. On my list of things that bother me, a wet sock is number two, but a missed opportunity is number one.

Insomnia 4/15/11

    This week was all about solving problems. When I discovered my camera did not have a "T" setting I was forced to hold the shutter release for several minutes at a time, making my long exposure images even more difficult to take. Many nights it was below freezing and working with bulky gloves was next to impossible. Often, I chose to forgo the gloves and expose my bare skin to the cold and wind.
    I went to my local camera store in search of a solution. I found a remote shutter release for my Nikon D5000 that was under $30, and when paired with my camera, allowed it to function as a Time setting instead of the Bulb setting.
    Also as promised in my last blog entry, I continued shooting HDR images and am very pleased with their outcome. When shooting several images of the same scene to create the HDR, I encountered yet another problem. Because the individual exposures were so long themselves, the moon would move slightly out of position each frame. When combined to make the HDR, the moon had an unnatural amount of ghosting. I haven't yet figured out how to correct that problem, but I'll keep you posted!
  
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Insomnia 4/8/11

    This past week I continued shooting long exposures. However, I also tried something new. I shot multiple images of the same scene and combined them into a High Dynamic Range (HDR). The surreal look of the HDR is a great way of portraying insomnia, and I look forward to creating more.

Insomnia 4/1/11

    The light that envelops the world at night is a thing of beauty in itself. When you add clouds and rain, the additional diffusion and texture that occurs only enhances the dream-like setting. On a rainy night most people are indoors. However, over the past few weeks I've found that rainy nights are just another opportunity to be seized.
    The following long exposure images vary in shutter speed from 30 seconds, to 5 minutes 30 seconds. Consequently, you face many problems at such long shutter speeds. The first problem is noise. Nikon has a noise-reduction setting on their cameras that works well, but elongates your already lengthy shutter speed. The noise reduction software in Adobe Photoshop's Camera Raw, seems to works the best.
    The second problem you encounter is focusing. In such low light, even a 57-point auto-focus cannot function properly. I've added a high powered flashlight to my camera bag because the iPhone flash light app is only properly suited for finding your keys.
    Exposure is the third problem you will face when using long shutter speeds in low light. The light meter I have is a Sekonic L-758 dr. It is a wonderful product, but I have had a few situations where it is incapable of taking a reading. In those situations I was left to trial and error.
    The following images all have multiple lighting elements, some that are situational and some that I added. I worked with off camera flash, and also painting with light to create the mood and feeling of insomnia.

Insomnia 3/25/11

    For my fourth photo shoot for insomnia I was leaving work after closing up the building and that's when I recognized my inspiration for these images. The empty parking lot aglow with a tungsten hue is a prime example of what insomnia is to me; being awake when everything around you is not.
    This last week was crazy, I'm talking about the weather of course. On Saturday the temperature was in the 70's, and on Monday, the first official day of Spring, it snowed! When the inspiration for these pictures struck, I had my camera and tripod, but not my gloves and scarf. This project has made me discover the lack of "T" setting on my camera, meaning when I do long exposures I have to hold the shutter release on "Bulb" the entire time. With no gloves this posed a challenge exposing my bare skin. This particular night was cold with an intermittent gust of wind. I took an image, sat in the car for a minute to warm up, and then we back out for the next shot.

Insomnia (cont.) 3/18/11

For my third photo shoot, I looked to the stars for inspiration. While taking the following long exposure images the temperature was 40 degrees, the warmest I've shot yet. Like most New England natives, I am looking forward to the coming of Spring.

Insomnia (cont.)

As I continue to keep shooting for my insomnia project, I find myself exploring many places I am both familiar and unfamiliar with. The following images are of a crush stone and concrete company that I have passed many times without a second look, but when seen in the twilight, show a softer side. This industrial zone typically buzzing with machines and men hard at work, appears to be hibernating for the winter.