TimSmith67

san antonio river boat lights

Nov, 2015

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Contest Finalist in 400 Cities By Water Photo Contest

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Behind The Lens

Location

I took this photo in San Antonio, Texas. There's a large wall in a parking lot that obstructs the general view -ended up standing on my truck bed for several hours to take a series of photos. As the tourist boats would come by, they'd look up and wave.

Time

As the shoot location was in a parking lot, I had to wait for cars to clear out to get the best spot for the shot I wanted. Once I was in my spot, it was about 5:30- 6:00 pm, got the camera and composition setup and started test shooting.

Lighting

When I shoot at night, I tend to get to the location early, get setup and start just before it gets dark. As long as I'm comfortable with the composition, getting a series of photos, I can always go back and look at how the lighting is changing. Focusing can be an issue in really dark scenes, but as I recall there were plenty of bright spots and it wasn't much of an issue. San Antonio has a river attraction that runs through the city, typically the tourists ride in guided tours. The light streaks are boat lights from the tourist boats. They seem to come around every 20 minutes and move by within a minute or so. As I recall, the exposures would run about 30 seconds long, creating the light effect on the water.

Equipment

This photo was taken with the d5300, tripod used was a Dolica, with a wireless remote.

Inspiration

I bought a camera in Sept 2015 for the purpose of going to the Grand Canyon. After buying a entry level nikon d5300, I fell in love with not just photography, but the process. The process of composition, post production, planning. In learning about light and how light works in photography, I was drawn to darker scenes that show light moving -light streaks on the water, seemed to showcase the city and give a cool look.

Editing

Generally any post is done in photoshop and nik software. In photoshop, generally will add dodge and burn layers and with nik software, I typically always use a pro contrast feature, seems to make things pop in an image.

In my camera bag

Recently upgraded to nikon d810, depending on the shoot will either bring along a tamron 15-30 or tamron 70-200mm. Also, depending on the shoot, have used the Lee Filters, big and little stoppers.

Feedback

Probably nothing that hasn't been said before. Get there early, get your composition and take lots of shots.

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TimSmith67

TimSmith67

san antonio river boat lights

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow TimSmith67

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