Steamboat at Night
DMC-G85
Aperture 54/10 ISO 6400 Shutter 10/150 Focal Length 450/10 
Steamboat Springs, Colorado, US
Feb, 2018Views
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People's Choice in The Beauty of the Blue Hour Photo Challenge
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, near the base of the Steamboat Ski Resort.Time
It was early evening, probably near 6pm in early February.Lighting
The sun had set, but it wasn't quite fully dark yet, in that blue hour just before full night fall. The lights were on for the portion of the mountain used for night skiing, and the lights for Thunderhead lodge and the grooming crews twinkled up on the mountain.Equipment
This photo was taken with my new Lumix G-85, using an Olympus 14-150 mm zoom lens, with the camera set to its 'handheld night shot' mode.Inspiration
My daughter had captured a clear handheld night shot of the mountain the year before, a testament to the built in image stabilization in her new Nikon camera. At the time, my Pentax *ist cameras simply could not provide a clear night shot without a tripod, so when I got my new Lumix camera, I wanted to see what quality it could produce while shooting handheld at night. This scene was an opportunity to compare my shots to those my daughter got with her Nikon.Editing
While this image takes advantage of many features of the camera, including its auto ISO settings and built in stabilization, no additional processing was performed after the photo was taken. This is how it came out of the camera.In my camera bag
I almost always carry the camera and a selection of lenses with me on trips, but for ski trips I limit myself to the single 14-150 mm lens, which gives me the greatest range of options in a single package.Feedback
If your camera does not include built in image stabilization or high ISO options, then you will need a tripod to capture an image like this. But for the newer cameras with these features, as well as the ability to combine multiple shorter exposures to expand the dynamic range, it is surprisingly easy to capture photos like this, even shooting freehand. Play with the settings on your camera, and experiment to learn what the limits of its performance are. But if you absolutely need to be sure to get the shot, make sure you have a tripod handy for those shots that are beyond the ability of the technology to assist you.
