Ian H's Space: Gleam - Festival of light Derby

I read about the Festival of Light in a newsletter that I receive at work. This is part of an arts festival in the city of Derby. It presented an opportunity for me to practice photographing buildings at night.

Specific techniques to be practiced include low light photography and use of a tripod. Although image capture would be colour the intention was to look at the possibility of B & W conversion to look at replicating the feel of some of the works of Brassi that I had seen during research.

This is a public event so it will be necessary to be aware of the public as well as equipment when considering safety. Weather is cold so warm clothing required.

The Gleam festival was using buildings within the Cathedral Quarter of Derby as the backdrop for a series of light shows. In order to capture elements of the moving light show I would use longer exposures 15-30seconds.

The camera that I am using has image stabilisation built into the body. As I will be using a tripod this is to be turned off.

Derby Cathedral

Gleam event i

15mm, 15sec, F5.6, ISO400

The buildings were being illuminated by a series of moving lights. By using long exposures of 15-30 seconds it allowed the overall pattern to be recorded. I had read about a similar technique in a photography magazine where specific sections of a building had been highlighted by firing a flash-gun a different sections of the building while the shutter remained open. It has proved very effective with these images. The lenth of exposure has allowed a lot of detail to be captured, however the clouds have become blurred as they have moved.