Sodium light

[pythag]

Hi folks,

I've often wondered around my home at night looking at the interesting shadows created by the sodium street lights outside, and last night I thought I'd have a go at capturing some.

What are your thoughts on the colour? (I'm not sure what the pictures really look like as they appear totally different on my home and work computer). Does the orange sodium light give the picture a nice feel or does it distract?

I also can't make my mind up if the pictures are too cluttered.

I'm new to the world of photography so any guidance (technical or artistic) is much appreciated!

Martin.

[Seb]

Hi folks,

I've often wondered around my home at night looking at the interesting shadows created by the sodium street lights outside, and last night I thought I'd have a go at capturing some.

What are your thoughts on the colour? (I'm not sure what the pictures really look like as they appear totally different on my home and work computer). Does the orange sodium light give the picture a nice feel or does it distract?

I also can't make my mind up if the pictures are too cluttered.

I'm new to the world of photography so any guidance (technical or artistic) is much appreciated!

Martin.

Hello Martin,

Your idea here is interesting. The second picture is too cluttered for me and I don't see how it could works. Perhaps if it was darker in your room so we wouldn't really see what's inside but I am not even sure about it. That's just a general idea.

Your first and third pictures work for me. Especially the third one which I find fairly hypnotic. I guess that the feeling comes from the contrast betwen the great night sky and the inside of your home strongly colored by the light. The only thing that I would change would be to use a slightly bigger aperture, just enough to blur the electic lines that are visible (I don't know if you can control aperture on your camera though...).

I don't really see what else I would change about them. I'd like to see more of them if you happen to shoot some more.

regards

Seb

[Seb]

On second thought having the entire window into the frame and moving slightly at your left to take the picture (picture 3) in order to really center the window should be even nicer.

Beside, welcome to the board!

Seb

[another view]

Really like the third one, but the composition might be a little better if it was either shot with the window at the exact center of the frame, and parallel to it - or more off center. I'd probably vote for more off center due to the dramatic lighting. First and second don't do much for me compositionally.

This really doesn't look like sodium lighting to me - not that I don't believe you, I can tell it probably is a streetlight from the direction. Usually HPS (high pressure sodium) is kind of a pinkish-orangish-yuck color, and this is a really dramatic orange. Looks great here.

[pythag]

Thanks for your comments so far... I'll have a go at re-shooting the third one with the entire window in view and post the results.

The only thing that I would change would be to use a slightly bigger aperture, just enough to blur the electic lines that are visible

The aperture was as large as it will go (f2.8), it needed to be anyway just to get enough light in. All 3 were 15 second exposures, again at the limit of my camera. Perhaps taking the shot from a different angle might move the power lines so they're not behind the plant.

Usually HPS (high pressure sodium) is kind of a pinkish-orangish-yuck color

The street lamps around here are all low pressure sodium (not sure why - perhaps because I'm close to a motorway?) so they have that really narrow-band yellow light. I liked the effect this gave objects in the room, effectively making them monochromatic (but in a different way to if they had been lit with white light and converted to grey scale - for instance blue objects appear almost black).

The camera tinted the colours a bit more to the orange side than what the naked eye saw, I did leave it to sort the white balance out automatically - perhaps I ought to set it myself.

The second picture is too cluttered for me and I don't see how it could works. Perhaps if it was darker in your room so we wouldn't really see what's inside but I am not even sure about it.

I hadn't originally planned to take the second picture - the plants and their shadows had been my original target. However while I was setting the camera up I noticed the calendar (Kylie 2004) being lit by the street light and thought it looked quite mystical (again because the sodium light removed all the colours and just highlighted Kylie), and also the shadow of the window frame seemed to frame the calendar quite nicely. I especially liked the fact that the calendar was in perfect focus, while the shadows cast on the wall were soft (although the small picture doesn't really convey this so well).

Perhaps if the clutter from the desk was removed first, or perhaps if the picture was cropped to include less of the desk it would be more effective?

Beside, welcome to the board!

Thanks! I've been lurking and reading for some time now. I thought starting with a picture taken in my own home was a good plan as I could go back and try various suggestions.

[Chunk]

Hi folks,

I've often wondered around my home at night looking at the interesting shadows created by the sodium street lights outside, and last night I thought I'd have a go at capturing some.

What are your thoughts on the colour? (I'm not sure what the pictures really look like as they appear totally different on my home and work computer). Does the orange sodium light give the picture a nice feel or does it distract?

I also can't make my mind up if the pictures are too cluttered.

I'm new to the world of photography so any guidance (technical or artistic) is much appreciated!

Martin.

You might want to take a look at making a histogram adjustment. I don't think the result is necessarily better, but it is an interesting variation on the original. (I looked at #3)

[another view]

The street lamps around here are all low pressure sodium (not sure why - perhaps because I'm close to a motorway?) so they have that really narrow-band yellow light. I liked the effect this gave objects in the room, effectively making them monochromatic (but in a different way to if they had been lit with white light and converted to grey scale - for instance blue objects appear almost black).

Didn't think about LPS. Haven't seen that for awhile - it's pretty rare here near Chicago. One good use for it is around observatories just because of the narrow color spectrum that they create. Because of this, the light is easy to filter out.

There are some underpasses downtown that have it too, but not sure why - it's pretty hard to see by!

[natatbeach]

really caught my eye... my brain works in VERY interesting ways and I just thought this part of the image was very moody sexy almost.

I like the vintage poster with play of shadows of the window and plant...

a simple image but striking...just my humble opinion.

I think witht he other two you have a good concept...but maybe continue to experiment with setting up some still lifes or something...something that maximizes the light but has more of a visual interest.

[pythag]

really caught my eye... my brain works in VERY interesting ways and I just thought this part of the image was very moody sexy almost.

Hi Nat,

I'm glad you commented on the second picture, it was my favourite yet I accepted it didn't quite work. The crop you did helped it a lot.

Really like the third one, but the composition might be a little better if it was either shot with the window at the exact center of the frame, and parallel to it - or more off center.

As promised I had a go at re-shooting the third picture, and here are my results. The first picture is only slightly to the left of where I took the original, and doesn't include the light source (i.e. the street lamp!!!!!). I'm not so fond of this because the houses in the background are too distracting, I couldn't get low enough from the new position.

For the second picture I moved further to the left so the street lamp was behind the plant. Although the houses are still there I feel the glare hides the clutter, but perhaps not enough.

maybe continue to experiment with setting up some still lifes or something...something that maximizes the light but has more of a visual interest.

I think you've hit the nail on the head here - the subject just isn't interesting enough. The problem is there aren't many things which would naturally be lit by sodium light other than house plants in windows!

I'm going to have a go at playing with shots which include the street lamps themselves - I liked the contrast having the light in the picture gave. I'll report back!

You might want to take a look at making a histogram adjustment. I don't think the result is necessarily better, but it is an interesting variation on the original.

I had a look at the histograms for picture #3. The only thing which I could make work was to apply a gamma-correct type function to the blue channel (see picture #3 on this post). This made for a very striking image, but not very natural. What did you have in mind?

[pythag]

Okay,

Here's my final shot at making sodium light interesting before everybody gets totally bored:

I've tried a different subject (the whole street, rather than just one plant), but I've tried to keep the idea of placing the light source behind something which will break it up.

Any final comments?

Martin.

[natatbeach]

and the one I liked...frame 'em and call it a day---till tomorrow...

I think your positioning is better and you did much better at taking the time to avoid distrcations in the shot...that last one is beautiful...nice mood and very nice colors (could you post bigger though?)

[PuckJunkey]

Within the first series, the first image is really good IMO. Very interesting combination of contrast, line and shape. The second is not as compelling I think, because the added distance to the wall flattens out the color some. The third shot is also pretty cool. Nothing like a few Sodium Vapor lamps to light up your night life.

[Chunk]

I had a look at the histograms for picture #3. The only thing which I could make work was to apply a gamma-correct type function to the blue channel (see picture #3 on this post). This made for a very striking image, but not very natural. What did you have in mind?

I agree that what I was looking at while messing around with your phot is not very natural looking and I'm not saying that it's better than the original. It's just kinda like you could have gotten with a longer exposure. The dialog box is from Paintshop Pro.