Night Photography

Wednesday night after Church Becky and I went to the Silver Lake Wildlife Management Area to photograph the barn we had photographed last week only this time we were going to do it with moonlight. Right is a photograph of the barn taken over a 9 minute interval. It was converted from color to black & white using Photoshop. The only light used was the light of the full moon. The white line in the sky above the barn are stars.



The next morning we got up at 5:00 am and went to Bainbridge to the Earl May Boat Basin to photograph the launch of the bass tournament. This is one of the major bass tournaments with about 150 boats involved. The boats begin arriving at about 5:00 am and must wait until 7:30 am to leave the boat basin. During this time the boats must circle through the basin past a check-in boat to get inspected before they depart. The photos below are from this time and were taken using a 15 to 30 second exposure. The boats are in motion so all you really see is the navigation lights from the boats and their reflection in the water. The line of light you see under the pine trees are from the lights of the trucks and boat trailers waiting to launch. Remember the only light was the light from the moom and the parking lot lights at the boat basin.

The photo below was taken with a much faster shutter speed so you can see to boats as they wait for the start of the tournament.

Many of the bass fishermen choose to pull their boats up on the bank and wait. In the photo below you see that twilight has arrived as the sky is beginning to get brighter to the East. You can also see the Bainbridge outdoor stage in the background. After everyone has launched, parked their trucks, and checked in and inspected everyone turns off their motors and the Tournament Director offers a prayer followed by the singing of the National Anthem.

Boats then depart one right after the other through a narrow canal leading to the Flint River where they can then hit the throttle and go to full speed to reach their choice of fishing holes for the day. This causes a lot of rough water as a couple of bass fishermen discovered in the photo below.