"5DMk2 - Today's Best Camera for Night Photography"

The On-Sight blog has a post titled "5DMk2 - Today's Best Camera For Night Photography". Although you Nikonites may or may not agree with his Canon-centric thesis, there are some very interesting observations about shooting at night with this camera.

(Exposure experiments using ISO6400, photo by On-Sight Blog)

I particularly like his idea for using ISO6400 to work out your exposures before shooting the final image at ISO100 because the ISO6400 "seconds" exposure translates directly into ISO100 "minutes" exposures. For example, 15 seconds at ISO6400 translates to 15 minutes at ISO 100. It seems to obvious. Why didn't I think of that?

Thanks to Lance Keimig at TheNightSkye for finding this one.

Will Steacey

"I know the night is not the same as the day: that all things are different, that the things of night can not be explained in the day, because they do not then exist."

-Ernest Hemingway

I recently came across Will Steacy's work on Jorg Colberg's Conscientious blog. Will's project Down These Mean Streets features his night photography taken in questionable urban neighborhoods at night using a large format camera. Jorg also provided an interview with Will.

(Photo by Will Steacy)

Book News: Lynn Seville and Troy Paiva

Two announcement this week regarding night photography books.

First, Troy Paiva's second book, Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration, was selected as the Best Special Trade Photography Book of the year at the recent New York Book Festival. This is a great recognition, especially since Annie Leibovitz's Annie Lebovitz at Work took third place. I know quite a few people who own Night Vision, and everyone agrees that it is a "must have" for anyone who is interested in night photography.

(Photo by Troy Paiva)

Second, Lynn Seville's latest book Night/Shift. This hardcover text includes 80 color photographs, with an Introduction by Arthur C. Danto, art critic for The Nation. Many night photographers may already be familiar with Lynn's first book, Acquainted with the Night. Details of the book tour can be found on Lynn's website.

(Night/Shift cover, by Lynn Seville)

Brian Ulrich

Brian Ulrich has created some of the most memorable photographs of our society's appetite for consumption; sneaking around in supermarkets and big box stores with a camera. Check out his Copia project, as well as an insightful interview with him.

He also does some fine night photography:

(Target, 2008, by Brian Ulrich)