Review of Photographing the St. Louis Arch at Night

I have photographed the St. Louis Arch at sunrise, in the morning and during the day but I had never photographed it at sunset and beyond.  When our photography club decided to take a trip across the Mississippi and photograph the Arch from a park on the east side of the river I was ready to go.  I wasn't sure what I was expecting but when we got there I saw this platform that provided a great overlook to photograph the Arch and the riverfront.

The photos below show the ramp and members of our group lined up at the top of the platform eagerly awaiting the sun to set.

Tips for Nighttime Photography

• Use a tripod...this will help eliminate camera shake in the low light.  This is particularly important once the sun has set.
• Don't put the horizon in the middle of the photo.  Try getting it somewhere in the bottom third of the photo.
• Shoot in aperture priority when the sun is still up and switch to manual once the sun sets.
• Stay longer ( check next paragraph for reason why).
• Try changing white balance to shade setting for more stunning colors.
•  Wait for night clouds.  A partly cloudy sky is the best for sunsets.
• Watch for birds.  They can add interest to the photo.

Sunset in St. Louis

Search tips for night photography online and you will find a wealth of information.  The tips above are a few that I thought were particularly good.

Staying after Sunset

When I am photographing in the evening, I see many photographers wait till sunset, take their photos, and then pack up and leave.  If they do they will miss the beauty of the special lighting that often happens 20-30 minutes after sunset.  

Right after sunset you will see some really pretty colors in the sky.  

You will note in this photo, taken about 5 minutes after sunset that the sky has some pretty pinks and yellow's to it.  On some evenings this can be even more pronounced, but I still think it was pretty in the photo above.

If you wait till all the colors have gone in the sky, you will then get to the "Blue Hour" where the sky turns a beautiful dark blue.  Many people miss this because they are in too big a hurry to wait.  It is definitely their loss.  I have seen times where there is only a slight darkening of the blue and other times where it is a fantastic deep blue.  It is worth waiting to see what the evening will bring.

In the case of the arch taken from the east, I also wanted to wait till all the lights were on in the buildings around the arch.  The arch is usually lit up but at this time of year those lights were turned off so they didn't interfere with the migration of birds.  Although I would have liked to see the lights on the arch, I will have to save that for another trip and I do believe it made the other lights on the city appear even brighter.  This photo was taken 25  minutes after sunset.

See More on the St. Louis Arch

Here is a Review This post on the Arch showing photography at sunrise and during the daytime.

Explore St. Louis Arch

St. Louis Arch on Zazzle

I have made several of my Arch photos into Zazzle products.  Here are a few and you may find more in my zazzle store at Mbgphoto on Zazzle

Sunset

St Louis Arch at Sunset Card
by mbgphoto

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Review of Sony A6300 Mirrorless Camera

For my birthday my husband bought me a new Sony Mirrorless camera.  I was looking for something lightweight to use when I traveled. But I wanted the same capabilities of my Sony SLR. I had been hearing about the mirrorless cameras from fellow photographers and at a meeting last fall we had a speaker at our photo club that introduced us to mirrorless cameras and I was sold.  A mirrorless camera combines the best of a DSLR(Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera and a lightweight compact body.  It has the features of the DSLR without the mirrors which makes it a lightweight camera without sacrificing the quality.

Features of A6300

There are many features that I enjoy on the Sony A6300.  Here are just a few of the ones that are important to me.

• 100-25,600 ISO range allowing you to take great photos even in low light settings.
• 4D focus systems which quickly locks in on your subject, helping to take crisp clear photos.
• Continuous shooting at up to 11fps(frames per second)
• WiFi, NFC, QR codes for easy file transfer
• Tiltable 3inch LCD screen that tilts up or down for capturing high and low framing
• An eyepiece cup that helps me to see clearly what I am photographing.
• Settings that allow you to shoot in Auto, Scene, Full Manual and everything in between.
• Movies in 4K movie recording

                                                               

Learning to Use A6300

I am finding the A6300 very easy to use.  Most of the features are similar to my DSLR so the learning curve was very easy.  My husband bought me two lenses to go with my new camera a wide angle 16-55 and a telephoto in the 55-210 range.

The photo below was taken during a cloudy day in a room with no lights turned on.  I love the way the camera handles low light situations.  For this photo I just set the camera to aperture priority F7.0 and shot away.  The colors came out perfect with no adjustment needed.

On a recent trip to Florida, I was able to photograph birds at the pier with my new camera.  In order to get some nice closeup shots I put on my 55-210 zoom lens.  In this closeup of a brown colored pigeon I again used aperture priority and a F6.3 setting.  I love the sharp photo, great colors and blurred background.

For photographs using my photography ball, I switched to a wider angle lens 16-55 mm. I again used aperture priority and was able to capture Jupiter lighthouse in my ball.

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Sunrise-Sunset and Night Photography

Taking  photos in low light can present challenges, but if you keep a few tips in mind you will be rewarded with some wonderful photos.  To get really clear photos in low light settings a tripod is a must.  Here is a photo that I took in my front yard on the 4th of July. 

Taking photos of fireworks can be a fun adventure. There seems to be lots of fireworks around our neighborhood so each year on Independence Day I set up my tripod on our front walk and wait for just the right shot.  I have found that the tripod is a necessity to get a clear shot.

In this photo I used my Canon SX40 camera.  For my settings I used a F8 aperture and held the camera open for 2 seconds.  The ISO setting was 100 and I zoomed to the 80mm setting.




I also enjoy taking photos in low light settings.  The time just before and for about 30 minutes after sunset can produce some beautiful photos.  I give you hints on taking photos during this time at How to Take Sunset Photos. 

I am not usually an early  morning person but the beauty of a sunset can get me out of bed and behind the eye of a camera.  Here is a shot I took at sunrise in Juno Beach Florida.  I arrived at the pier about 1/2 hour before sunrise, set up my camera and waited for the perfect shot.  I was able to take about 20 photos before the sun got too high in the sky.

I have been fascinated by sunrises for quite some time and have written about other encounters with photographing sunrises on this page Beautiful Sunrises.

As I visited the pages of other photographers this week I found two that I particularly enjoyed their takes on night time and low light photography.

• Patgoltz is a wonderful photographer.  On this page Night Photography , she gives us great hints on taking photos at night.  She also suggests some interesting night time subjects.  I would think of photographing the moon, fireworks, and Christmas lights; all of which Pat gives some wonderful tips.  But how about subjects like flowers, birds, lightning and even snow?  Those are some of the interesting night subject Pat explores on her lens.
• EditionH gives 5 tips for taking photos of the sunrise and sunset.  This lens was granted a Lens of the Day on 2/10/14 Sunset and Sunrise Photos  Be sure to stop by to see some beautiful photos and learn how you can take these photos.  My favorites are the photos with the morning fog!

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