Ian Bramham's Photoblog
Night on the Lake
Posted by Ian Bramham (Manchester, United Kingdom) on 18 February 2009 in Landscape & Rural and Portfolio.
A 10 minute long exposure photo - full night on Grasmere Lake, Cumbria with the glow of Grasmere village in the background.
It was so dark that I could hardly see those rocks in the foreground through the camera viewfinder.
This was photographed on Saturday when I met up with John Leech for a dusk to dawn shoot in the English Lake District.
12 hours photography in beautiful scenery like this produced a lot of landscape photos, both colour and b&w, and I'll be posting the results here over the coming weeks. I hope you'll like them.
For purchasing high quality archival prints of any of these photos you can send me an email by clicking here or by going to MY NEW WEBSITE where prices are listed in the gallery sections under each individual photo.
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Links to the websites of other photographers whose work I love and who have all helped me enormously over a long period of time. I find the work of all 3 to be inspirational.
@Didier: Thanks Didier!
Philip from Joburg, South Africa
Excellent landscape photography the colours are incredible!
18 Feb 2009 7:24am
@Philip: Thanks Philip....I've done a lot of night photography over the last year and I'm often delighted at the way the camera records colour even when it's as dark as this was to the naked eye. 10 minutes is a long time to be gathering light and it often produces unhoped for results.
@greg: Thanks Greg....this was the last photograph of the day so you can imagine how pleased I was with it. A lovely way to finish off a great day of self indulgent landscape photography.
@Marie LC: Hi Marie :-)
@yz: Thanks yz!
@Courtney King: Thanks Courtney.....yes, it was very peaceful down there at the water's edge with time to appreciate it all while the camera did it's thing with the 10 minute exposure.
@bm: Thanks bm!
Mike from Lichfield, United Kingdom
An extremely well balanced and beautifully exposed photograph. I can't wait to see some of the other photos. Did you do much post processing on this one?
18 Feb 2009 10:07am
@Mike: Thanks Mike.....no, there's almost no post processing on this one. It was a touch underexposed so I brightened it very slightly without going so far as to loose the feeling of it being a night time photo or introducing digital noise. Also I had to straighten the horizon by a few degrees.
Although I'd already taken a few photos from this spot before nightfall, I was very lucky with the composition as it was too dark to see those foreground rocks properly through the viewfinder.
zahai from Berlin, Germany
Wonderful light and mood, beautiful composition. Great :)
18 Feb 2009 10:58am
@zahai: Thanks Zahai!
GJC from Kyoto, Japan
This is stunning. I think your color work is extraordinary and this is a prime example. The control over exposure and color is just so amazing. Thanks for sharing, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the shoot.
18 Feb 2009 11:00am
@GJC: Thanks GJC....I've always enjoyed the way colour turns out in night photography.
@Lee: Thanks Lee!
@Michael Skorulski: Thanks Michael!
IanSmith from London, United Kingdom
Wow Ian, this is beautiful!!!
Can I ask how you focussed this shot?
18 Feb 2009 1:22pm
@IanSmith: Thanks Ian!
I was surprised a little by how well the autofcusing on my D40 still worked okay on the shots I did at this location but I guess it was down to the sensors picking up the contrast in the lights from the village, although I usually switch over to manual focus once I've got a focus lock on infinity.
I've certainly never taken photos before in such a dark location......I could easily have kept the shutter open for 20 minutes and it still wouldn't have been overexposed.
Cheryl from Texas, United States
5 stars on this one....georgous light and tone and so smooth!! BRAVO!!! my favorite!
18 Feb 2009 1:30pm
@Cheryl: Thanks Cheryl!
bluechameleon from Vancouver, Canada
OMG Ian, this is truly superb! The colours are so deep and rich! I am amazed! Five stars and a heart at VFXY.
18 Feb 2009 2:02pm
@bluechameleon: Thanks Sharon! (and for the fave at VFXY!)
Laurie from New Jersey, United States
This is quite beautiful. I love the light you pulled from the night scene and the colors.
18 Feb 2009 2:02pm
@Laurie: Thanks Laurie!
Anna.C from LA ROCHELLE, France
wonderful result ! I love this dark blue night ! you are patient to wait for 10mn ;-)
18 Feb 2009 2:25pm
@Anna.C: Thanks Anna....it was a pleasure to be there and to have the time to take this photo in such beautiful and peaceful surroundings!
MadScientist from Düsseldorf, Germany
That's exciting and beautiful as well. 10 minutes - incredible!
18 Feb 2009 2:34pm
@MadScientist: Thanks very much!
@WABIKOJA: Thanks very much....the colours are straight out of the camera which was a nice surprise!
Ben from Tacoma, WA, United States
Wonderful shot, I love the composition and the colors. Feels very eery to me.
18 Feb 2009 3:31pm
@Ben: Thanks Ben...it was actually very calm, peaceful and very beautiful with the slight mist and the still water.
Wayne Molyneux from Crewe, United Kingdom
Thats a fabulous result from a 10 min exposure you even kept detail in those FG rocks, what if any noise reduction software do you use?
An impressed Wayne
18 Feb 2009 3:34pm
@Wayne Molyneux: Thanks Wayne....to answer your question, I didn't use any noise reduction software on this although I had the function switched on in-camera mainly to make sure I didn't end up with any unwanted amp glow due to the long exposure. As you probaly know the camera takes another 10 minute dark exposure immediately after the real one and deducts any colour interference resulting from the sensor heating up.
There's virtually no processing on this other than lightening it slightly and straightening the horizon in Capture NX2 and adding the border etc in Photoshop.
ZoomLNZ from Los Angeles Area, United States
A truely beautiful shot. I love the gradient colors.
Thanks for your visit and comments at my site.
18 Feb 2009 3:41pm
@ZoomLNZ: Thanks very much!
hugo poon from hong kong, Hong Kong
Another incredible long exposure photo... So beautiful is each and every element of this pic: the tone, lighting, composition, atmosphere, drama... Congrats, Ian!!!
18 Feb 2009 4:21pm
@hugo poon: Thanks Hugo....sometimes these long exposure photos bring the nicest surprises!
Claus Petersen from herfølge, Denmark
Beautiful range of blues and purples! Great shot!
18 Feb 2009 5:01pm
@Claus Petersen: Thanks Claus!
@Sof: Thanks Sof!
@Eleftheria: Thanks Eletheria!
JoeB from Brampton, Canada
Its like night into day, I'm still trying to get around the 10 min. exposure.
18 Feb 2009 8:46pm
@JoeB: Thanks Joe!.....these long exposures certainly slow things down a lot and give me time to appreciate why I love photography.
@Ted: Cheers Ted!
Frida from Sweden
Beautiful and well composed. I love the soft colors and tones. The two sides one blue and one "pink" that blends together are beautiful.
18 Feb 2009 10:00pm
@Frida: Thanks Frida....I was lucky with the colours as that's just how they came out of the camera.
alex centrella from California, United States
wow, fantastic color..and a great portfolio of work also..
18 Feb 2009 11:31pm
@alex centrella: Thanks very much Alex!
Jen from St. George, United States
This photo is breath-taking! And the rocks in the foreground, even though you could hardly see them, bring the picture together nicely! :)
19 Feb 2009 12:39am
@Jen: Thanks Jen.....sometimes, if you keep pressing the shutter button enough, you just get lucky once in a while...I was really pleased with this one.
@Jerry: Thanks Jerry!
Tracy from Victoria, Canada
This photo is incredible!! The colours are amazing, it's so calm and very very beautiful
19 Feb 2009 1:38am
@Tracy: Thanks Tracy....yes, it was very calm and peaceful down by the lakeside enveloped by the darkness.
DarkElf from Perth, Australia
10 minute exposure - wow! and yet the photo is still perfectly sharp and visibility brilliant! trully excellent work! the long exposure has brought out the colours out of the night and the mood is just wonderful! love the rocks leading into the shot - my eyes just want to jump from one to the other and keep going further in...
19 Feb 2009 1:47am
@DarkElf: Thanks!....I was lucky that the composition turned out like this as it was very difficult to see the foreground rocks through the viewfinder, although I'd already taken some photos from roughly this position before darkness fell which helped a lot.
@Virgil: Thanks Virgil!
@Daniel: Thanks Daniel!....yes, it was very peaceful and still down by the waters edge.
David Murray from Newark-on-Trent, United Kingdom
Grasmere by night! That is truly beautiful. Thank you.
19 Feb 2009 3:08am
@David Murray: Thanks David!
amy from Nanaimo, BC, Canada
Incredible, Ian! You are the man!! Love your new site... I'm sure you'll be selling a lot of images!!
19 Feb 2009 4:14am
@amy: Thanks Amy....we'll see won't we :-) (I'm in no rush)
William Darhy from France
Beautiful colors on this night shot. I like this light in the back, a bit surreal
19 Feb 2009 7:02am
@William Darhy: Thanks William...in my experience digital cameras always record colour at night differently from the way our eyes do and the results often have a slightly intense 'other worldly' feel to them which I really like.
Rui from Leiria, Portugal
Absolutely gorgeous. Excellent work.
Night photography is what drives me on. I've been investing in this area, and you're right... the results are always amazing and surprising. It's fantastic how the camera captures the different colors and light that we can not see with our eyes.
At this moment I'm also preparing a new session for the first days of March, when the moon is full, and the light is more intense.
19 Feb 2009 9:45am
@Rui: Thanks Rui!
When I moved up from using a compact camera to my current DSLR just over a year ago the ability to try long exposure night photography proved such a great revelation.
Lorraine from Gatineau, Canada
Master of Light, you are my dreammaker... why oh why do I stay away? Because I'm afraid that my passion for beauty will once again overcome my poverty and I'll buy so many prints..mmm man you deserve millions...
19 Feb 2009 11:53am
@Lorraine: Hi Lorraine...you have the nicest way with compliments. Thanks!
John Maslowski from Dallas, PA, United States
Spectacular composition, the colors, light and mist really create the mood here. Excellent in every respect. Great processing on this image.
20 Feb 2009 1:47am
Stu from Kyoto, Japan
Ah...yeah....well this is just ridiculously good Ian. 'nuff said.
25 Feb 2009 10:34am
Russ Devan from New Hanover, United States
Simply beautiful, Ian. I love the mood here.
25 Feb 2009 7:36pm
Jeff from Honolulu, United States
Beautiful colors, gradually fading into one another, and a pleasing composition.
1 Mar 2009 5:40am
Ragnar from Tromso, Norway
I just love the colours in this one! So magical, well done!
3 Mar 2009 11:09am
m a r t a from Spain
Wow, this is beautiful. The water looks so calm and peaceful.
10 Mar 2009 11:36am
Nikon D40
6011/10 second
F/8.0
ISO 200
24 mm (35mm equiv.)