Project 365 - Day 70 - Oakville@Night

Camera club night tonight.  It was a show and share night, where people shared their pictures.  It's always inspiring to see others' work.  You learn from everyone and every shot.  When you stop learning, I think that's when you stop shooting.

So when the club was finished for the night, I came home.  It was raining and leaving QE Park I noticed that the reflections were incredible in the parking lot.  So I raced home, said hello to the wife and the dog (yes, in that order), grabbed my camera and back out the door I went.

I went to downtown Oakville.  The trees are still lit up with Christmas lights.  It was late enough that there was not a lot of traffic going by, so it minimized the light trails.

I set up in front of the butcher shop and propped my umbrella over the camera.  Sure, I was getting wet but water doesn't hurt me - much (it's more soap that I'm afraid of).  First lesson of the night?  Bring entire camera bag with clamps to allow the umbrella to be clamped to tripod thus eliminating the need to hold said umbrella over the camera while making 3 to 10 second exposures.

I experimented with running down the sidewalk to be in the picture, and trying to catch someone walking through.  But apparently when you want someone in the shot they are polite and get out of the way of your shot.

This particular shot is 1.6 seconds at f/20.  ISO is 800, I like to keep it low so I had thought I kept it at 400.  Second lesson of the night (one I refuse to actually remember) check the camera.  I cropped for content and adjusted the white balance and contrast.  I also cloned out one headlight of a guy who was just sitting there the entire time in his car with the lights on.  I attempted to put the light out of frame, but with the longer exposure it kept bleeding through.