Lost America ::::: Night Photography of the Abandoned West

Disclaimer

All the photographs on this site were shot at night, or in low/no-light conditions, with only a few exceptions.

All of the work shot from 1989 to 2004 was done on film. These film images have no digital or darkroom manipulation except a little spotting and selective levels compensation done in Photoshop. These images looked just like this when they came out of the camera.

The images shot from 2005 onward were done with a Canon 20D DSLR. Some of these photographs have multi-exposure compositing, contrast and perspective adjustments and minor cloning of lens-flare, but as with the older film work, the lighting FX and color are all done in-camera. These images are not Photoshop creations. What you see is what I shot that night. For more info, see "Post Production" below.

Film or Digital? The Transition

I started doing night photography on film in 1989. The first 5 years I shot film at night, I bracketed like crazy and took detailed lighting and exposure notes on each image so I could learn what worked and what didn't for those conditions. Eventually I got pretty good at looking at a scene and knowing what exposure was required, but dozens of potential problems would inevitably conspire to ruin the shot; a car would drive through while the shutter was open, I'd make a mistake with the lighting, I'd have focus problems, I'd bump the tripod leg in the dark . . .

Unfortunately, you wouldn't know there was a problem until you got the film back from the lab, usually several days and hundreds of miles later, only to find a roll full of incorrect exposures and lighting miscues. Even on a good night, it was normal to come home with only one or two usable images from a 36 exposure roll. By it's very nature, the level of productivity was low and frustration high when night shooting with film. Consequently very few people bothered to try it, and fewer still stuck with it.

I had become frustrated with shooting film by 2004 after the release of my first book. I was constantly aggravated by the low yield of usable work from my ancient equipment. As the film era fizzled out, I was further stymied by lab closures and sloppy processing. I stopped shooting, cold turkey, for about a year.

Then, in mid-2005 I began to see some butter smooth digital night work from other photographers. The latest generation of digital cameras had finally advanced to the point where photographers could do noise-free minutes-long exposures. I picked up a Canon 20D DSLR and a Tokina 12-24mm zoom lens and embarked on a frenzy of night shooting–using the exposure and lighting techniques I had developed during the film era. Five years on, I'm still shooting with this camera during almost every full moon phase.

Night photography in the digital age has become much easier. Now you can just chimp every shot. That one was too dark? Double your exposure time. Too light? Cut it in half and do it again. Same with light painting, just keep reshooting it untill you're happy with the results on the image preview. With a little patience you will get the shot. Now there are thousands of people all over the planet doing light-painted night work in abandoned places with their DSLRs and the web is filling up with thousands of excellent images in this style that I pioneered.

I love it. The old saying "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" certainly applies. And it's cool to see so many other people having fun with these same techniques that I already know are so fun. Every year the cult of NP/LP/UE grows larger.

So, while the digital revolution has suddenly made anyone with a DSLR a potential night shooter, it has also improved my own work. My hit rate is at almost 100% now. If I do 15 set ups in one night, I will come away with 15 usable images. The ability to preview each image before I pick up the tripod to move on to the next shot allows me the chance to fine tune my lighting effects until I get exactly what I intended. Plus I can build on happy mistakes, incorporating things into the next frame that I didn't count on. Digital has raised everyone's game . . . including mine.

In 2009 I began to break out the old film camera for doing 30 minute exposures. Partly out of nostalgia, and partly because I love the ambiance and star trails in the longer exposures, and partly because there's still so few people shooting film at night.

Film Cameras

Many of the film images on this site were shot with a $40 swap meet '60s vintage Canon FX body. In 1999 I moved on to 80s vintage Canon T90 bodies. A much nicer camera, but still, hopelessly outdated in the digital age. I used 3 off-brand swap-meet wide angle prime lenses- 20mm, 24mm and 28mm.

If you're going to shoot film, beware of cameras that use lithium batteries. These cameras will drain the battery while the lens is locked open giving you only one or 2 shots before battery failure. You need to use a camera like the FX that has no battery or one like the T90 that does not draw on the battery to lock the lens open.

Film

I used 2 types of film to shoot all of the work on this site shot before 2005.

The first is Kodak 160 ASA Tungsten balanced chrome film. This film was designed to neutralize the color-cast of man-made lights to white. What ends up happening under pure moonlight is that the image takes on a monochromatic blue cast that closely mirrors what your eye sees at night under full moon conditions. The drawbacks of this film is that it's an old design that suffers from bad reciprocity failure (in a longer than one second exposure, film does not accept light in the normally predictable, easily measured, linear way. Confused? Here's a lot more technical information on reciprocity failure) which causes abnormally long exposure times, creating lots of grain. The images are not very smooth and clean. This film was discontinued by Kodak several years ago, but try the 64 T.

The other film I used was Kodak 100VS chrome film. A standard daylight film. Its modern design means the film has much less reciprocity failure. Exposures run 25% (+/-) shorter than the 160T film even though 100ASA film should theoretically have longer exposures. The developed film is virtually free of grain making for butter smooth images that can be enlarged beautifully. The VS produces amazingly saturated colors, perfect for showing off my lurid light painting. The drawbacks of this film are that you lose a sense of "night" under full moon conditions. The images look just like daylight shots . . . with star trails. The other problem is with shooting in urban conditions where man-made light sources will shift colors turning your images a murky green or brown. Sodium Vapor is the worst and it's, unfortunately, the most common. Remember, T film is designed specifically to neutralize this type of lighting.

I shot only slide (chrome) film because what you shoot is exactly what you get back from the lab. With negative film, you are at the mercy of the lab to determine what prints from your abnormally colored negs should look like.

Digital Cameras

Today, most modern DSLRs can do clean night work. It's best to use a camera with a CMOS sensor instead of a CCD sensor. CCD sensored cameras usually require in-camera noise-reduction, essentially doubling your exposure times, which will cut your productivity in half.

It’s important that the camera has the following features and capabilities:
• The ability to shoot raw €les.
• Manual exposure controls.
• Bulb setting for extended exposures.
• The ability to operate the camera with a remote shutter release.

Because the digital sensor does not experience reciprocity failure, exposure lengths are considerably shorter than with film; typically 1-4 minutes at f5.6. Just as well, because my 20D's sensor overheats and suffers from unacceptable noise at about 5-10 minutes, depending on the ambient temperature. Every new generation of cameras advances the technology. Newer models like the Canon 5D and Nikon D80 can do perfectly clean 15 minute exposures.

Exposure

This site contains images with exposures running from a few seconds to 30 minutes. Most are in the 5-8 minute range for film and 1-4 minute range for digital. Remember that the digital sensor does not experience reciprocity failure like film does. Consequently the exposure times are much shorter. Exposures that would take 8 minutes with 160T and 6 minutes on 100VS (as outlined above) take only 2-3 minutes with the 20D.

I shoot at f5.6 almost all of the time. This affords me a benchmark for my light painting falloff and intensity. I normally compensate for exposure with time.

I shoot at ISO 100 with the digital. Yes, the exposures are longer, but the lack of noise at the lower speed is what's important. Besides, with a tripod who cares if it's 2 minutes instead of 30 seconds?

Because the exposures are so long, I can literally walk thought the shot and not appear. It's for such a short duration in the overall length of the exposure. I would have to stand still for about a minute to have ghostly image of myself appear in the shot. This affords me the flexibility to walk though the shot to do my light painting.

Lighting

Most people think of this kind of lighting as happening in an instant; one big, multi-pop burst of light, synced with the camera, in a studio, but this work is not done that way. Because the exposures are minutes long, I can take my time and illuminate the scene from many angles, one lightsource at a time. All my lighting is hand held. I don't use complex lighting rigs, remotes, slaves or light stands. I can light an entire scene with just one small flashlight. It's a very simple and low impact process, which allows me to travel light and fast, important in the difficult locations I like to shoot.

The moon is the main light source in most of these images. My exterior night photography is all done within 4 nights of the full moon. The full moon occurs every 28 days. The moon rises right at sunset on the day of the full moon, the day after, moonrise is approximately one hour later, 2 days = 2 hours etc. The preceding days it rises 1 hour earlier per day. I prefer shooting on the evenings leading up to full moon night because the moon's already in the sky at dusk giving me an earlier start.

There's an 6-8 day range around the full moon that the moon is full enough to call it a "full moon" for night photography purposes. If I am shooting outdoors at night, I only do it during that 6-8 day period.

Light Painting

It took me years to develop my light painting technique. There was lots of experimentation and note-taking. I also studdied and deconstructed the work of light painters that came before me like William Lesch and Chip Simons. Using a DSLR today means you can preview the images as you go, fine-tuning your lighting until you get exactly what you want. The best advice I can give you is to just get out there and get your hands dirty.

There's 2 basic types of lighting I use:

Strobe flash- For 20 years I used a beat up old Vivtar 285 flash unit powered by a rechargeable Quantum battery. Recently I upgraded to a Canon 430. Modern flashes like the Canon 430/580 or Nikon SB600/900 are much more powerful and easier on the batteries. In most close-in light painting situations, set it to 1/4 power or lower. The strobe gives you a large field of evenly distributed light with sharply defined shadows. Great for lighting whole rooms and buildings.

Flashlight Painting (aka "Torches" in the UK)- I use a variety of flashlights ranging from a tiny LED keychain light to a 1,000,000 candle power rechargeable light. Today the strongest flashlight I carry is a Stinger Streamlight. It's very rare that I'd need something stronger. Flashlights give a much smaller area of light with soft shadow edges. Perfect for details and subtle key lighting.

I have precut swatches of theatrical lighting gel material (typically used for stage and rock concert lighting) that I simply hold over the light source which adds the color cast. Use the pro-grade materials from Lee or Roscoe.

A Checklist of Lighting Variables

Because there's so many variables involved, there really is no specific formula explaining how lighting works, but here's a basic checklist of things to consider:

1. f-stop. The smaller the lens aperture, the shorter the distance the light will travel. More than 25 feet away? Probably too far, especially if you're using gels.

2. Distance from the object you're flashing. Too close and you blow the subject out, too far and you get no effect.

3. Reflectivity/specularity of the subject. Dark, glossy objects like trees require a lot of light. With 20 pops, it may STILL never show. White painted metal that's weathered to a matte finish? A little goes a long way here. It's easy to overcook it.

4. The flash. A weak $5 garage sale flash is not as powerful as a good $250 flash. Still, I shot for years with a series of $5 garage sale flashes. Most modern strobe units have different power settings, make sure you use the right one for your f-stop and distance.

5. Flashlights vary wildly in intensity so make sure you're using the right one for the job. I usually carry 4 or 5 different sizes. Flashlights have changed a lot in the last few years. The super-bright xenon HID lights give a tight, excellent, clean white light. Be careful with LED flashlights as they can add a very strong blue cast to the light.

6. Gels. Some are too opaque and can cut the intensity and falloff of light in half or more. Some aren't opaque enough and all the color washes out. Make sure you use professional lighting gels and not just colored wrapping cellophane.

7. Moonlight. If the object you're flashing is bathed in direct moonlight, don't bother flashing it. It will NOT show up, not even a little. Just like in daytime, flashes are meant only for filling in shadows.

Post Production

The digital darkroom was never a part of my film era night work, but it's important to consider it with digital photography because of the medium's incredible dynamic range and information storage.

White Balance: All my night work is shot in RAW format so that I can adjust my white balance to suit the needs of the image later. The film era comparison would be like shooting each shot with multiple cameras using an unlimited variety of film stock. Some night shots look better tungsten balanced (2850K), some, daylight balanced (5500K). Rather than taking the time to figure that out on the fly during the shoot, I leave it set on a baseline of 3800K and take care of it later when converting down from the RAW file. The real beauty of this is the ability to use hybridized WB settings. I find that sometimes a setting of 3500K keeps the richness in the color of my light painting while shifting the sky to a richer, more lifelike blue. Sometimes you want to enhance and accentuate the screaming orange sky from heavy sodium vapor lights by using a high temp like 8000K, sometimes you want the cool blue monotone of Tungsten balancing. There's no hard and fast rule here, every image is different and should be judged on it's own.

Contrast Adjustment and Dodge and Burn: With the built in latitude of your digital files (6 to 9 stops vs. scanned film's 2), you're not getting everything out of your image you can if you're not pulling out some shadow details in Photoshop. I do this on virtually every one of my digital images. Just remember to keep it subtle. You're not supposed to notice it.

Cloning: I sometimes use this tool to clean up lens flare orbs and that's about it. I leave the rust, power lines, dirt and obscene graffiti because, well, that's why I shot it.

Compositing: Because I am shooting with a tripod I can do multiple captures with the exact same framing. I typically try several different lighting schemes. Sometimes I find I have a shot with a great left side and a weak right, and another frame that's the opposite, so I blend the 2 images using layers and then erase the offending section of the upper layer ending up with a good left and right side. Sometimes I take the sky from one frame and the subject from another because a plane happened to fly though at just the right angle on the shot with the muffed lighting. But they are always from the same tripod set up. I'm not creating images with skies or objects from other locations.

Perspective Correction: Utilizing the "transform: distort" tool, I can adjust an image's perspective so that it's symmetry is perfect and the vertical lines are parallel to the sides of the image giving the "perfect perspective" effect of a tilt-shift view camera.

TRUTH! How far is going too far with manipulation? At what point does the image lose it's sense of truth?

These images are real. They are accurate depictions of what happened while the lens was open for those minutes. This is especially important for documentary work like mine.

Go too far in post and at some point what we're doing stops being photography and becomes painting or illustration. I think it's important to keep photography real, or we'll lose the whole reason why it is different from those other mediums.

Locations

Many of the locations I shoot are remote and dangerous. Yeah, it makes for fun pictures and stories, but if you do end up shooting in places like this, use common sense and good judgment. Falling through a rotten floor in an abandoned house 50 miles from the nearest person in the middle of the night is NOT fun, ok?

If you are wandering the backroads and hinterlands, have a reliable vehicle. Keep your cellphone handy, but if you are deep in the outback, it probably won't work anyway. Be prepared, because it's likely you will have to figure your own way out of your predicaments.

Be prepared for insects and vermin. Snakes, skunks, bats and a variety of poisonous spiders can be found in most of these locations. Just assume they are there, even if you don't see them. Also be prepared to run across other humans who may not want to be seen; partying kids, squatters, vandals and scrappers stripping the site of its metal. Duck into the shadows and avoid them if you can. If you are forced to confront them, be friendly and relaxed. They are probably not supposed to be there either, so use that as a way of sharing a common ground with them.

Odds are you are trespassing. Generally, I try to get permission from the owners to shoot these locations. Without it, I would have been arrested many times. I used to be a lot more fast and loose about trespassing, but Post-9/11 America is a tough time for night photographers. The police swoop down on us really fast and hard these days. Try not to give them any MORE reason to be annoyed with you than they already should/will be. Sitting in jail is no way for a night shooter to spend the full moon. Get that permission in writing if you can. Even if you have verbal permission, property owners generally don't like to get phone calls from the sheriff in the middle of the night. Always carry samples of night work to show skeptical property owners and sheriffs that you really are taking pictures . . . at night . . . in the dark.

Just be smart.

The Workshop

Not enough info yet? Then you should sign up to take my workshop held at the Pearsonville Junkyard in the high desrt of southern California. All the info is right here.