All that sparkles...

On a recent cloudless and very cold night I took my newest camera out to explore my world. Night photography has a few inherent challenges, ie it's dark. Photography is greek for "painting with light" or at least that's what it says on the internet. So it is difficult to manage clear "hand held" photograpy, because just breathing can produce camera shake. The reason you get fuzzy pictures is because you have to leave the shutter open a long time to collect "light". Here are some of my results.

Another fun aspect with night photography is water. With reflection you can double your impact.

I prefer to start my night photography a little early, just at dusk. I really like the results. Another key for night photography is to "slow" down your "film". ( yes, I shoot digitally) It means bumping your ISO up to the big numbers. You do run the risk of catching some "noise" but you manage to get clean edges.

So if you have no idea what shutter speed is, and have no desire to compensate for shake by upping you ISO, then it's okay to just say, "Ooooh, pretty."and take my word for all the other stuff. In any case, may 2012 slip quietly into the night and may 2013 find you stretching to reach your goals, and living the abundant life full of all of the things you love.