The heaventree of stars hung with humid night-blue fruit. –  James Joyce Night-blue signals tungsten film! It was not something I usually shot with, but in my younger days I used whatever film was affordable. To get balanced colour in daylight you had to apply corrective filters, but none were used here, so the blues […]

All glory comes from daring to begin – Eugene F. Ware, American soldier There’s no better time for moonlight photography than when you are on holiday with a large territory you are free to wander over. Here’s a memorable evening at summer’s end with a cool southwester still about, as indicated in this well-clad group […]

When inspiration arrives I want it to find me working. –  Pablo Picasso “Some highway” means that I do not know exactly where this was taken. On Easter holiday near Tongariro National Park (central North Island), we were off for a drive-about, on the night before full moon. Here we might be on the Turangi […]

Twilight has one simple and obvious advantage over night photography: you can see what you are doing. You can focus by eye or auto, and compose quickly. You have a wider range of exposure choices, to allow or prevent movement showing, for example, without the sacrifice in aperture selection that workable shutter times need at […]

This took around 15 minutes at a small aperture, on Fuji slide film. It was a perfect summer’s evening at Paritutu Centennial Park, and I spent the interlude chatting with a friend. I’m only guessing that the stripe is Venus, but as she often accompanies the early moon it’s a good bet. For trails like […]

An industrial landscape at night; how lens choice affects star trails

Golden orb on the shoulder of Mt Taranaki, from the National Park boundary.

Streaks of unexpected colour on a moonless night; “It must be film!”

Simplicity and multiplicity; vertical frame with a wide angle

Graveyard in white and the mountain in grey; a harmony of moon rays and lingering daylight

Close-ups by the hour at home; vertical frames and wan moonlight

Garden flowers in full spectrum colour at maximum aperture; torch-aided focus.

Abstract of evening traffic; use of two planes of movement

An orchard close-up and work for saints; slow film, depth of field and colour shifts

Strong contrasts in form and colour; perspective, light balancing and the winter moon

A twilight twist from the Chateau; telephoto and perspective

Simple forms and shadow effects; street lighting used with wind-blown moonlight

A moonlit figure unaffected by a passing car; low ISO and lens selection

Kahikatea framed by a West Coast canyon; trouble with really long exposures

At close range at night with medium format; a monochrome study in tints

Full moon in low-rent country, West Coast, without banjos

Experimenting with long exposure on a slow and unusual film, on a drizzly night