Last month I had the fun opportunity to head outside with Jeff McGrath to do some night photography. I must say that I haven’t had too much experience doing this or choosing locations so it is nice to have someone to tag along with.

We made our way up to Draper with the intent of photographing the city lights but due to a bit of a haze and low clouds over the city we turned our gaze towards the mountains and ground.

The mountains at the top of Draper were particularly inviting that night. I also thought that some of the surrounding lights from nearby homes would be interesting on the grass and plants in the foreground. I made a vertical and horizontal version. Which do you prefer?

Both made with Nikon D3S at ISO 1600, f/7.0, and a 30 second exposure on a D3S. Edited in LR 4.

Next Jeff had an interesting idea of photographing some railroad steel and capturing the moonlight reflecting off the rails. Check that version out below. In contrast to the blue colors of the photos above I thought I’d try this one with more warm tones.

Made with Nikon D3S at ISO 3200, f/8.0, and a 25 second exposure on a D3S. Edited in LR 4.

Hope you have a great weekend before Christmas. 🙂