Winter is the time for getting out at night in Hobart to try and get some of those eye-catching and often beautiful shots of city lights and scenes by the water with mirror-like water. Hobart, which can look a bit drab with its skyline dominated with a lot of mediocre 20th century architecture, can project a very differet feel and image at night I find. I have even heard the comment on some of my city lights photo that "I didn't know Hobart could look so glamorous".
But of course there are challenges in doing this. First is, of course, braving the cold at night. It can be hard to get motivated to go out at 11pm on a 3 degree night, but these are often the best times to go, at least when there is no or little wind. This winter has been rather mild compared to previously and in my recent forays outside I've actually felt a little overdressed !
The second challenge is, for me, anyway, to try and avoid clichees and doing the same things you've done before. I try to avoid the types of shots that people have probably seen in tourist promotions many times, usually of the Tasman Bridge and Constitution Dock. I go to the same places multiple times, but try to find new angles or perspective and compositions to try.
The other challenge is to try and deal with all the different kinds of light that you get in environments like the docks and Salamanca Place - different colours, different intensities. Even with lots of experience and trial and error over the year I still end up with nasty overexposed ( and distracting areas) because of some of the really bright lights you get around the docks. Some street lights in Hobart are LED lights, so a cooler colour, while others are tungsten. Sometimes this results in some kind of ugly colours if I don't get it right. Anyway, that's just a little point for the camera nerds out there, probably a boring detail for the average person !
Anyway, a few nights down around Salamanca and the docks on some pretty still nights have yielded a few pleasing results...(Click to enlarge)
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