WHA-HEY !!!!

I got 2nd place.

I recently entered this shot into a competition and just picked up an e-mail. There follows an extract ...

"We are extremely pleased to advise you that your Glasgow Landmarks Photographic Competition entry has been successful! You have been awarded one of the top twenty places and your image will be printed and displayed within Glasgow’s International Airport! Congratulations!"

I am a happy bunny.

B.

Wha-hey! My field of expertise. I am a lighting engineer and am currently the Chairman of the Scottish Region of the Institution of Lighting Professionals (formerly Institution of Lighting Engineers). I currently work as the street lighting engineer for a local authority.

As far as photographing street lighting is concerned, you can NEVER hope to get a true representation of the night time scene in a photograph. Besides, every persons perception of the night time scene is different. The only meaningful information you can get from photography is a direct comparison of installations. Anything else is a representation as recorded and presented by a sensor, some in-camera software, some post processing software and then viewed by biological instruments and systems (eyes, optic nerves and brains), no two of which will see the same thing.

My most recent photographic exercise was to provide comparative photographs of a road lighting installation which dimmed to 60% output after midnight. I set the white balance to "tungsten" (the closest approximation to high pressure sodium lighting), set the camera to manual and set the aperture to F3.5 (wide open). This kept the shutter speed as fast as possible and reduced the effects of any light trails from cars. I then fired off a few shots at different shutter speeds to try and achieve the closest approximation to my perception of the scene. I then kept the same aperture and shutter speed and fired off some shots from exctly the same spot after the lights dimmed. A tripod is a "given" for these shots. No post processing was carried out at all.

To be perfectly honest, the difference in the shots produced were actually greater than my own perception of the scene, probably due to the adaptation of my own vision to the changing light levels.

The only way to show the performance of a lighting installation to a person (or people) is to get them on site after dark to see for themselves.

To summarise, night time photography is great fun, and can also be useful in giving an indication of how a lighting installation performs, but as far as presenting an accurate rendition of the performance of a road/street lighting installation is concerned, in my experience, forget it.

Yes, DNA is a forum member.

I also was looking for a wide angle zoom and found and bought a Sigma 10-20. Following this however, DNA sent me a PM with the offer of his Pentax 10-17. I will not discuss his offer but it was within my price range. It might be worthwhile dropping him a wee note.

B.

DNA might still have a Pentax 10 - 17 for sale if that's of any interest.

B.

I've used an inexpensive Kood with pretty good results.

Has your 10-17mm indeed gone?

Unfortunately, due to an unbelievable set of circumstances, the sale fell through - absolutely no fault of the seller.

So ....

If anyone out there still has a lens for sale, gimme a shout.

Ta.

B.

"It cost how much???? "

- My wife

... and patiently await a tap on the shoulder from Plod asking what you're up to.