After attempting a boring star photo, I rounded up a few from my archives to add to this interesting thread. Because I use a small sensor camera, I often tinker with such shots in ways that make the noise less bothersome. Besides, tinkering in post is just as much fun for me as taking photos.

1. Bourbon St in New Orleans is a great place for night shots
2. Monhegan Island, Maine, opening of lobster season starts after midnight on Oct. 1 each year, and the fishermen row out to the lobster boats that are loaded with traps and anchored in the harbor.
3. Mesa Arch at sunrise is iconic. Mesa Arch before sunrise is blue.
4.Nashville has the biggest July 4 fireworks show in the US

I'm having more trouble with this topic than I thought I would. One problem is going out at night with my camera. That is not something I usually do. The other thing is finding compositions. Here I went out very early in the morning. (not unusual for me) on a rainy day. I used the shelter of a pagoda to take these rainy day photos. The first one is of the pagoda itself and a sailboat in the distance. I thought it might be interesting to see the lighted pagoda and the dark early morning in the background. I had to adjust the temperature to make it look more natural. The light was giving the photo a very unattractive brown/yellow cast. The second photo is also from the pagoda shooting in another direction toward a marina. Here I wanted to emphasize the starburst on the lights and the reflections shiny reflections cause by the light on rainy surfaces. Even though I used a 30 second exposure, there are some slight textures in the water because of the rain coming down pretty hard.
Erich

I'm having more trouble with this topic than I thought I would. One problem is going out at night with my camera. That is not something I usually do. The other thing is finding compositions. Here I went out very early in the morning. (not unusual for me) on a rainy day. I used the shelter of a pagoda to take these rainy day photos. The first one is of the pagoda itself and a sailboat in the distance. I thought it might be interesting to see the lighted pagoda and the dark early morning in the background. I had to adjust the temperature to make it look more natural. The light was giving the photo a very unattractive brown/yellow cast. The second photo is also from the pagoda shooting in another direction toward a marina. Here I wanted to emphasize the starburst on the lights and the reflections shiny reflections cause by the light on rainy surfaces. Even though I used a 30 second exposure, there are some slight textures in the water because of the rain coming down pretty hard.
Erich

After Dark

Our topic for this month will be night time photography. Let’s define it as anything shot while the sun is not above the horizon. This would include the blue hour in the evening after the sun drops below the horizon and also the blue hour before the sun emerges from below the horizon in the morning.

Long exposures that show light streaks from passing cars are a good example for this challenge. You might also think about landscapes, especially in the morning when there is a glow on the horizon; but the sun is not yet above the horizon. Clouds will also feature in any landscape photos because they show color before the sun rises and they hold color after the sun sets.

You can chose photos from your archives; but it is hoped that this challenge might also inspire you to go out and shoot during September with the topic in mind. Let us know if this is something you do regularly and what challenges the topic might have presented. Remember that this is not a photo competition; but instead an opportunity to discuss the topic. I’ll offer an example to get us started; but this is only a starting point. This will probably be a long thread. Don’t let that discourage you. It is, after all, a big topic. Have fun.
Erich


The posted photos. I'm going to post three photos to get the topic started. I took my own advice and shot all of these this evening. There was no color because the sky was completely overcast. I checked sunset time and all were shot after sunset. The liquor store was shot without a tripod. I used high ISO and relatively fast shutter with wide open aperture. For the long exposure shot of the boat, I totally forgot to take into account that the waves would move the boat. (Parked cars remain sharp, parked boats not so much). I'll post others throughout the month; but these might serve as an example of the type of photos you can get without any sun.
Have fun shooting

Interesting, widely varied set. I’m intrigued with your fire series, something I’ve never even thought of. Fascinating abstracts.

Love your Monhegan after dark images. I’ve never tried to shoot the Sheridan after dark, but it makes a wonderfully moody images. I did try some there and once I get back home I may retrieve one from the archives to post. I’ve some of the harbor, one of the lighthouse, and some taken of the boats going out before sunrise on Trap Day. None of them are any good. I have much more study to do before I can figure this kind of photography out.