The project

Artificial Light.

Gone are the flashing lights and neon signs of the 80’s, today many businesses are much more energy conscious, trying to cut down on the cost of electricity by using LED lights or by only using a certain amount of light when they are open. In this project I shall be looking at the amount of artificial light being used when they are open and how much they use when they are shut.

I call this the before and after midnight project, where I visit  businesses premises when they are open at night time before midnight and then visit the same premises when they are shut after midnight. During the evening and up to midnight These businesses are lit up to try and attract customers into their shops and advertise just who they are and what they are selling but once midnight has past, they shut down and the staff go home  leaving only necessary lighting on.

Some businesses are now open 24 hours like McDonalds but even here they scale down their operations to just a drive by service hatch and keep minimal lighting on in their eating area for security only.

Many other businesses also scale down their use of lighting so that theirs also becomes security lighting.

Then some places like motorway services and main trunk road services have their lighting on for a 24 hour period, but as you will see they even reduce the amount of artificial light they use through the night.

For my project

I intend to go too these businesses to see how they cope with the use of artificial lighting and by using my camera photograph them before midnight usually when they are open and operating and then come back after midnight when they are shut to see just how much lighting they switch off when no one is there.

This will give viewers an idea as to just how much they have become energy conscious over the years not just for the environment but just how much they realise they can save money by cutting down on  how much lighting they leave on.

As a retired electrician I have for over forty years worked on the electrics for industry and small business and have seen that these companies now realise how to save money by changing the lighting to low wattage lighting or LED’s which burn hardly any energy at all. Many wholesale electrical companies have now redesigned their equipment to take these low wattage lamps so that they can be installed with minimum fuss or alteration to the original equipment.

Many councils for instance have changed all their street lighting and road signs to LED’s and although they seem to be the same street lamps all of the internal wiring has been charged to accept the internal lights. It will be interesting to see just how much artificial lighting is still being used before and after midnight.

My original intention for this project was to do just long exposure of these sites with just the before midnight images being taken but on discussion with our group in class it was decided that I needed to change this and make it into more interesting a project so I decided to go for the before and after midnight part of it.

This is a contact sheet from my first shoot which involved an area from Raglan Monmouth and Whitchurch areas on the 29 09 2021 I had intended to just photography pubs but on photographing both the Clyro arms and the Hardwick inn near Raglan it became very clear that there was not enough light produced by their external lighting to give a very good image at all, in fact the Hardwick Arms its self  was barely visible.

My equipment was a Sony 7R III a 28mm – 70 mm Sony lens and a Manfrotto carbon tripod, I use this type of tripod because its is a lot lighter than the metal one and the fact that I suffer from white finger and over the years found that holding a metal tripod in the cold brought about this problem so I decided to sell it move over to using the carbon fibre tripod.

Contact sheet 1

Contact sheet 2  29/09/2021

The image below is taken at the Hardwick arms and shows just how little light there was taken at 22 .15 pm  20 09 2021 I had put a 10 stop ND filter to give a longer exposure to show more saturated colours but used for some unknown reason an ISO of 5000 at 1/30 sec. but it’s obvious is a no go image. 

Below the image is from the Clyro arms 29 09 2021 at ½ sec with a strange high ISO of 5000 perhaps I forgot to bring it down as I may have been taking some earlier shot hand held

Again, we see that the light is very limited, and this is where I found out that they switch of the lights when it shuts and the whole place goes into total darkness

29 09 2021

This is an earlier image taken at 21.42 of Monmouth shell petrol station with a 5oo ISO using as tripod and 10 stop ND filter F7.1 for depth of field and ¼ shutter at 24 mm.

Here is the first location which is on the A40 just above Monmouth at Whitchurch and is a service station I again used a high ISO and 1/8 sec shutter at f7.1

In all this night I feel was just a test night to see how the images would look and although I liked both the Monmouth shell garage because of the bright colours and the service station because of its rectangular shapes I was very disappointed over the Public house images because of the low light that I realised that I would waste my time shooting these.

All in all, this was the first shoot I had undertook and although it gave me a good idea of places to shoot and how to shoot standing in a place of safety with a High Vis Vest and  where I could park I decided to comeback at a later date,

When I got home I decided to do a couple of test shots at the local Tesco’s so I took these 2 one of the store and one of the garage to see what they looked like and also to see as they were on Private land if I got a security guard trying to chase me away.

Both of these shots were also high ISO to shorten the time taken to get the image.

26/09/2021

This was my next shoot which was of a pub called the Coach and Horses at Llangynidr which is fairly local so with my Sony 7RIII and 24mm – 70mm I set out to take photos of it before midnight 19.48pm . I arrived there and found a place to park and then set up my camera and wearing a High Vis Vest set up my tripod and started to take photos.

I struggled to take them, I over exposed and under exposed and as I still had a 10stop ND filter on I could only take up to 30 sec long shot. I was unable to get it into Bulb mode so that I could Extend the shutter time. I hadf manages to get one good shot of this public house and went home to try and find out why there was no bulb mode.

The first shot is overexposed taken at f22 a 20 secs again I was applying a high ISO 6400 for some strange reason maybe to shorten shutter time.

Underexposed at F22 Iso 100 and 8 secs and at least I ditched the high ISO at 40 mm

I really liked this shot and have included it in my portfolio as far as I am concerned, it about spot on for exposure the diagonal line of the building gives it depth of field.

30 second exposure at f11 ISO 100   using the 40 mm range of my ZOOM.

In this shoot I learnt I did not know how to get Bulb Mode and was lucky to get a correct exposure by extending the shutter time or decreasing it. I liked how I took the images trying two positions from this position and from the top end but this position works better for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-X_d2DqLTY

How to shoot in bulb mode Youtube video

On watching this video, I realised that because I had been using the electronic shutter on my camera that was the reason why I could not get this mode. I always use the electronic shutter on my Sony as there is an inherent fault on the mechanical and it may only last for 10,000 before it needs replacing. Sony know about it but refuse to accept it because it costs £500 to replace the shutter, all new Sony’s have a different shutter in them.

Test contact sheet

04/10/2021

These are a test sheet I did from my bedroom window to see how the bulb mode performs

This is a 314 sec exposure using the 10 stop filter remote conte shutter release f10 @ ISO 100

An 85 sec exposure

It was at this time I started wondering if using a 10stop ND filter was of any use I gained nothing but some light trails and spent a lot more time messing around to get an exposure

05/10/2021

My first real exposure shoot using bulb and a remote shutter cable with a tripod and my Sony7RIII with 24 -70 mm lens.the A40 Whitchurch services revisited. F14 Iso 100 @51secs exposure 51mm lens range.

Here I visit Monmouth petrol station again f14 49 secs ISO 100 24mm lens range

I also took photos of the Clyro Arms and The crown at Whitchurch and I can now see what types of buildings I will have to use in this module. The public houses are much to dark the garages are much better and I do like them, so I will need to find more like this. After I took this shot the Landlord shut shop and switched the lights completely off leaving both the pub and me in complete darkness. 21.55 pm Sony 84 secs f11 ISO 100

The Crown at Whitchurch 20 . 33 pm  185 secs f14 ISO 100  

This is the Beaufort Arms in Raglan I like the light trails but others in the group don’t at 21.32 pm 130 secs f11 ISO 100

All together I liked some images I took but not others and I am now forming an idea about what I must take.

10/10/2021

This again was a visit to a commercial park on the outskirts of Abergavenny where there are several businesses like Premier Inn Costa McDonalds and Brewers Fayre. This visit gave me several subjects to photograph, and I liked the results that I got.

 Exposure for them is a little hit and miss but on average the time averages out to around 2 mins exposure if the scene is a little brighter, I can cut it down to around 90 secs and make it longer if it’s a little darker. I have thrown out the use of a 10 stop ND filter and also the theory of setting it on ISO 6400 and then seeing how many secs exposure then setting the camera on 100 ISO and making those seconds minutes. Use of tripod remote control shutter cable Sony Camera and 24-70mm lens

In the contact sheet I took photos of McDonalds Premier Inn car park A BP garage on Brecon road Abergavenny and the Brewers Fayre 

Brewers Fayre 19.26 pm 10/10/2021 f11 123 secs shutter and ISO 100 32 mm lens

Mcdonalds Abergavenny 10/10/2021 f11 182 secs shutter ISO 100 

Brecon road garage Abergavenny 119 secs f11 ISO 100 

In these images I like the light trails although not everyone’s cup of tea I find that it gives a little surrealism to my images and I like the use of Long shutter speeds.

I will be using some of these in the final sort out and am quite pleased the way they have come out. I am now getting a good understanding of long exposures and find them simple and easy to do.

21 / 10 2021

Contact sheet from a shoot at Newbridge Garage on the A467

Images from this shoot on the 21^st October 2021

1^st image f13 iso 250 130sec exposure the higher ISO is there to make the image taking process faster

2^nd F11 80 secs exposure ISO 250.

3^rd image is a photoshop exposure of the first image

4 image ISO 250 F13 60 secs exposure

Over exposed images of this filling station  while the other two are exposed better a little underexposed but the way I took the images was from across the road on the pavement cars are coming past giving light trails and in the last image a little surrealism is made by a half a car

02/11/2021

This was a shoot in my local area before midnight and it took in Coleg Gwent. The Leisure centre Parkway train station and the foot ball pitch at the leisure centre.

I decided I must look for local buildings and in all my cases It has been looking at Goggle maps to find Industrial estates leisure centres and other building that may be of interest. I found it was no good looking for photographers who did this kind of work because they don’t and the closest, I could find were people doing night photography. So, it down to looking for buildings of interest when driving around in the night.

Looking at these local shots I realise that I must dismiss both the railway station and football pitch as this lighting is only used for a short period like the football pitch and again even shorter for the railway station. I took both of these as I was looking for different types of buildings and regarded them as an option

 The football pitch was taken on a 5 second exposure at F 4 Iso 100 with a tripod  and the train station 86 secs using my tripod and Sony 7RIII with 24 -70 mm lens and once I had reviewed them, I realised they did not fit the bill.

Coleg Gwent was taken at around 8pm so there was still a lot of activity going on so it was well lit up at this time of evening and a pssing bus gave quite a high light trail.

91sec exposure Iso 400 F13

Also, the leisure centre another local building used at night again plenty of activity at  this time of night with a few passing cars giving me light trails

 93 secs on a tripod ISO 100 f13  28mm lens range 

I liked both of these shots and having already dismissed two I felt relieved to have got 2 images I could include. The position of the camera was in a place of safety and I wore my High Vis Jacket to help keep myself visible to passing vehicles

16/11/2021

Some of the more local buildings

Here are images from Brewers Fayre McDonalds Brecon road garage Abergavenny , and the A467 filling station at Newbridge

Brecon road garage Abergavenny   f9 4 secs ISO 100 taken from the same position in a place of safety on the pavement, Here I am quite pleased with this image the low security lighting and the mist add a little appeal to this shot

A467 at Newbridge with virtually no lighting at all another peasing shot with a nearly deserted road

Brewers Fayre Abergavenny f9 1.6 secs Iso 640 to quicken up the exposure

 Another angle of Brewers Fayre same settings with mist adding to the shot

The Premier inn  car park next door to the Brewers Inn although I have took both early evening and early morning, I feel that perhaps it might not fit the bill as is not really a building.

McDonalds next door again hardly any artificial light ISO 640  f7.1 4 secs higher ISO to speed up the time in taking the image

The Leisure centre is also included in the 16 11 2021

30/11/2021

This was one of my early morning shoots I would leave around 3 am as parking in my street is at a premium and leaving any earlier, I could on returning find my parking space took up by someone else car so leaving a 3 00 am meant that when I returned around 5.30 am people had already left spaces when they went to work.

I decided to try and go to as many of the sites I had previously visited in the evening dur to the fact that I hate getting up at 2.30am in the morning. One of the things I soon realised about going out at this time in the morning is that you can park anywhere you like and take photos on everything as there is no one around to bother you,

Here Are some shot taken first in the Whitchurch services which was a good image then moving down to the Shell filling station in Monmouth another good image  and from there over to Raglan to photograph the Beaufort arms. Which I found a little disappointing

This is the A40 services at Whitchurch near Monmouth, there is not a lot of difference in artificial light levels here as this is a 24 hour services, so they need good light for safety purposes   f9 2.5 secs  100 ISO  using my Sony Camera

Shell filling station at Monmouth, already visited another 24 hour business but they block off some pumps and lower the lighting slightly,

Monmouth services another 24 hour business remained lit but lighting lowered slightly and pumps shut off.

The Beaufort Arms in Raglan  also taken on the 30/11 2021 shoot. Very dim lighting here taken from the same position as the earlier shot.

Raglan Beaufort arms maybe to dimly lit.

The Crown also taken on the 30/11 2021 shoot. Very dim lighting here taken from the same position as the earlier shot. And I feel a little disappointed

F9 30 secs ISO 640 to speed up the time

03 12 2021

A couple of shoots taken on my way home from Barry of Morrisons superstore before midnight

These I may or not use

06 12 2021

These are before midnight images taken locally around Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr taking in a lot of the well lit building in this area

There are a lot of well lit building in Ebbw Vale in the evening Daniels a large grocery store stands out as well as Aldi’s, the Gulf filling station Tesco’s  and McDonalds and I think many will form some part of this Project.

 I was quite pleased with the result s gained from this shoot although because it was quite busy with people and for security reasons, and not wanting to walk round with a tripod and camera, I upped the ISO to 640 with around F 7.1 with shutter speeds from 8 secs down to a third of a second I hand held the camera and took the images.

 I have found I am quite capable of hand holding a shot down to a speed of around 1/3 second and have done it on many occasions.

Tesco garage F6.3 ISO 640 1/10 second exposure hand

F 6.3 ISO 640 shutter 1/80 second

Town centre Ebbw f 6.3 ISO 640 shutter 1/6 second. It looked good through the viewfinder but again may not make the finals images

Morgans Bar Ebbw Vale ISO 640 f6.3 Shutter 1/50 second

Market Hall Cinema Brynmawr  ISO 200 f 6.3 shutter 1/3^rd of a second 

Daniels grocery Ebbw Vale ISO 640  f6.3  1/15 second

14 12 2021

After midnight foray to local area buildings again contact sheets for this shoot

Out after midnight 5tonight going to many of the places I visited a couple of Days ago to take the after midnight shots trying to use around the same position from the previous time

Taking images of gulf garage Ebbw Vale using my Sony 7rIII and a tripod  f7.1 ISO 100 5 secs  29mm lens. Taken from across the road on the pavement in a place of safety.

Bridgend Inn Brynmawr with just a couple of security lights taken from across the road in a place of safety lot of lens flare even with an f8 aperture ISO 100 25secs

Market Hall Cinema Brynmawr ISO 100 F 8 20secs shutter on a tripod

Ebbw Vale Car Park Lit by fluorescents as a security measure no different from the before midnight image may not make the finals

KFC Ebbw Vale after midnight  30 secs shutter f8 ISO 100

21 01 2022

 Into the new year and a visit down to Newort East retail park, this is a before midnight shoot Goggle maps screen shot https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5685037,-3.0040586,278m/data=!3m1!1e3

Many different shops and styles of build here

In Newport retail park before midnight we have an array of buildings

Sport direct Iso 2000 f 3.5 1/200 sec found this one not the best and will not be used

High ISO rating here not the best to take images but again Newport makes me nervous, to many drug addicts and homeless so I did not want to advertise the fact I have £4600 camera hanging round my neck, and carrying a tripod an even bigger advert that I have a camera this early in the evening.

Starbucks drive through ISO 4000 f.45 shutter 1/80

I liked the shape of this building more abstract and modern image came out well ISO 4000 1/40 f 3.5 Not a great deal of depth of field or other settings but if I wished to do this professionally I would have a high aperture of F11 Iso 100 shutter, slow tripod and and a great big hairy arsed bodyguard with me.

F5.6 ISO 3200 shutter 1/15 the grange Hospital Cwmbran I visited this hospital on the way home but again I hand held because I very conscious of this hospital being on private ground and could foresee a big security guard coming over to question me, and because of this I decided not to do the after midnight shot.

31/01 2022

I went back down to the Newport East retail Park to get some after midnight shots taking with me. my tripod and Sony camera gear.

I went back down to the Newport East retail Park to get some after midnight shots taking with me. my tripod and Sony camera gear.

Contact sheet

On the intention of this trip was to match up the building images in Newport East retail park with the images taken on the 21 /01/2022 the before midnight shots and using around the same position I set up my tripod and took these images.

Cwm Covid centre after midnight with hardly any lights on at all so not used a lot during the morning hours again set up on a tripod as there were not many people around and taken a from a slightly different position as the lighting is now only up the far end.

Boots store East retail Park tripod and Sony camera ISO 500 to speed up the shot

F5 shutter 1/5. Taken from the same position as before

KFC Newport after midnight

M & S store after midnight

F 13 iso 200 shutter 13 secs

KFC Pontypool

Having seen a Youtube Video of a night shoot in Swansea Marina I decided to travel there to get a little more variety in the shape of building. The shape of the tower block in the marina being of interest to me.

This would form a before midnight  shoot. On arriving I realised that there was only one way to take this and that was looking down the road to it to give some lead in lines.

I arrived early in the afternoon and went around the marina headland Langland bay to just take pictures.

Contact sheets

With some of the interesting architecture in this area 

Swansea Marriot Hotel post photoshop

Swansea Marina tower post photoshop production

21/03 /2022

Another trip to Swansea for the after midnight shots

F7.1 ISO 100 shutter 20 seconds Tripod

14/03/2022

 Merthyr Tydfil Cyfarfa Retail park before midnight shots

Merthyr Tydfil Cyfarthfa Park shopping area before midnight

Looking for more of the modern different shapes to add to my final document

In this image I liked the shape of the two well lit shops together

HM stores

16/03/2022

Going back to Merthyr Tydfil to get the final after midnight shots to complete the series

Tripod ISO 100 f7.1 4 seconds liked the shape of this Pizza hut with its lighting

contact sheet from Merthyr 

The Next store now completely in darkness f7.1 ISO 100 6 seconds tripod Sony 7RIII

By the college in Merthyr I saw what appears to be a Banksy or in the style of, painted on a nearby wall. Well you have to photograph it  F6.3 ISO 100 8 Secs

Matalan shop front with two cherry pickers parked outside as they were working in Wilko’s f6.3 ISO 100 3.2 secs

Now finished the photography its been quite a hard project getting up at different times and studying google maps to try and find places as there are not many photographers out there who take this type of imagery.

In my research it will have to be night time street photographers.

I am quite pleased with the outcome I have taken many photo’s over a long period going out in cold winter weather and looking for street photographers in South Wales who shoot night photography. This has been the most difficult part of the project and in the end, it was down to me driving around to look at businesses and buildings to see if they suit.

It also has been a learning curve for me having not taken low light shots for a few years, I had to relearn the basics but after a while it became quite normal to do night photography.