Friendship Fountain (Night Time Photos)

Friendship Fountain

If any of you know about Jacksonville Florida, you know about the downtown river walk. It's probably one of the most photographed areas of the city. It's really nice at night when the bridges are lit up in blue and the river gives you some nice reflections to capture in camera. In the photo above, you see one of the city's most recognizable of it's seven main bridges(the ones that cross the St. Johns River). The Main Street bridge is the name it goes by. It has another name that even some of the people that live here don't know. John T. Alsop Jr. is the other name of this bridge that was part of the Superbowl 39 Logo.(I hope I don't get sued for using the word Superbowl) It was named after a former mayor. But, all the road signs say Main Street Bridge.

This my friends is night photography and you want to try it. Here's how.


First, you need a camera that has a shutter that stays open a long time. Most cameras have 30 seconds as the longest shutter speed. That is long enough for the vast (and I mean vast)majority of night shots. Check your camera's manual. Second, you have to have a self timer or even better, a remote shutter release. That way you won't shake the camera and fudge up the photo with blurr. Third you have to have a tripod. This is very important. Go ahead and try holding a camera steady for even a three second exposure. That baby has to be rock steady.


Now, here is the technique that I used for the photo in this post. The camera is on the tripod and I have composed the shot. I set the ISO at it's lowest for the least amount of noise. I wanted a sharp photo so I used a small aperture of f16. The shutter speed was a long 10 seconds. After pressing the shutter button I made sure to wait until the shutter closed before touching the camera. Then I reviewed the image to make sure it was good. There you have it. A gorgeous night time photograph.


So, don't pack up the gear when it gets dark. Stay out there a little while and get some of that fantastic skyline or that nicely lit statue. Now, take me some night photos.


Enjoy!!!