Photography At Night

Plus - Autumn Watch Update

Have you had a go at photography over the winter months, outside in the evening or night. Everything at night looks different, and in addition to the normal, there are many special events and features. From torchlight processions to huge illuminated carnivals, from illuminated scenes in forests to firework spectaculars.

This week we turn our attention to these areas looking at how you can find these events and locations, and how you go about photographing them.

Although we get to see many events on, we were surprised at just how many special events we discovered, and we have split

them into three lists, one covering a list of carnivals and illuminations, the second on fire festivals and events  and a third list of Firework events. Around November the 5th there are very many firework events throughout the country, in the listing we have concentrated on just the largest ones.

We have an article looking at Photographing fireworks and this is of course the time to start looking at which firework event you are going to photograph. As they are on different days you could attend more than one if you wished. In the article we give you enough information to get you going in this area of photography, something that is rarely written about in such detail.

Associated with the fireworks season you get a variety of large illuminated carnivals, the best known and probably the largest is the Bridgewater carnival. Throughout the South West of England there are a number of these taking place from the end of September through to November, but usually its only at Bridgwater that you get ALL the large floats, around 100 of them up to 100 foot long with some of them using 20-30,000 light bulbs. We have an article looking at how you go about Photographing carnivals with lights  plus a location guide on the Bridgwater Carnival. This event has been running from at least the period of James I, and possibly from the year following the attempt by Guy Fawkes to blow up Parliament. Oh we have had terrorism on our minds for a long time!

Of the street light displays, Blackpool is the largest and best known, photographing this is in many ways similar to the carnival, especially when you have trams covered in lights looking like trains, ships, rockets etc.

At Blackpool and many other places around the country you have the opportunity to Photographing fun fairs both by day and night and as you may guess we have an article on this as well.

Every city, town or area provides photographic opportunities at night, but also possibly areas of concern. In the article photographing street scenes at night  we look at both how to undertake this, but also in depth at a number of problem areas to avoid. Don't forget in the run up to Christmas there may also be a street near you where the residents have decorated their houses for the young at heart to enjoy.

At this time of the year we start to see special events on, in some woods, arboretums or forestry areas, with static lights, light and sound shows or illuminated items such as animals. These vary from steady strolls on flat well maintained paths to mountain climbs. Some individual gardens and parks also have floodlit displays, we cover this in photographing coloured lights in forest settings  although a lot of the more technical points are covered in some of the articles above.

There are many other types of fire events including some spectacular ones over the winter in Scotland, that for many of us requires a little more planning. We tried to time this weeks articles both to be just before the majority of the firework and illuminated carnivals but also at a time when you could start to plan for some of the other winter fire festivals. As well as the dedicated lists we have now built on this, some of the major events that take place will also be found in our diary pages in the comings months, so remember to keep a look out here to see what is coming up.

BBC Autumn Watch

Broadcasts,  BBC2 starts 8pm Monday 27th October 2008.

Website: www.bbc.co.uk/autumnwatch/

Bill Oddie and Kate Humble are on Brownsea Island, in Poole Harbour,  Dorset with its variety of wildlife including Red squirrels , and  Sika Deer , Simon King is out and about in a variety of places, around the country looking at a variety of wildlife including, the Red Deer , and Fallow deer ruts . He will visit Anglesey in North Wales, looking at Ravens, and along the Dorset coast at huge conger eels, plus something in the New Forest and looking at urban wildlife in Birmingham. Gordon Buchanan will be providing a grey seal diary from the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast. Plus there are some viewers videos and more.

It dos not say, but we expect it will run from Monday to Thursday for two weeks or is it three. I have emailed the BBC but not yet had a reply.

Photoshop Online Free Course

The Photo-Skills Free Photoshop Editing Course is about to start with the first segment expected to be available from Saturday 18th. This course is completely online, has no costs or registration requirements with new sections or segments as they are called, coming out about once a month. So if you have thought about getting involved in editing with Photoshop Elements or Photoshop CS3 or 4 then this is the ideal opportunity. You can find out more by going to www.photo-skills.co.uk and taking the link from the page on the course as soon as it is available.

Photo-Skills have also started, one month ago now, a Free Digital Photography course, with the second segment due out soon. The two courses can be taken individually but are also arranged so that they work to a degree together and with projects you have the opportunity to take the photographs one month and edit them the following.

Photographing fireworks

Photographing carnivals with lights 

Photographing fun fairs

Photographing Street scenes at night 

Photographing coloured lights in forest/woodland settings 

Carnivals and Illuminations

Fire Festivals and Fire Events

Firework Events

Blackpool Illuminations, Blackpool, Lancashire

Bridgwater Carnival, Bridgwater, Somerset

Burning the Clocks, Brighton, Sussex

Enchanted Christmas at Westonbirt Arboretum, nr Tetbury, Gloucestershire

The Fireball Festival, Stonehaven, Kincardineshire

Mousehole Christmas Lights, Mousehole, Cornwall

Ottery St Mary Tar Barrels, Ottery St Mary, Devon

Up Helly Aa, Lerwick, Shetland

Walsall Illuminations, Walsall Arboretum, Walsall, Staffordshire