52Frames Night Photography Photo Trending

Well, it didn’t last very long, but my 52Frames night photography photo was trending on the website. It was a composite image of a ghostly apparition of my husband in the neighborhood park at night. It seemed the photos were changing up faster than usual. The weekly album opens on Tuesday and three photos are highlighted at least once a day. I never checked the website for this until someone mentioned that my photo was trending in April. Usually my photo appears some time on the following day, but this time it didn’t show up until later in the evening. And since then my photos have been selected every week. I don’t know what the criteria is but am glad it happens as the photographers come from all over the world and there is a lot of competition. I especially enjoy seeing the images of places I have heard about but have never visited like Hong Kong and India - to name a few. It’s been a while since any of my photos were highlighted in the instagram site or selected as a top 52. But I keep my fingers crossed every week. I suppose you could say it is all about keeping up with the challenge. But it is also nice to get selected!

52Frames Night Photography Photo Challenge

The subject for this week’s 52Frames photo challenge was “night photography.” I would much rather chase down images during the daylight hours and make it part of our morning walk - although plantar fasciitis has kept me home bound for a while. And we don’t tend to go out at night much anymore. So the best place for night photos was the neighborhood park. Things do look very different at night! We tried walking down our usual paths but it was simply too dark to see anything. So I asked my husband to turn on his iPhone flashlight. As soon as we did a ghostly apparition appeared - and I was surprised I maintained my wits and got a photo of it! Actually the composite photo that was created this week included one layer of the path and another layer of my husband walking on the path in long exposure. So it all looked rather spooky. There weee a couple of other options too - a couple of kids walking along by a very bright street light, our long shadows, and another one or two. This is the photo my husband liked best. Let’s hope it gets some attention! 

52Frames Night Photography Photo Challenge

The subject for the 52Frames photo challenge this week was “night photography.” That was disappointing because I usually take photos for the challenges during our morning walks. In fact the subject oftentimes dictates where we go for the walk. So we needed to determine where the best location might be close to home. Since we go to the neighborhood park during the day we thought we would try it at night. There is a lighted path around the perimeter of the park that casts long shadows on any subject walking that way. So I used my husband as the subject and tried a few different views. A gazebo also made for some alternate options. Then we walked over to the pickle ball court but the people there just finished. On another evening after a rain storm I tried taking a few photos of the raindrops and the small roses on the balcony. The lighting was interesting with the drops of water shining on the glass wall. The building across the street also was an option. I didn’t think any of the photos turned out that well except for one of my husband walking up the path - but I needed to add a bit of whimsy to create a composite image. So a photo of a deer that crossed our path earlier in the week was added to the night shot so it looked as if my husband was having a stare down with the deer. I thought about adding a shadow, but the lighting dictated a clean view. The idea of creating a composite is to make it look like whatever is in the photo actually belongs there. That’s what makes the photo challenge more interesting for me - it’s more of an art project than taking a photo. 

52Frames Night Photography

I really didn’t like the subject for the photo challenge this week. It was night photography. And because of my lack of enthusiasm, it showed. I take the photos using my iPhone 8Plus - so there are limitations. For night photos I need to use an app for slow shutter. On top of that a tripod is required to maintain a steady hand. I don’t have a tripod so I use the stand I got for FaceTime. Since the weather was very tumultuous with rain storms, winds and flooding, I preferred to stay indoors rather than drive around in the dark. I did get a couple of decent images from our balcony. But they were just photographs and didn’t do much for me. After a bit of frustration I walked in to the den, sat down on the ottoman, and looked in to the IKEA mirror squares that are plastered on the wall. It was hard to tell if it was taken inside or outside because it looked like a paned window. At first the street scene was posted because it was at least technically okay. But after thinking about it I was more concerned about it being a bit more artistic than technically good. Before the image is posted the site asked if you would like to do this challenge again. NO!