Picture This

Our Picture This! assignment this month was “Night Moves: Time and Motion” and we asked readers to send in images that incorporated not only nighttime photography, which is challenging enough, but also a sense of movement through the frame. Of course, working in low light usually requires a longer shutter speed, so the challenge became creating a sense of motion through the dark within the context of the space being depicted. We’re happy to say that readers responded with virtual narratives of motion and emotion, and showed us how our sense of time can be altered by creative imaging. Photography is unique in that it can show us moments that our eyes can never see, and in how it can reveal the truly abstract and relative nature of time itself.

Country Road

The vehicle became just a streak of light traveling down a country lane in this photo by Ron Landis. He photographed with a Nikon D700 and a Nikkor 28-200mm lens with an exposure of f/14 at 13 seconds. © 2010, Ron Landis, All Rights Reserved

Neon Pizza

We received a number of carnival shots and this one by Jeff Miller caught the spirit of the place in both the static food booths and spinning rides in one frame. He worked with a Nikon D200 and a Nikkor 18-135mm lens atop a Manfrotto 055MF4 tripod. Exposure at ISO 500 was f/22 at 1.6 seconds. © 2010, Jeff Miller, All Rights Reserved

Storm

Rob Wiener caught all the energy of a passing lightning storm at night in Idaho. His exposure on Kodak Gold 100 film loaded in a Ricoh KR-5 Super II camera was f/11 at about 12 minutes. © 2010, Rob Wiener, All Rights Reserved

Blue Notes

This abstract study of (Christmas) lights was made by Rick McIntyre with an Olympus E-3 and a 14-54mm lens; exposure at f/16 was 1 second. © 2010, Rick McIntyre, All Rights Reserved

Radio City Taxi Hail

Steadying his camera on a car hood, Bruce Mermelstein made this shot with a Kodak EasyShare LS443 camera at ISO 200 and an exposure of f/3.1 at 1⁄8 sec. © 2010, Bruce Mermelstein, All Rights Reserved

American Idol

Daniel A. Swalec got this shot of Taylor Hicks from backstage with a Nikon D3 and a 24-70mm lens. Exposure at ISO 400 was f/2.8 at 1⁄8 sec. He even supplied us with a model release! © 2010, Daniel A. Swalec, All Rights Reserved

Music Festival

Kristy Burris made this emblematic shot at the Detroit Electronic Music Festival with a Nikon D200 and a 50mm lens; exposure was f/1.8 at 1⁄6 sec. © 2010, Kristy Burris, All Rights Reserved

Market Street Bridge

Robert P. McCaffrey combined absolute stillness with the bursting energy of a speeding train using a Nikon D200 and a Nikkor 18-200mm lens atop a SLIK tripod with a Manfrotto ball head. Exposure was f/8 at 2 seconds. © 2010, Robert P. McCaffrey, All Rights Reserved

Fire Dance

Emilio Fernandez saw the swirling shawl of this Flamenco dancer as fire and used a slow shutter speed to capture the energy of her movement. Exposure with a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II at ISO 420 was f/8 at 1⁄15 sec. © 2010, Emilio Fernandez, All Rights Reserved

Arc de Triomphe

Lynn Foerster risked life and limb to catch the energy of the street traffic in Paris using a Canon EOS Rebel XS and a Canon 24-105mm lens. Exposure was f/22 at 8 seconds. © 2010, Lynn Foerster, All Rights Reserved

Points Of Light

A line is a point extended, and the visual point is made well by Preston Ozmar, working with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II with an exposure of f/14 at 20 seconds. © 2010, Preston Ozmar, All Rights Reserved

Crazy Drive

Jon Levine describes his shot this way: “I laid down the back seats of my Mini Cooper and set up my tripod, securing it to the interior with bungee cords. I then attached my Olympus E-500 with my 11-22mm lens and framed the shot. I drove around Fort Lauderdale for about an hour at dusk, firing the camera using my wireless remote at varying shutter speeds.” Exposure on this shot was f/22 at 9.1 seconds. © 2010, Jon Levine, All Rights Reserved

Porta Nigra

This Roman ruin in Trier, Germany, is near where Dustin M. Sprague is stationed. He caught this bike rider awaiting traffic with a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II and a Canon 24-70mm lens. Exposure was f/11 at 6 seconds at ISO 250. © 2010, Dustin M. Sprague, All Rights Reserved

State Fair Ride

Perhaps the most energetic of the carnival ride photos we received was from Mike Acquesta. He caught these amazing bursts of light using a Canon EOS 40D and a Canon 28-135mm lens. Exposure was f/5 at 1 second. © 2010, Mike Acquesta, All Rights Reserved

Handlebar Camera

Perhaps the most abstract of all the images we received, this one by Kevin R. Wonders was made by placing a Canon PowerShot S2 IS on a handlebar Ram Mount on his Harley and driving through the night. Exposure on this shot was f/5.6 at 2.5 seconds. © 2010, Kevin R. Wonders, All Rights Reserved