Adding an Edge | Hardly Square

Night Photography in the Lower Ninth Ward

Shortly after Hurricane Katrina ravaged Saint Bernard Parish, the hardest hit region of New Orleans, Hardly Square was hired to create interactive Flash content and capture landscape photography for the parish’s website. We jumped at the opportunity to help a community in need. It wasn’t until we got down to New Orleans that we actually understood what a community in need really meant.

Hardly Square was hired to help visually communicate the advantages the region had in order to encourage investment. We toured the Lower Ninth Ward and the rest of Saint Bernard Parish snapping pictures of infrastructure, industry, and tourism opportunities for Council Members.

During off hours we decided to document the effects of Hurricane Katrina with long exposure, night photography. We headed down Judge Perez Drive and finally set up our tripod in a dilapidated and desolate shopping plaza. It was 3AM and we were working with only moonlight and the fire from our lighters. There were no street lights or parking lot lights. Nothing was in working condition. But you’d be surprised how much moonlight you’ll pick up from a 30 second exposure.

When you are trying to capture imagery at night there are three major tips to consider:

1. Increase the amount of light captured by your camera with extended shutter speeds

2. Keep your camera steady

3. Be prepared

When working in extreme conditions like the chaos left behind by Katrina you better be prepared. You need to know your equipment and how it is going to respond. This way you can be as quick as possible and avoid trouble.

That being said, you could really benefit from a quick tripod. We use a Manfrotto Neotec. With the Neotec tripod, setup is a breeze. Simply pull the legs down and they lock into place automatically. You are going to pay for this feature, but it really comes in handy in these situations. The Neotec is key on the job too, time is money.

While traveling to find your shot it is a good idea to have your camera and equipment set and ready to go. When working with night photography it is a good idea to be safe. Sometimes you can find yourself in compromising situations. In our situation we had the exposure set for 30 seconds. We knew there wasn’t going to be any light. Zero.

It is also good to have a cable release or remote control for your camera when dealing with long exposures. When you push the button you might shake the camera, and that’s no good. For landscapes, I like to keep my aperture set around f11. This gives you a nice long depth of field.

With night photography you never know what you are going to get. But that’s the beauty of it. You may be surprised with what you capture. Street lamps work like studio lights amongst nature, parking lot lights make magical colors, and car tail lights can produce some beautiful trails. Have fun out there!

* all photography taken by Josh Sullivan of Hardly Square.