Finding Your Style of Night Photography: Two Views of the Grantsville Ghost Town Stone House Ruins
A 24 minute long exposure of an old stone and earth house at Grantsville ghost town in Western Nevada was primarily lit by the full moon, with a little bit of light painting to fill the shadows on the back of the house. The star trails arc from diagonal to almost horizontal because the camera is facing Southeast. The sign on the left was blank, and marks the source of a spring that created the pond in front of the house. The camera position and 18mm focal length emphasize the small size of the pond and stone house in the greater landscape. The exposure and post-processing give an open, descriptive, almost night-for-day rendering of the scene.
David Dasinger's photo of the stone house and spring is from a little bit earlier on the same evening. David chose tighter framing on the house, and got some wonderful clouds streaking by in the sky along with star trails. He used a xenon flashlight for light painting the wall, which wasn't lit by the moon yet. The darker exposure, light painting, and post processing give David's version a moodier night feeling. The landscape is deep in the 3/4 tones, which really draws your eye to the house, clouds, and subtle reflections in the water.
Shooting the same subjects with friends is always an interesting experience. In this case David and I used similar camera positions, camera equipment, and flashlights, but got different results that reflect our individual styles of interpreting the scene.