Night and Low-light Photography Photo Workshop

At the Fair

Fairs and amusement parks are exciting, vibrant,
and often crowded places that make for great
photographic opportunities, especially as the
sun sets and after dark. There are thousands of
different-colored light bulbs on the rides, attrac-
tions, and games at fairs that make them come
alive at night. Photographing at fairs is a combi-
nation of shooting events and photographing
light trails and gives you multiple opportunities to
create all kinds of low-light images.

Fairs usually last for a week or more, allowing you
to visit multiple times at different times with differ-
ent lighting conditions and even different weather,
all in a short period of time. For example, the San
Diego County Fair lasts for 18 days during June and
July, and with an unlimited entry ticket, it is very
affordable to shoot just about every night. However,
it is easy to get caught up in the excitement of the
fair and forget to look for photo opportunities.

When photographing an event such as a fair, try
to get overall scene setting images, along with
mid-range views to show the people, the animals,
the rides, the entertainment, and even the food
vendors, then get some close-up detail shots to
help round out the photo story. At times the
overall shot is the hardest to get and you need to
start looking for a vantage point to capture the
lights from a distance. An overview shot can be
taken before even entering the fairgrounds just as
long as you have a view of the rides and lights.
For Figure 5-19, I stayed back from the main mid-
way and looked for any vantage point that would
allow me to see the lights. Once I found a good
location to shoot from, I wanted a longer shutter
speed to get the rides in motion, so I needed to
make sure the camera didn’t move and used a tri-
pod and cable release.

Before going, check with any fair at

which you plan to photograph about

using a tripod. Many times they are allowed but with

restrictions usually to do with the safety of the crowds.

note

The best time to show up at the fair is before the

sun has set so that you can scout the areas that

you want to photograph before it is actually time

to take the images. This prep time allows you to

be prepared as the sun sets and the sky starts to

turn dark, when the lights from the fair begin to

stand out against the night sky.

There is one more point to go over before getting

into the exposure settings and the fun subjects to

photograph, and that is your safety. Fairs are open

to the public, and there may be some people who

do not have your best interests at heart and

decide that a big camera bag is a worthy prize. Be

aware of your surroundings and make sure that

you don’t get so caught up in taking photographs

that you stop paying attention to what is going on

around you. I suggest going with a friend so that

there is someone else to help keep an eye on

activity around you; it can also be more fun to

shoot with a friend.

Exposure considerations

Because of the difference between the very bright

lights and the very dark sky, getting the exposure

right when photographing at the fair can be a

challenge. A solution to the tricky exposure situ-

ation is to bracket your exposures; in other words,

take multiple shots of the same scene using

slightly different exposure settings to make sure

you get the one you want.

For photographs taken at the fair, set the camera

to aperture priority mode and pick one of the

metering modes, depending on the subject:

Bracketing the exposures is covered

in detail in Chapter 2.

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