Lake Oswego, Oregon.
“Wherever there is light, one can photograph.” – Alfred Steiglitz
“A ninja knows where he is going, just saying.” – Friend
During the winter here in Oregon the days are short and the nights are long, so if you live in a place like this you might as well learn how to photograph at night. I used to go out randomly with my camera and tweet something along the lines of, “Night Photog Ninja”. As in, I’m on the prowl looking for good night photography spots.
I rarely knew where I was going at first. There was an idea about what part of town I wanted to be in but nothing specific. I’d just drive and if I saw something that looked good or like a challenge, then I’d set up and shoot away. Back then it was more intuitive. I was less concerned with immediately getting the correct aperture, exposure time, or meter reading. I’d shoot, squint at the LCD screen in the dark, and then make adjustments from there. Combine this with cold fingertips, cold breath, the prospect of rain, and the randomness of it and it was a fun adventure.
These two photos were shot on the same night. The fog was perfect but clear above the glassy water. The timing was luck but the composition hoped for and delivered.
How about you? What night photos of yours would you share?
Lakeshore Inn. Lake Oswego, Oregon.
Little Kick 
Can you explain a little what you did, if anything, in post production to make the colors glow so brightly like that? And how long it took to achieve those changes.
Thank you for your question. The colors were there already from the lights and they reflected quite well off the water and fog in the RAW image. In Lightroom I dropped the highlights and boosted the shadows as far as I could for both. There were very small adjustments in hue and luminance but those were relatively minor.
Then it was truly fortuitous that you were there that night to capture these wondrous images.