Some night scenes in Penang
Taking night shots in Penang is fun. There are plenty of interesting things at night such as semi-dark streets, lit hostels, and the beautiful sky— still visible in photos if you can capture it quickly before there is total darkness.
Initially, I intended to shoot some photos featuring the contrast between the blue sky and the yellowish streets. But as you can see in these photos, there was more to that in this neighborhood. Like what I shot in Photo 1, the color blue and yellow in the far end creates good contrast, yet the green plants against the white pillars in the foreground also added interest to this photo. They were in fact lit by my LED light panel held by my left hand.
Photo 2 was taken a bit earlier than Photo 1. The sky was brighter and you can still see the clouds up there. After a little while, I turned to the other side of the road to capture the mansions at a closer range. As you can see in the reference photo, the cafe’s light box was blown out. This happens often when you take photos of light boxes around the streets. So what you should do is simply mark a smaller f-stop and achieve something like Photo 3. In Photo 4, no light boxes were blown out; even the shape of the fluorescent lamp was visible. But in Photo 5, the fluorescent lamp was blown out. However, this was acceptable since it occupied a tiny part of the whole picture.
Equipment Setup
| Photo 1 | Photo 2 | Photo 3 | Reference Photo 1 | Photo 4 | Photo 5 | ||
| Camera | Canon EOS 5D | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Lens | EF 24-105mm f4L IS USM | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| LED lighting | Triopo LED Light Panel | 1 | |||||
