Oooph! That title implies more than I have. I just have a few shots of downtown Stuttgart at night, but my point is… I have a few shots of downtown Stuttgart at night! After years of struggling with night photography, I think I’m finally getting the hang of it.
Saturday we bundled everyone into the van and drove into downtown Stuttgart. We were on a short timeline, our stores were closing at 17:00, and I work most of Saturday. We had to hustle! No time to take the train, instead opting for the faster but more complicated car ride. The drive itself was a breeze, almost no one on the autobahn, but parking the van? On a Saturday? In downtown? Thank goodness Dave was driving. I’ve gotten very good at tight corners, tiny streets and low ceilings but Saturdays parking garage was beyond my skill set.
Luckily we made it in time, and dropped off the camera for a good cleaning. We also needed the game store, new shoes for our rapidly growing 9-year-old, and sushi! Of all the things in the states, besides family, I miss sushi the most. It’s not the same here, and what there is is very hard to find. Our sushi treats are few & far between, I’ve gotten a lot less picky about my quality of sushi and even gas station sushi is almost welcome. Saturdays sushi was much better than gas station sushi, thankfully, and my tummy can live happily another couple of months.
After the camera was cleaned, and a couple lessons from the super helpful sales people, we trotted back out into the shimmering twilight. Tess still needed new copic markers to color her drawings, the 36 colors she’d gotten from Oma at Christmas were lacking skin tones and all her art was only partially filled in. It was a very strong need. We happily strolled the streets, grateful for a beautiful night, gorgeous Stuttgart and some much needed family time.
I stopped our little group here & there and took some night shots, playing with my new settings. I’m thinking, I might just get this night time photography after all!
First attempt with the new lens at the Schloßplatz in Stuttgart.
Dane, as always, is willing to do a quick pose.
Ahh. I’m finding my settings!
The clock tower of the main train station in the background.
And one with flash. I couldn’t not photograph Pikachu!
Photos look great! Did you use some website or book to figure things out? I haven’t gotten there yet 🙁
Nope. The guys where I cleaned my camera had me test some settings. Depending on the outdoor light, I change things up. I have about 5X the pics shown and not all are good. I am working on narrowing down which setting works when so I can blog about it knowledgeably!