Times Square, NYC – More tips

So, are you joining Rick Sammon, Juan Pons, Smugmug and me in Times Square TODAY for Rick Sammon’s Times Square Shooting Session? If not, you should be! It is free and, best of all, fun. Hope to see you tonight.

I’ll be posting images from Times Square this week along with assorted, miscellaneous and random tips as I see fit! For more information about shooting in Times Square and all over NYC, check out my book Photographing New York City on Amazon or in bookstores.

Here are some more random musings on photographing Times Square.

• When shooting at night, it is much brighter than you might expect. In fact, Times Square never really gets much darker than dusk. And in many areas it is much much brighter and constantly fluctuating. Don’t expect to use manual mode unless you are quite proficient as rapidly metering and adjusting.
• Make sure you are using a high enough shutter speed, but not too high at night. If your camera is set for a darker environment and you shoot at 1000-8000th of a second, you will start to notice lines in some of your images. This is caused by the flickering in a scene lit entirely by huge-mongous florescent lights. It is a fun effect if you want to see what happens, though. See below for an example. Try varying the shutter speed to see the difference in the lines.
• For the out-of-towners… don’t try to drive there!
• Be aware that if you use your tripod you may be asked to put it away. I’ve seen people use a tripod for half an hour without ever being harassed, and others be approached mere seconds after setting it down.
• Make sure to visit the Hershey store! Both a great photo op and a great place for a break. (Okay, my brother-in-law works at Hershey, so I have to say that… but it really is!)