How I Photographed a Ferris Wheel at Night

by | Aug 6, 2021

Today’s Post by Joe Farace

The original Ferris Wheel was designed and constructed by George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. as a landmark for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The term Ferris Wheel is used generically for all such structures, which are now the most common type of carnival ride at state fairs and carnivals in the US, such as this one I photographed at a traveling carnival that was (temporarily) located in a Denver suburb.

How I made this shot: This particular Ferris wheel was photographed at night using the Phase One 645DF camera that was securely mounted to my custom Tiltall tripod. Exposure was 1.6 seconds at f/22 and ISO 400. How about the effect of accumulative noise from a combination of the slightly higher ISO and long exposure? With this camera’s 56 x 41.5mm sensor size, it wasn’t much of a consideration, at least not for me.  Even the P40+ back’s smallish 2.2-inch LCD worked great under these condition

 


If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to treat Joe to a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.50), click here. And if you do, many thanks.

 

Along with photographer Barry Staver, Joe is co-author of Better Available Light Digital Photography that’s out-of-print but new copies are available for $21.49 or used copies starting around nine bucks, as I write this. Kindle version price varies depends on whether it’s a purchase or rental. (No, I don’t get that either.)