On my trip to Chicago this week, I got out for several walks in the evening after work. On Monday night I decided to shoot with a theme of water reflections. The shot below is my favorite among the bunch I shot.

I started out of my hotel about 8:00 and got down to Chicago’s lakefront just as it was starting to get dark.

This first shot is along the concrete walkway between the planetarium and the Navy Pier. I had my little 6” pocket tripod that I mounted my camera to and set on the edge of the wall looking towards the Navy Pier. I used the Smooth Reflections app on my Sony Alpha7ii and set it to take 60 shots and then blend them together. It took forever with the low light since each exposure was taking several seconds. I like the way it turned out but on all the other shots I turned it down to about 15 exposures.

Here’s a similar view with the lower number of exposures.

I decided to walk closer to the Navy Pier to get a closer shot with the Ferris wheel. It was getting pretty dark out at this point so the lights were a great contrast to the dark sky.

From here I decided to head up the Chicago River to get some shots from the bridges. Unfortunately doing long exposure photography from a bridge that vibrates severely every time a car goes across is not a formula for success. I tried steadying the camera by leaning it on the railing down along the walkway along the river, but as you can see in the shots below, that wasn’t quite as effective as my little tripod.

And here’s what you get when you think the long exposure shot is completed and you move the camera while it is still going. This one belongs in @tattoodjay’s #funkyedits theme.

This is my contribution to @tattoodjay’s #wednesdaywalk #photochallenge.

#thealliance