Ubiquitous Light

Since last October I've been doing most of my photography at night. I have about ten Nikon SB-28 flash which I fire with Elinchrom radio triggers. I go out about two or three nights per week, month after month. I'm actually very comfortable out in the very rural farmland I haunt and don't even carry a flash light. (That's a torch for you Scottish folks.) There always seems to be plenty of light for me to see quite well, even on nights with no moon. I thought that once I lost my wall to wall cover of snow that it would be too dark to see without a flash light, but that's not been the case. After about ten minutes of being in the dark, I can certainly see well enough to shoot a pheasant if I had to. It's not quite enough light to read a magazine, but if a magazine was lying on the ground ten feet in front of me I could certainly see it. On nights with full moon and when I had a foot of snow on the ground I actually did have enough light to read by.

I haven't thought too much about it until the last couple of weeks, since there is no moon light lately. Now I am wondering, where the heck DOES all that light come from? Even without the moon I don't need a flashlight. I'm not near any big cities, and usually the closest is a town of about 25,000 people about 8 to 12 miles away. Do the stars really put out that much light??? The only time it was really dark was when I was along a canyon, which had a heavy canopy of trees along the rim. Inside the canyon I had enough light, but in the thick forest I couldn't see my boots on the ground below me. That means I can rule out that the light is somehow coming up out o the ground, , but where the heck IS it coming from? I don't even need a small flashlight to set up my flash units, and only carry one if I'm standing along a road. Try to picture me sitting out in a Minnesota field on a winter night for hours at a time, out in the dark, wondering why it's NOT dark.


Kent in SD

Kent, I have been at high altitude (20,000' in the Andes) on nights of clear-dark sky when the only sources of light were the stars (and any planets that happened to be around). There was certainly enough light to see without a headlamp. So, based upon your description (and my own experience), I would say the stars do provide more light than we would asume possible.

If anyone has more info on this, please enlighten us.

-PB

You've been eating far too many carrots Kent

Must be our eyes become accustomed to the light and that might actually seem more light to us, than what there actually is. Its an interesting one especially with no moon and you don't need a torch to see by.

All the best and keep eating those carrots M8t.

Danny.

You've got f1.4 eyes, Kent

It is amazing how little light we really need to see at night. While details will elude us we can usually get by with seeing the major shapes of things. I believe the light comes from stars and moon.

In addition to light from stars, planets, and other celestial objects, like zodiacal light, there is often a bit of very weak sky glow, In the higher latitudes I've seen the aurora bright enough to drive without my car lights on. (I didn't do it, though.) As to sensitivity, the human eye (dark adapted) can detect about four photons per second!

Kent,
This is very interesting.... In India a few years back, I had the daylights scared out of me..., literally...
I was picked up by a driver at the Bombay Airport late one afternoon, gong to a jobsite about 300 miles to the East... I wasn't thrilled about driving through the countryside at night, but didn't have a choice...
We were about 75 miles into our journey when for no apparent reason, the driver turned the headlights off as we cruised down the so-called highway... Alarmed, I asked "What the Hell are you doing???" He said in his best East Indian accent, 'Don't worry, Sir, I can see better without them".... We drove another 20 mile like that, and as we came ove a small hill there were 4 donkeys lying in on the warm pavement, soaking up some of the residual heat from the 100 degree day. He saw them long before I did, and hit the brakes with time to spare...
After my heart stopped pounding, I realized he was right! He could see very well without the headlights!!
Who'da Thunk???
That was 10 years ago, and since then, in their wisdom, the Indian Government has made it illegal to drive without headlights, but that doesn't stop most seasoned heavy truck drivers..
They still continue to scare the B'Jesus out of me!! Seems it's a cultural thing....

So, my question is, are you of East Indian decent??

At any rate, as I've closed some of my earoier posts with, "Stay Focused, and See the Light. It's all around us!!!"

Dave Flaig
Green Bay Wisconsin

Dave@ flaigphoto.com

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Hi Dave,

I was born in India and lived there for the first two decades of my life. I'll have to give it to you for driving 300 miles from Bombay to your job-site. That's almost 1/3rd the way across the country, to Calcutta! Why would you endure such a long road-trip. Surely there must have been a city with an airport, close to your final destination, that you could have flown to?

Unlike in the U.S., people in India don't generally go on such long road trips (unless it is by a long distance bus service). Are you sure that you didn't get conned by that driver?

If you want to see 'dark,' go into the dark timber on a moonless night. That's dark.

Actually, I don't think Kent's experience is that unusual. Back when I was younger, I used to go nighttime steep downhill sledding through the woods (yeah, that is about as good of an idea as it sounds ). Anyway, we found that carrying a flashlight led so a certain amount of blindness. It was actually easier to see once our eyes adapted to the light. Even up to a few years ago, I have done nighttime mountain biking in western Virginia with minimal lighting, if only to preserve my night vision (yet another good and highly recommended idea...).

Once your eyes adapt to the darkness, it really is quite remarkable how bright the night is, especially with even a partial moon.

Kent,,,We spend a lot of time in Wyoming and Montana where there is very little industry or atmospheric pollution (other than that which is blown in). Population and traffic levels are also down. On a clear night the starlight is unbelieveable.. All stars look alike to the naked eye. Even when seen through a telescope, they seem to be just points of light. However, analysis of their light spectra reveals that each is unique and different from all others. Each has its own distinctive ratio of apparent brightness to temperature, so each is different "in glory" from all others. What a great creation we live in. The more we learn the more facinating it becomes.

I'll give the credit to the rods in your retinas, Kent. Those are the cells that detect light and motion, and then the eye centers itself on that to pick up the details. Amazing how it allows for low light adaptation.

I offer this comment because I have an eye condition that has damaged most of the rod cells in my eye. So I could sit out with you in the field in Minnesota all night and never see all that wonderful light. Another amazing reason to be enthralled with photography. It allows me to see some things I wouldn't otherwise. A personal miracle to enjoy and ponder for Easter... And every time I go out with a camera.

Lots of fun comments:
"f 1.4 eyes" -- thanks for that, Buck. I enjoyed a hearty chuckle.
"eating far too many carrots..." Danny!
Dave, I 'd be alarmed, too, on a drive like that!
Dan, HOW are you still alive?! Sledding in the woods in the dark, you're a maniac! Your mother is my hero. How did SHE survive all your youthful "adventures?"

Thanks everyone.

Catherine - my mom doesn't know. The sledding I think she can handle. The mountain biking - the best of those stories she'll never hear...

By the way, I was in my early 30's for the mountain biking. I'm not that much older than that. And she still isn't happy about the bear encounters. Come to think about it, neither am I.

Well, uuhhh, my dad used to do crazy stuff like you do and thought his mom didn't know. She did. Are you SURE your mom is in the dark? And the pun IS intended… The best spy network in the world is a neighborhood full of cooperative moms with adventuresome children!
Anyway, we digress… I've seen some fantastic night shots on the NPN fora. It just amazes me.