As a photographer, one of the important elements of my style has been the use of directional light. What excites me most is shooting at night because objects are lit more dramatically by directional light. See the example of the cover image of my book, American Mood. I feel that shooting at night adds additional drama to what might already be a quality image.

As in the past, choosing these images has been a difficult task, and you might have your own opinion of what you like. If you read the critiques of the top six winning images, you will understand my thinking in these choices.

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What I liked most about this image to give it first place, is not only the drama of the colorful lights at night, but also the positioning of the abstract of the Carnival visuals that give it a montage of a pop art affect.  I would have approached this assignment as most of you have done, so for me what Robyn has created here is outside my own vision with surprisingly wonderful results. Great image!

This image without the lightening has a quality of telling a story of middle America with what seems to be a laundry mat in the middle of a residential area, and draws me in to look around to see the rail road crossing, type of homes, even BBQ sign, telling a total story of an area dramatically lit at night. Now add the element of lightening in the sky, what a moment in time J.J. has caught. Notice the highlight detail of the car sitting in the driveway between the 2 houses. Then my eye travels down the road and I see between the telephone pole and the bldg, the Railroad crossing, also highlighted. There are so many great elements to this image.

In Phil’s image, the drama of the night light and the illustration of the people not only tells a story but is lit beautifully. The separation of the night sky from the foreground adds a strong element to the composition. The wet street also enhances the color and beauty of the image. This would also make a great automobile commercial ad.

Aside from the beauty of the skyline, with its almost pastel type of tone, the strong graphic element of the bridge is perfectly composed to draw your eye into this image.

We are basically dealing here with a short tonal range of colors all used in strong contrast of starkness. The sharp green leaves, along with the tree branches against the stark black background creates a beautifully dramatic image (think how this might look in comparison if shot during the day?).

The NYC skyline is probably the most photographed skyline in the world. But I must say, the way it is handled in this image is amongst the nicest I’ve seen. The sky is stark black, the outline of the buildings, are pronounced by the sharp focus of the windows that are lit inside. And all of this is enhanced by the composition of the position where the Empire State Building is along with the element of the moon.