#1 – For me, lighting is about being able to create the vision that I want or that my client needs – almost any time it needs to happen. The chances of me getting together with Ben under a full moon are pretty slim. As it happened, Ben and I both had plans that night – 40 miles apart – and the moon was just a sliver. If this had been an assignment from the NY Times Book Review for a cover shot and the photo editor said that it had to be the magical Ben shot under moonlight, what would I do? Say that Ben’s schedule did not work out? The weather wasn’t right? Not if I ever wanted to shoot for them again. Being able to kill sunlight with high-speed sync is just another tool in my box. Landscape photographers wait for the light to become perfect. A commercial shooter often does not have the luxury of time and must create the scene with what he has on hand. Fortunately for me, that included an arsenal of Speedlites and RadioPoppers that day.

#2 – Shooting at night is a bigger challenge than turning noon to night. Even if the moon was large, to get “moonlit” shadows you have to have a relatively long exposure. The camera has to be locked down on a tripod – which ruins the spontaneity between shooter and subject. The long exposure also means that the subject might be blurry or “ghosted” by the ambient light during the long exposure – which could be cool if that’s what you’re after. I wasn’t. If you’re shooting in twilight, the light is constantly changing as the sky merges to black. The advantage of shooting night at daytime is that the ambient exposure is relatively constant — which means I can concentrate on other things.

Is it just to prove that it can be done or is there some other creative reason that I havent picked up on?