Twilight is the perfect time to photograph amusement parks. Colorful lights stand out beautifully against a deep blue sky. This is a wonderful opportunity to experiment with using longer exposures for creative effects. Rather than freeze the action, change your camera settings to convey motion. Here's how you do it: Mount your camera on a tripod. Use a remote cable release. Choose a small aperture and a low ISO setting. This will help lengthen the exposure time needed to record the colorful motion as a soft blur.
With a little digital darkroom fun, you can add magic to your image! Try the radial blur in Alien Skin's Bokeh, a Photoshop plug-in that gives you a lot of creative options with focus and blur. You can control the "aperture" by choosing a diaphragm shape. I chose the 5-blade pentagon that added little stars to the highlight areas in my photo. Try it and see! Have fun shooting! ~ Deb
