Dean M. Chriss
Photography
Night Hiker Falls, Victoria, Australia
(Click image to enlarge)
When the days are sunny and you need soft and subdued light for a
photograph, you can wait for a cloudy day or take the picture just after
sunset. If you choose the latter and the subject is some distance by trail
in a dense forest, the endeavor involves some night hiking. I had no
headlamp or flashlight, and courtesy of a couple wrong turns arrived at the
trailhead later than I'd like.
In summer it can take nearly an hour hour for the sky
to reach minimum luminance after sunset in this location. On a clear night with no moon the
illumination is about 0.001
lux, which is the minimum in which humans can
see. On this night there would
also be a bit of moonlight. To make up for that the dense forest canopy
would block most of it.
The trail to the waterfall was steep and continuously downhill, making
it a fast hike in and a slow hike out. I didn't know that until I was at
the waterfall. I have done things like this many times in America's deserts,
but was a little concerned about the lack of light under the forest canopy.
Any bright light instantly destroys night vision for at least 30 minutes, so
it is always best to walk without using a light at night until it is truly
needed. On several occasions I have had people wreck my night vision by
offering "help" I didn't want or need with their flashlights! On this trail
there was not another soul. When I emerged from the forest there was an unbelievable
increase in the amount of light. It almost made me wonder why I hurried.