A photograph of an illuminated passage without other visitors sounds straightforward. At the Herbstlichter in Jülich’s Brückenkopfpark, it took me more than an hour of waiting. You have brought a tripod, so apparently you were not in a hurry anyway.
During Herbstlichter, coloured lighting and installations transform the park. Trees, paths and buildings are the material the designers work with. The effect changes between installations and as darkness falls.
Starting before it is dark
The blue hour is a useful time to start. There is still light in the sky, so the surroundings remain more recognisable. Later, the lights stand out much more strongly against a dark background. Each can produce a different photograph.
That contrast makes exposure difficult. A brightly lit surface can already be blown out while its surroundings remain almost black. Simply asking the camera to brighten everything does not automatically improve the result. It helps to check the highlights and accept that some areas stay dark.
My practical experience was that a weekday visit was quieter than a busy weekend. That is no promise of having the park to yourself. Herbstlichter is a public event, and other visitors are there to enjoy it too. Setting a tripod in the middle of a narrow path helps nobody.
These pictures belong to my visit at the time. The lighting and route can change with each edition. I therefore do not repeat fixed opening times or ticket prices here; the Brückenkopfpark calendar is the more reliable source.
The pleasure of a light festival is seeing an existing place afresh. What is an ordinary passage or group of trees by day may suddenly become a reason to stand there for another hour at night.
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