Skywatch Friday: One of my first ultra-long exposures
This week I want to share one of my first — and perhaps still one of my best — ultra-long exposures. It was taken at university, in my ‘early years’ so to speak, long before I developed a decent technical understanding of photography. I was just beginning to work out what did work — and what didn’t. For a few months I only took photos that were exposed for 30 seconds or more!
Today I am still a huge fan of very long exposures, and you can see quite a few dead-of-night landscapes in my Sussex photo collection (page 2 and 3). Not only do you capture some great sights that might go unnoticed by the naked eye, it’s also quite fun to stand in the middle of no where, in a night as dark as pitch and just… be.
This is a post for Skywatch Friday.
Related posts:
Your photo has an element of mystery. At first I thought of the Northern Lights.
March 26th, 2009 at 7:42 pmI like it, I knew i liked it when i scrolled down to see more than a cm of the picture, if you were next to me, you’d have heard a little ‘Oh wow…’ under my breath
March 26th, 2009 at 7:44 pm… Are we talking about the photo here, Frantic, or something else entirely?
Rinkly — It is a bit ‘otherworldly’! I actually intended to go to the arctic circle this winter, to get some Northern Lights photos… but for various reasons I didn’t make it. Maybe next year though, if I’m lucky
March 26th, 2009 at 7:46 pmGorgeous sky. How long did you expose this image for? I’m curious because when I take long night exposures, I find the clouds look all sorts of funny.
March 26th, 2009 at 7:58 pmThat is one beautiful piece of sky. I looked at it for longer than I should have done, scrolled up so that the lights from the buildings were hidden -it is so calming.
March 26th, 2009 at 8:00 pmI think this one was about 30-35 seconds — I think the key to that kind of smooth, creaminess is long exposure, but also quite a small aperture — f11 or smaller, I think.
If you look at some of my other photos, you’ll see those kind of smooth skies are quite prominent in my night-time shots
Thanks Catherine — I actually have one without the other buildings, of just the pylon… I will leave a link to it on your blog!
March 26th, 2009 at 8:02 pmWow…your SWF photo is really good!Great shot!Have a nice weekend!
March 26th, 2009 at 8:19 pmwhat a super shot…
Gill in Canada
March 26th, 2009 at 8:23 pmone word: FABULOUS
March 26th, 2009 at 8:39 pmThank you, to all 3 of you!
But you can try to be more descriptive of the feelings and emotions the photo evokes…!
March 26th, 2009 at 8:49 pmOh seb…really?
March 26th, 2009 at 8:50 pmYes, i’m sure it was the photo!
x
It’s pretty phallic actually
March 26th, 2009 at 8:52 pmI’m impressed. This is something I want to learn more about…for sure!
March 26th, 2009 at 8:53 pmYou should hear my friend’s treatise on ‘Everything in the world is a phallus, or vagina.’ EVERYTHING…
He argued it quite well too…
March 26th, 2009 at 8:54 pmMr Gwillimbury (if that is in fact your name…!) the first thing would be to get a digital SLR — you can get them quite cheaply… look up a Canon Digital Rebel (or something like that) — probably yours for a few hundred dollars nowadays
March 26th, 2009 at 8:57 pmExcellent photo, I love unique pics like this, well done.
March 26th, 2009 at 9:00 pmWhat an incredible capture! This is stunning and, as Guy says, unique! I love it! Thanks for sharing and have a great weekend!
March 26th, 2009 at 9:28 pmVery nice low light, long exposure. The colors are so smooth as they tend to be in these. I’m too lazy to carry tripod around but looking at this makes one wonder maybe he should. Can’t say there’s anything wronk with this, darn near perfect. Very well done. Thank you so much for sharing. Happy SWF!
March 26th, 2009 at 11:00 pmHehe, the classic dilemma: do you leave the house without your big camera?
Even worse: do you take the tripod too?!
You just KNOW you’re going to miss an awesome photo if you leave without either of them…
What I normally do is get someone else to carry my tripod and camera…
March 26th, 2009 at 11:05 pmWho could believe a thing like that could be so beautiful! The “thing” in front – I don’t know what it’s called in English! Anyhow – stunning photo! Beautiful sky! Wonderful drama in the colors! You are an artist Sebastian!
March 26th, 2009 at 11:34 pmI have only a minimal understanding of mechanics of it all. I can appreciate the results, though.
One day I will learn how to use a real camera.
March 27th, 2009 at 12:30 amI love this photo, too! A better understanding of photography is definitely what I’m striving for. This photo is so awesome – the lighting & everything about it. Fantabulous shot!!!
March 27th, 2009 at 1:07 amWow, fantabulous! I don’t think I’ve had fantabulous before…
Thank you!
(I should probably say this is the photo that I’ve sold the most copies of… given the response here, I guess that’s no surprise!)
March 27th, 2009 at 1:12 amHello,
March 27th, 2009 at 7:27 pmThe softness of this long exposure night photo is appealing.
I like your comment of just being in the night~
Aw thanks for the link! It’s an even better picture because I think there are stars in it! And it feels like it was taken from another planet. Or something. Thanks again.
March 27th, 2009 at 9:43 pm