A desert swirl

[GB1]

Shot this out in the Anza-Borrego desert at Thanksgiving, but just had it developed. It had a serious greenish cast due to reciprocity failure.. I spent about 10 min taking it out, mostly. I should kick myself for forgetting to attach the color-adjustment filter I bought just for these night shots.

I have shot these before but have been disappointed with the lack of an interesting foreground. This time, I shot a friend's tent and had him fire an unattached flash twice at 50% power. After that he hit the hay and the exposure went for another 4+ hrs.

Comments? I'm interested in hearing whether you think this solves the foreground issue (??) Also, as far as I know these type shots cant yet be done with digital cameras.. the battery would go dead and, possibly, there'd be too much noise.

Mamiya 645 camera, Kodak Ektachrome VS 100, f 5.6, camera aimed north on a moonless night.

Edit - Attached the original for comparison.

[Don Schaeffer]

I just think these photos are spectacular.

[starriderrick]

WHOOO AHHHH !! Excellence.Style is everything...I think this is off-the hook.That's my story, I'm stickin' to it.
The post processing did correct the foreground quite nicely.I feel the tent is a great idea, it gives it a reference point. I love how you got the north axis composed. What a galactic night capture. That mamiya 645 is the same camera Gary Shaw uses.
I'm not an expert, but this will be a great topic of discussion, very well done GB1. Great info to boot.

Rick

[Frog]

:thumbsup:

[Overbeyond]

Very interesting indeed GB and what a success.
Just to nit pick; I feel there is a bit too much evidence of the flash technique so I would tone down the green areas either side of the tent to give the impression that the only light was the usual light on in the tent. I would do the same on the white spot on the tent. I feel it might add a more natural atmosphere.
Tom

[Greg McCary]

These are amazing GB, brillant idea with the flash as well. I have tried star trails before and got a green cast as well. What filter were you going to use ?
Greg

[milhouse]

Wow, very cool. Like mentioned above, the north axis really makes this interesting.

[CLKunst]

Great shot GB! I think the inclusion of the tents adds some excellent context. Especially since you almost have to be camping these days to escape the light pollution and pull off a shot like this. I do agree with Tom that the overflow from the flash on the open ground behind the first tent takes a little away from the sense that the light is coming from the interior of the tent. I tried to do one of these in Colorado this summer but there was a spotlight on the far side of the lake that ruined it for me.

[GB1]

Thks everyone, for the congrats and the helpful comments.

Tom, Cindy - I dont know how the light spilled out of the tent, but there it is... maybe he had the flaps unflapped. I agree that the flash effect inside the tent is a little hot - maybe the flash should be fired at the floor of the tent, against a white cardboard/reflector type gadget? I think that might evenly distribute the light against all sides of the tent (one way to find out). But for now, maybe I can smooth it out via PP.

Don, You should be able to get very good shots like this up in Canada with the long nights in the wintertime. The swirl would be more complete, that is. Of course, you'll need a non-electric B setting. You might also get some frost on the lens overnight. Try it and see, if there isn't too much light contamination where you're at.

Rick. Frog, milhouse - Thks. I think I can do a little better on the PP... did this one in a hurry.

Greg - It's a purple-ish filter that Cokin calls the 046 FLD. From their description,

"An FL-D filter is used when you wish to correct for the greenish tone that appears when shooting daylight film under general purpose fluorescent lighting. An FL-W filter is used to balance daylight film under warm white or white type fluorescent lamps. An FL-B filter is used to correct the color balance when shooting tungsten film under fluorescent lighting."

Funny thing is I've yet to try it, so I can't vouch for it's effectiveness.

Thanks again for your reviews - GB

[SmartWombat]

Of course, you'll need a non-electric B setting

I made the mistake of leaving my 20D on "sensor cleaning" while I went down to breakfast at the hotel.
After about an hour's shutter open, it took I guess 1/3 of the charge from the two cells in the battery grip.
So you would need an external power source I think.

The 1D has a DC dummy battery back for running off the AC adapter.
I wonder if some kind of DC supply could be rigged up with a voltage regulator to run off a car battery for long exposure?

[CLKunst]

I wonder if some kind of DC supply could be rigged up with a voltage regulator to run off a car battery for long exposure?

A Car battery?!?!?

Paul ~ is your last name FRANKENSTEIN?

[Jaedon]

Actually not a bad idea Paul. I have a power inverter that I use in the car for running my laptop and charging my camera batteries when on the road. If you could run a cord from the power inverter to the camera using a DC power cord to the camera you'd be laughing. I am sure the voltage required for the camera would't even make a dent in the charge from a car battery. It'd be worth a shot regardless.

[Ronnoco]

Certainly effective and unique and the foreground certainly adds to the shot.

To make a few suggestions, I have never shot a 4+ hour exposure night scene because I have never needed to. Full moon and a lake in the background provide enough light for an exposure of less than one minute. A bright propane camping light close to the ground provides "warm" campfire type light to the outside of the tent and some of the surrounding area and looks natural. Reciprocity failure is then not an issue.

Ronnoco

[gahspidy]

I think you've done well here and the edit is better. I agree with Tom about the fg lighting being a bit much. Perhaps firing the flash once would have been the ideal amount. Reciprocity is going to be a factor when trying to get these star swirls with film. You cannot get these swirls with a minute or two exposure.
Great idea with the flash. As for the composition, I think it would have been even more effective had you zoomed out or stood further away so that the tent is further away and smaller with more landscape. This would give the feel of the vast expanse of the night sky in relation to the small tent in the midst.
Still, I like what you have captured here. Good work.

[Seb]

GB,

I am confused here. Which one involve flash? Simply but, I really love the first one (the one without the green hue). If the second one involve flash I'd say that it wasn't needed because the first picture is just dead on as I see it. Your composition is classical yet very effective. Nice catch.

Seb

[GB1]

Hey guys -

Seb, they're both the same shot. The first (top) one is post-processed a bit.. I did my best to remove the green due to reciprocity failure of the film. I also sharpened it a little (there was a powerful windstorm that night and it did cause a little blur on my friend's tent. I was lucky, however... his tent el al were not really where the wind was whipping, as mine was... my tent collapsed on me even before I got up at 4 am to stop the exposure). The second shot's tent does seem a tad bit brighter.. not sure why.

Ronnoco, this is actually a technique were one captures the movement of the stars. The north star (Polaris I believe) stays stationary in the sky and the rest cicle around it. They apparently circle completely around in 24 hrs. The longer you leave the exp going the longer the circles. You can pretty much estimate how long someone left the lens open by the % of the circle. You can see here it's ~ 45% of 360, or 1/8 of 24 hrs.

Gary, thanks for the idea. Maybe next time, I will shot a tent on a hill from below, to catch more of the sky and all. The widest lens I have with the Mamiya is a 55mm, equiv to 34 mm on 35mm cameras. I think perhaps that I need to plan the shot out, placing tents, etc, instead of just grabbing what's there. What I really want to get is a church and steeple against a sky like this (!!!) If I can just find one out in the desert somewhere. Yes, maybe only one flash shot woud have been sufficient. I wish I could calculate this stuff out beforehand somehow instead of having one chance only.

I'll let you all figure out the power source issue. I'm sure the car battery would work, but it seems that a portable, hand carried source has got to be doable too !?

GB

PS - the light in the sky behind the mountains is, I believe, from Palm Springs. It's about 50 miles away.

[Greg McCary]

Thanks GB, I'll look into the filter. If I am not mistaken we have some nice meteror showers around February in the Southeast. I'll try and get one before then.
Greg

[mjs1973]

I love these types of shots, and I would be very proud to come away with a shot like this. The others have made some good points about things to change/fix the next time, but I still like the results you have here. I have tried the flash in the tent trick once before, but I didn't use a long enough exposure and so I ended up with nothing. This is definetly something I will try again in the future. Thanks for the inspiration.

[Ronnoco]

[QUOTE=GB1
Ronnoco, this is actually a technique were one captures the movement of the stars. The north star (Polaris I believe) stays stationary in the sky and the rest cicle around it. They apparently circle completely around in 24 hrs. The longer you leave the exp going the longer the circles. You can pretty much estimate how long someone left the lens open by the % of the circle. You can see here it's ~ 45% of 360, or 1/8 of 24 hrs. .[/QUOTE]

Sorry, but I guess I do not see star trails as a centre of interest with very much interest. My view of shooting stars is through a very large telescope, preferably at an observatory.

Ronnoco