An Autumn Orbit(w)
Uploaded: December 06, 2004 00:24:28
A view if the night sky near Canis Bay in Algonquin Park, Ontario in October. The illumination on the trees is coming from the campfire. 15mm Diagonal Fisheye, Agfa Pro ISO 50 film, Tripod Cable release(on timer)
Eric Highfield
December 06, 2004
Deborah Lewinson
December 06, 2004
-Debby #958050
Eric Highfield
December 06, 2004
Jim Kinnunen
January 20, 2005
William C. Raco
January 20, 2005
bill #1052399
William C. Raco
January 20, 2005
bill #1052400
Wanda Judd
January 21, 2005
Evy Johansen
January 21, 2005
Eric Highfield
January 22, 2005
Eric Highfield
January 25, 2005
1). With such a long exposure, how were you able to perfectly balance the ambient light and prevent the campfire from totally blowing out all the detail on the trees close to the fire, and retain their true (albeit warmed) color? - The campfire blowing out all the detail was my primary concern, so I moved as far away from it as possible. My option were limited, we were in a forest and most of our site was under a canopy of branches. The above photo will show you the approximate location of the exposure in relation to the campfire. It was actually very dark there, but I knew from other long exposures the compounding effect of light, that the fire would still be a factor (even when its barely detectable by the human eye). The colour retention of the trees was a surprise to me too. If I were too close to the fire, I expected orange glow trees...no star trails. Too far away, silhouetted trees, many bright star trails. I can only assume I ended up on a "sweet spot" in terms of proximity of the fire, maximized by fortunate exposure settings.
2). Also, was this relatively soon after sunset, or is the greenish-blue hue coming from city lights to the left? (based on the amount of light coming from the West). - About 3 hours after sunset I'd say. No cities within two hours of this location and 1/2 hour to the nearest small town so light pollution shouldn't be a factor. This was actually the second of 2 shots. the light in the bottom corner is the moon creeping up on the horizon. invisible to me at the time, but picked on the film. There would have been a third shot, but shortly after the second the moon's light was visible to me and I knew the "party" was over.
Continued.... #1061484
Eric Highfield
January 25, 2005
3.) Did you choose Agfa film with any regard to reciprocity failure or pulling in more blue, or was it just what you normally shoot? - Agfa was the film we were trying at the time, and what was in the camera. I didn't have the reciprocity failure data with me which is why I had decided to go for three shots, the first shot was 1 hour (which turned up okay, but too dark, less colourful and shorter star trails), the second shot was at 2 hours (this one), and the third never happened, but even without the moon I think it would have been overexposed. There is some evidence of reciprocity failure throughout this image although less evident, you can see the greenish tint even in the leaves on the right side
4.) How did you choose the f stop you selected for depth of field vs. getting a long enough exposure? - I wanted the longest exposure possible so I went with F/22 which was the smallest on this lens.
I did a search and found this link for Dan Heller's site. He's got a great tutorial on star trails and even has a similar image to this one. Here's the URL:
http://www.danheller.com/star-trails.html
Thanks again for taking interest in my image! #1061486
Eric Highfield
January 25, 2005
Eric Highfield
February 01, 2005
Eric Highfield
September 24, 2005
Eric Highfield
June 01, 2006
Eric Highfield
July 10, 2009
I apologize for the delay in responding, I don't seem to be getting email notifications anymore. #7725680
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