Feature Photo
The Story Behind the Photo
Night Sky with Light-Painted Flowerpot Rock Formation
Fathom Five National Marine Park, Tobermory, OntarioDigital SLRs have made photography more fun than ever for me. I'm trying shots I never would have in the 'film days' because it costs me very little to experiment, and I can check the viewer to see if the photos worked out or not. When I screw up, as I often do, I simply try again and check the results. Sooner or later, I get it right and end up with a very cool shot I once only dreamed of. Talk about fun!
There are some very famous rock formations called 'flowerpots' out on an island near where I live. I've been talking about shooting the flowerpots at night (in silhouette) with star trails behind them for years. I finally found a free night recently - with the right conditions forecast - so I packed my gear and headed to camp on the island (sites available by registration).
Star trail exposures tend to be long - hours and hours - so I used a film camera, knowing that digital sensors produce significant noise on long exposures. I set the film shutter to bulb, then dozed off under the stars. I'd like to tell you I had a preconceived exposure time in mind that was based on research - but I simply left the shutter open until I woke up again. All in all, I made a handful of film exposures, ranging from 1/2 hr to 3hrs in length - depending on how long I'd sleep before waking up.
At 4:15 in the morning, I woke up and stopped my last film exposure planning on calling it a night (actually morning!). When my eyes adjusted from blurry, I was amazed to see the big dipper hanging brightly just left of the flowerpot - and couldn't resist trying a few shots with my digital SLR. I wanted to keep the stars fairly sharply defined so I went with a 4 minute shutter speed for the ambient exposure. To illuminate the rock pillar against the night sky, I light-painted it with a small flashlight. I'd never tried this before, but hey.... this was digital and it wasn't costing me anything. I made a few shots, then promptly dozed off to sleep!
The next day when I checked the images on my computer screen, I was excited. They're bizarre, but interesting. I already have ideas about how I can shoot them better, which I'll do soon. As for the star trail, long-exposure images I shot on film... I haven't even sent the rolls in yet!
Technicals:
Canon EOS 1DS mark 2 EF 17-40mm f/4 L (at 21mm); ISO 400;
4 minute exposure at f/5.6
light painted with a mini-mag light running out of batteries!
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