November 21, 2010

84/365

On this day in 1929, Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali had his first art exhibit.

30 Minutes of Moon Light

Experiment - a single shot gamble. I opened the shutter at about 12.30am. Impressed by the vibrancy of the moon tonight, I thought I'd have a bit of camera fun. This is an experimental 30 minute exposure, pretty much hot off the camera. Exposure time was a guesstimate timed with a stopwatch. I probably should have held off on going into the studio mid-exposure as I doubt the light from the windows done anything to improve the shot. Once the condensation has evaporated from the camera, I may give it another try as the moon sets.


Alas, t'was not to be. On my return, the cloud had thickened and the moon had faded. Until tomorrow then?


Photo: Initially, I put on the lights in the studio to establish a point of focus. Once focus was established, I switched the Auto-focus system off. Subsequently, I switched off all lights. In camera, I selected 'Bulb' mode and attached a Nikon MC-30 cable release to a D300. Obviously, I used an ISO at the slow end - in this case 200. I find the Sigma 10-20mm EX lens performs best at f/10 in extreme low-light so was happy to run with it here. After that, the exposure time was a guess. The scene was darkness-of-night, lit only by the moonlight. Towards the end of the exposure time, I decided to turn on the studio lights for effect (approx 3 mins) but perhaps I should have limited the time here as highlights are very much on the threshold of over-exposure in this case. I'd say that 30 seconds would have been adequate.


Single frame shot, minimal post-processing. Lens - 10-20mm wide-angle @ 10mm. ISO 200. 30 minute (1800 second) exposure @ f/10.