Experiments

This is a throwaway shot. Really. Other than this blog entry, it's highly likely this photo will cease to exist in my library. In fact, this blog entry is primarily a tool for me to track my own progress as a photographer.

This morning's outing was about experimenting. I set two limits on myself. One: Shoot at 50mm. Two: Play with flash.

Before leaving the house, I set the focal length to 50mm on my 18-70mm lens and promised not to touch it. Then grabbed my flash and walked the neighborhood. I didn't take many photographs - I am still struggling with what makes an interesting subject when not shooting a landscape. I settled on a garden area.

Shooting at 50mm forced me to use my feet to zoom, and in most cases necessitated getting closer to the subject. General goodness. For the flash, I brought an orange diffuser. The idea was to use the flash to simulate the early morning orange rays of the sun. In practice, that didn't work out very well, although I still think there's a sound idea in there. The above shot is without the flash. I definitely need more time working with my flash.

Torrey Pines

After a bout of rain earlier in the week, the last two nights have been very clear in San Diego. No clouds, less dust in the air thanks to the rain - like Mother Nature blinked, cleansing her eyes. And with that we've had gorgeous star-filled skies. I've been wanting to try star trails for a while and opportunity has knocked.

I spent a good portion of yesterday evening in the yard fiddling with the interval settings on my camera in preparation for today's adventure. I headed out to Torrey Pines beach - somewhat as a hedge. If the skies got overcast, there's always interesting subjects at the ocean. A short walk from where I parked (easy at 5am :) there was a lifeguard tower that provided a good foreground subject. Setup the camera, start the intervals, and shiver for the next hour in the crisp sea breezes.

I started exposures around 5:25am and finished about 6:15am, well before sunrise. But I found I had to discard the last few minutes of exposures...by 6am the ambient light was already washing out the stars from view. In the early shots, the guard tower was essentially invisible. But serendipity drove by - literally. Periodically, a car would drive by casting flashes of light on the tower, and they blended in with the ending picture pretty well. Light painting may have been another option - something else I've never done but would enjoy experimenting with.

Star trails over a lifeguard tower, Torrey Pines, CA

Processing notes: 80 or so 30sec exposures wide open (f3.5 for my kit lens), blended with StarStax. Minor touch ups in Apple Aperture. Light painting by fortuitous traffic. :)