I was hoping for some more dramatic skies, as last time the sky was cloudless for most of the time. On the drive down it looked fantastic and I was excited. I have learnt however that dramatic skies don't last. There's been many times when I have seen giant fluffy clouds that when I get out for the sunset dissolve into nothing. I'm not an expert landscape photographer but I'm starting to see a pattern. Big drama, get camera out, drive to location, drama ends. Click.
This time the exact same thing happened. We drive down with beautiful skies and when we get there the sky is cloudless. So we set the alarm for 05:00 hoping that the sunrise will be better.
It's not.
Sunrise is hidden behind a blanket of blank. Back to bed, for what it's worth. The first night under canvas is always pretty sleepless. It doesn't help when it's raining and blowing a gale. So what to do? The cloud is not going to break and the light is going to remain flat but the cloud does have texture. Black and white will work. So we're off down to the beach for some landscaping before the light completely goes. I also just discovered that my 5Dmk2 expands to ISO 50 so that's a result. I hadn't checked before but what it means is that I can get longer shutter speeds. I agree with David Noton when he says that camera manufacturers should not only go for higher and higher ISOs but also lower ones. A 1/8th second exposure at ISO 100 would give a 2 second exposure at ISO 6. Great for getting some movement in bright conditions.
So hoping that the tide was going out we set up and started shooting. I usually bracket 3 exposures either 1 or 2 stops apart and then combine them in Photoshop to balance everything. I do it manually rather than using HDR software as I think it gives me more natural results. So with the tide actually coming in and the light going I got about 5 shots before packing up and heading back up the cliff path to the tent. I think that the black and white conversion worked really well.
Although I took my camera everywhere during the week, the weather was miserable for the most part so I didn't shoot very much. The really annoying thing was that on the first night the sky was cloudless and being next to the sea, with little light pollution, the stars were incredible. Unfortunately the camp site had a "silence after 10" rule so I couldn't set up and shoot. In reality even if I did the stars move (or rather the Earth does) so you need a special rotating tripod head if you want to take shots of the milky way and the like. I don't have that but I do know how to shoot star trails.
On the last night we went down to St. Michaels Mount to try and get star trails over the mount. What you don't need is the moon out because it also moves and a giant white blob spread over the picture doesn't look good. It also provides a massive source of light pollution which means that the stars don't show as brightly.
When we got there the moon was directly over the mount. Bugger.
I took an initial shot of around a minute as a test and it looked fine so we went down to the jetty and I set up at the end of it. It was pitch black and I couldn't make out if the tide was going out or coming in. I set the camera low sat down so I could see to focus - only just - and got some long exposures to smooth the water. I couldn't be sure but as I sat at the end of the jetty the waves started to get a little rougher and come over the top. The tide of course was coming in (again). I really should check that in the future.
It was getting on towards 9 so now to get the star trails. I explained to my wife that star trail photography is really exciting. You set the camera up. Point it at the sky, turn off long exposure noise reduction. set the ISO to 800, Aperture to f/8 and shutter speed to 30 seconds. Then you make sure the tripod is secure and lock the shutter button.
You then wait...
..for 1 to 3 hours.
..In the dark.
..and the cold.
There's not much to do in the dark and I couldn't leave my gear so a compromise was reached where I would shoot for 1/2 hour and wouldn't get left behind. So not ideal but the results are ok. The other thing that would have been nice is a true wide angle lens but I sold that a while ago when I bought the 5D so I only have 24mm at it's widest. But it still worked.
Below in order, is first the test 1 minute exposure and then the 1/2 hour of 30 second exposures blended together in a program called startrails.exe (from startrails.de). I have also sorted the moon out in photoshop because as I said that moves too (See the video at the end. It's poor quality but you get the point.)
So the moral is don't give up if the weather's shit just try something else.
Oh and that 2 second movie is the entire 1/2 hour shoot. 55 frames, 24 frames per second.
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