Beam Me Up

[CapturingTheNight]

Hi all,

Went to a dark sky observing night with the Astronomical Society of Albury Wodonga. Couldn't resist sneaking off over the hill and taking some photos.

Dark skies + long exposure + head torch on a string = fun under the stars.

I found this rather unusual tree growing out of a crack in a boulder earlier on in the day and I wanted to capture it under the stars. I did a number of various compositions and lighting methods on it. As I was about to leave the area I decided to just let my hair down and go crazy with some light painting. This is my favorite shot from the night.

Single 30 second exposure
122736

Cheers
Greg

[iceman]

Great effect! Love it!

[silv]

"lettiing my hair down" is my subtitle for your capture. :lol:
maybe you didn't mean it with a ;) but I like the image even more, this way.
AND it's beautiful!

[Irish stargazer]

Really clever shot. Love it!

[multiweb]

:lol: Very clever - love it! :thumbsup:

[Peter Ward]

Not entirely original. (http://www.petapixel.com/2011/04/01/giant-spheres-created-with-light-painting/) ;) but very well executed. Nicely done !

[Sarge]

Awesome Greg, great effect and composure.

Clear skies

Rod
:D:D

[gregbradley]

Hey thats a cool effect.

Very creative.

Greg.

[Deeno]

Cool!
Very arty....

[CapturingTheNight]

Thank you very much Mike :D

:lol: Thanks Silv :D

Thank you very much John :D

Thank you very much Marc :D

Thank you very much Peter :D Yeah I know. The whole orb or steel wool fire sparkles thing, has been done everywhere. Like I said in the description- I was just playing.

Thank you very much Rod :D

Thanks for that Greg :D

Thank you very much :D

[stardust steve]

Sometimes i find good results come from just on the spot, spur of the moment ideas.
I like the amount Milky Way captured in 30 secs also. Especially in the middle dark lane :thumbsup:
Looks great

[Octane]

What I /really/ like in this image (second only to your composition), Greg, is the foreground illumination in the grasses. That is classy.

H

[SkyViking]

Very cool image, and I like the soft warm light.

[StephenM]

Excellent result Greg!!! As others have said, the lighting of the grasses in the foreground is perfect.

Cheers,
Stephen

[CapturingTheNight]

Thank you so much Steve :D Yeah I certainly didn't plan to do a shot like this when I first saw the location.

Thank you so much H :D Yeah I love that foreground lighting too. Now that I know that it's not too bright overall I might try lighting other foregrounds like this (just making sure that I am out of frame)

Thank you so much Rolf :D

Thank you so much Stephen :D Yeah I am loving that lighting as well.

[colinmlegg]

Nice Greg, I like the even lighting as well. I did some light painting a couple of years ago, but could never get even lighting and couldn't be bothered with multiple captures/blending so gave up. So well done mate doing that well with one capture!

I checked the other orb sites. It got me thinking how he manages to make himself invisible? Very long exposure, or maybe dresses in black felt + balaclava or something similar?

[CapturingTheNight]

Thank you very much Colin :D I was quite surprised that I did manage to get it in one single exposure. I thought for sure that I would have just blown out the frame with my light. I tried the steel wool on fire method under the stars one another night. That was WAY too bright and only succeeded in starting a couple of spot fires :lol:
Yeah I have wondered about that as well. They are almost certainly multiple minute exposures so I guess they just keep moving. To get a perfect orb you sort of need to move in a small circle yourself to make the light pivot in the same spot. I'm visible in mine because I stayed in the same spot.

[strongmanmike]

That looks great Greg, awesome effect and very intersting composition too.

Mike

[Ross G]

A great looking photo Greg.

You are producing some unique creations.

I find myself looking forward to any new images from you.

Thank you.

Ross.

[CapturingTheNight]

I'm glad you like it Mike :D Thank you very much

Thank you so much for that Ross :D I appreciate the support. Hopefully I can do some more new ones for you soon.

[ourkind]

I love your images Greg and this one is just AWESOME!:thumbsup: I saw it this morning and *liked* it on Facebook as it appeared in a post by the "Milky Way Scientists" page.

You've got me looking forward to visiting family in Waggax2 and taking a drive out to Mangoplagh or the like and try getting some shots myself :D
As above I keep looking forward to seeing more images by you.

[CapturingTheNight]

Thank you so much Carlos :D Yeah, this is the second image in a row for me that has been featured by the Milkyway Scientists. It is also being used by the FB page of The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy as their cover photo. Considering that is my all time fav book, i'm pretty pleased with that. I live not far from Mangoplah at all.

[DavidTrap]

I prefer the randomness of your light vs the sphere. Looks more like a whirlwind or crazy science movie.

Great shot!

DT

[CapturingTheNight]

Thank you very much for the great feedback David :D I tried a couple of spheres but they didn't work out very well.

[rcheshire]

That's superb. Wonderful stuff.

[rogerg]

Looks fun :)

I like the foreground illumination most, and the clean crisp twirl of the light. The quality of the sky behind lets it down I think, not that I'm saying it'd be easy to get the two looking nice together!

[iceman]

I like this image more and more every time I look at it.

It's now IOTW (http://www.iceinspace.com.au).

Well done Greg!

[stardust steve]

Congrats! IOTW!

:thumbsup:

[multiweb]

Yeah congrats on IOTW. That was a great shot. :thumbsup:

[baileys2611]

Tons of comments, I'll add one more. What great creativity, applause. :thumbsup:

[pluck]

This is such a great image on so many levels including, in my opinion, originality. This eye catching and wonderful composition together with the perfect illumination of the foreground is one thing, but together with you nailing the milky way makes it about as perfect as you can get.

Congratulations!

Paul

[CapturingTheNight]

Thank you very much Rowland :D

Thank you Roger :D I tend to agree with you, re: sky. I think my focus on the stars might have been fractionally out.

AWESOME! Thank you very much Mike :D

Thank you so much Steve :D

Thank you very much Marc :D

Thank you so much Simon :D

Thank you so much for that great feedback Paul :D I really appreciate it.

[alexch]

Nice! The composition and lighting on the foreground work really well together.

Alex

[graham.hobart]

Mad astronomer attacked by radioactive slinky!
Love it!
Graham

[CapturingTheNight]

Thank you so much for that great feedback Alex :D I'm glad you like it.

:rofl:Haha :D Thank you very much Graham

[venus]

Congrats on IOTW the image is amazing. I like the idea of using the interesting feature of the tree growing between the rock. A long time ago I took a picture of a similar feature...I've attach the pic only taken with automatic camera though...

[CapturingTheNight]

Thank you so much Lydia :D That looks like quite an impressive rock formation. Would love to see that one in real life one day.....