The Return of the Thing - My week with a camera #2

Having decided to try and make a weekly post on Hive of my week's efforts with a camera, this is the next instalment, Week #2

I posted one of the photos below to a.n.other social media site this week and a comment was made about how I travel quite a bit for photography. I recently realised that the east coast of England was mostly within 2 hours' drive from home so the plan is to keep travelling with a camera! It also made me realise that perhaps I am spending way too much money on diesel driving to these places!

What's that coming over the hill? Is it a monster?

I arrived at this location known as The Needle's Eye in South Yorkshire expecting to shoot stars to make a star trail. I was disappointed to see clouds rolling in! It had been clear all day long and as soon as I turned up, damned clouds!!

So undeterred, I decided to improvise with the lights that I had with me.

This is a simple shot where my head torch lights up the foreground and the insides of the Needle.

Hot Needle

The breeze was blowing from camera right to left in this photo so had the bright idea to set up a smoke grenade inside the structure and the lights would make the smoke appear like a haze.

I set up two RGB LED panels, one inside the Needle, the other off to camera right to light up the side of the structure.

This took a few attempts since four of the smoke grenades I had were duds!!

The Thing

I'm not one for posing in my own photos but when I'm alone in the dark, I have no excuses!

I stood further back inside the Needle to let the head torch light up the inside. I've been experimenting with incidental light where the beam itself provides the lighting not the light.

Star Trails over the Radio Tower

Every now and then I drive past a potential subject or object in daylight. I promise myself that I will return in the dark and shoot a star trail.

But then I return in the dark only to find this lit up like a Christmas Tree! Shooting this was a challenge!

Rather than leave empty handed, I tried my luck anyways. This is 120 x 20 second exposures at f1.8 and ISO400 shot using a Sony 14mm GM lens.

High Spring Tide on Cleethorpes Beach

I took a trip to Cleethorpes on the east coast having seen news about high spring tides. I noticed a few photos showing this small funfair on the beach enveloped by the incoming tide and decided to go take a look for myself.

This is a 2 minute exposure using a 10 stop filter. I had quite a few wobbly failures this evening due to the biting wind.

Fine art on Cleethorpes Beach

If you're on a road trip to Cleethorpes for the evening, it would be rude not to shoot a quick two minute exposure with a 10 stop ND filter.

If you look closely on the right, you can just about make out the lighthouse on Spurn Point approx 10 km away. (Possibly not visible on the smaller viewing resolution on Hive).

Difficulties getting a point of view

This rusty little roller coaster was enveloped in the incoming tide and I knew I needed to capture the curve of the coaster in the water. The trouble was I couldn't get a decent point of view from which to shoot. I settled for this with a leading line through the frame.

The Rusty Ride!

Resurrecting an out of focus shot with an oil paint filter in Photoshop.

To get this shot I climbed on to the side of the little roller coaster and placed my tripod on a rusty deck. The trouble was, the rusty deck was vibrating with the incoming spring tide and a 30 mph wind; it wasn't a surprise the final result was blurry.

I liked this composition and it seemed a shame not to make something out of it so this morning the Oil Paint Filter in Photoshop came to the rescue!

About me:

I usually specialise in shooting lightpainting images but occasionally dabble in landscape, urbex and artistic model photography. I like to collaborate with other photographers and occasionally shoot outside my comfort zone.

Social Media
https://www.facebook.com/fastchrisuk
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fastchris/

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