Light and movement... learning to paint

#photosbyjaana

Well per my blog earlier, we went to dinner in Karana Downs and I took a few snaps to see if the reduced light pollution made it easier to capture the stars. First thing I realised is that I have to bump that ISO right up and that my tripod is my best mate.

So I started by snapping a couple of images of the Brisbane River as it runs right past my in laws home. I took a few seeking different things as I was not totally confident that I would pull off the whole lot in one. This one I wanted to capture the reflection of the opposite bank on the river and along with it a reflection of the stars. There are a couple stars in there but mostly its reflection, nice and sharp considering it was PITCH BLACK out there.

Nikon D5000 30 sec. f/4.2 26 mm ISO 1131

The next shot I tried was to try and catch that reflection and the stars and I think I nailed it, I was really happy with this shot in spite of the stars having a slight trail caused by the rotation of the earth (and my shutter being open too long) but overall I was very happy with it.

Nikon D5000 30 sec. f/4 22 mm ISO1270

After I got what I wanted from the river shot, we had a crack at doing some low light star shots as I wanted to get that dust cloud I just could not capture in Goodna so we went for a walk to the local footy field and these are the shots I captured.

NIKON D5000 20 sec. f/3.5 18 mm ISO200

Finally some celestial cloud in this one, the milky way finally making an appearance, although only slight. I need to get somewhere darker so I can open the lens right up and soak up all that light over 20 seconds. Soon....

NIKON D5000 25 sec. f/3.5 18 mm ISO1270

This photo is interesting because it captures a plane cruising across the screen, some celestial dust and the southern cross (plane passing straight across it),

NIKON D5000 25 sec. f/3.5 18 mm ISO 1270:

NIKON D5000 25 sec. f/3.5 18 mm ISO 1270

This one shows the field, the lighting for the picnic tables and the southern cross with the lights of Brisbane bouncing off the clouds and lighting the sky.

NIKON 15 sec. f/3.5 18 mm ISO 400

Basically from this point forwards we just had a bit of fun, I got hubby to stand in front of the camera and I focused on his iphone flashlight (which was pointed back towards the camera) manually focused the lens and locked it, set it to long exposure and timer and ran back to join him.

The trick with these ones it turns out is getting the focus right the first time as you are essentially focusing on something that is actually not there yet.

Nikon D5000 25 sec. f/3.5 18 mm ISO200

These were LOADS of fun, I reckon I could have made them all night.

NIKON D5000 25 sec. f/3.5 18 mm ISO200

That was pretty much that for the light painting and outside stuff but whilst I was out there I did have a crack at photographing moving objects in low light, so naturally I snapped by baby getting the last of the ice cream out of her bowl. I was pretty happy with the result being it even has a reflection clear on the counter appearing. #nolongerscaredoflowlight

Nikon D5000 1/8 sec. f/5.6 55 mm ISO 2016

I thought I might as well have a go at capturing movement in low light while keeping the background sharp, this actually proved more difficult than you might think. Easy to get a whole photo blurry but hard to get one where only the movement is shown. Below my daughter was dancing (to ABBA I think) and I have managed to keep everything in focus except her showing her movement. I really liked the result.

NIKON D5000 1/2 sec. f/4.8 32 mm ISO 200