Location and time information (detailed speaker information see image):
Cultureel Centrum ’t Spectrum, Steeg 9, 5482 WN Schijndel
Starts at 11:00 and ends around 17:00

The RNF2012 is brought to you by:
Natuur in Beeld – Middelrode, NFD – Dordrecht en VNF – Eindhoven.

The time-lapse was shot using a slider, which my father adapted for me to use manually. It is very time intensive using it, and you have to count very well (as I have to turn the thing between each and very exposure which can be top to 800!), but the end effect is worth far more than the trouble of taking it. For this video I let the TL fade into a long exposure I posted a short while ago. I think it is a fitting combination of two techniques in photography that both rely on the time dimension for the effect. Have a look at the video by clicking the video and let me what you think.

So a night of sleep was exchanged for a night in the freezing cold. I went out at around 19:00 in the evening armed with my camerabag full and a good thermos filled to the brim with some strong tea. Even at around this time the temperature had already reaching -15 and would drop in excess of -20 during the night. I have no idea how cold it really was, but there was a good deal of fog developping with a dew point around the -19, and the -17 the car’s temperature meter showed felt relatively warm.

Everything became freezing cold, and nothing really wanted to be operated in any normal way, stiff and unwilling to move. Forgetting the camera was obviously cold (which was actually obvious as my breath instanly froze to the cama body) I put my nose to it a bit too much. Two days later an interesting spot on the tip of my nose apeared right where my nose made contact with the camera. A reminder to be more careful in subzero temperatures for next time!

Snow moon?

The moon was out in the early night, making the snowy landscape visible. Funnily enough the full moon (which in this picture it was not) of this month is apparently called ‘snow moon‘. I think the name is equally applicable to this picture as well!

The image is a composition of 20 separate images that were intended to become a time-lapse. Unfortunately the battery pack I had recently acquired cut this plan short making my D700 show a ‘Err’ message. Back at home It hough, well, lets see what combining these images can do. Normally, using a long exposure to get these star trails (10 minute equivalent in this picture) you would have to stop the lens down, and/or turn the iso to a low setting. Both would have the net effect of reducing the ability to capture weak stars. Not so with this setup! It made the star trails light up, and resulted in more detail than I could normally get into one long exposure image. It also combats long exposure effects like trigger happy pixels and noise problems. While I still have to give it a try it would also allow for ultra long exposures really getting long star trails.

Nikon D700, 16-35/4VR, 30s (each), f8, ISO 1600, ND grad filter

Early morning pink

In the early early morning the moon went away and the stars were shining brightly. Closer and closer to the sunrise the colors became purple, pink, blue and finally the early morning orange glows. What a palette of color I had enjoyed. This image shows one of the beautiful colors with which the skies were adjourned. A great way to say goodbye to the night. If you look close enough you can actually still make out some faint star trails. The last pieces of the night in a futile attempt to resist the morning lights.

Image below: Nikon D700, 70-200/2.8 VR, 25s, f5.6, ISO 1600

The welcome warmth of the sun

The early rays of the winter sun may not be very strong, but still after spending the night in the cold every ray of the sun is a welcome sight. The image itself also displays this transition of the cold night to the early morning warmth. While the overall color is a very warm one, the nightly cold is evident, the fog combined with the fridge temperatures resulted in a nice frost complementing the layer of snow already present. What a sight, what a night!

Nikon D700, 70-200/2.8 VR, 1/8000, f5, ISO 1600

The cold bright night…

For the night shot I had been trying to capture the dynamics of the night (star trails, which went well) and include both a strong, short, weathered tree and the light pollution on the horizon. Everything was in there, but it just needed some pp. I think the image went from nice to strong and conveying the message I had tried to put in.

Nikon D700, 16-35/4 VR, f5.6, 7:30 minutes, iso 400, WB fluor, tripod

The colorful sunrise

The sunrise, although having a very different atmosphere suppered a similar fate. The warmth just wasn’t popping from the image. Again, working with the black to a more extreme setting than I usually do, the image became strong and full of that early morning orange and red.

Nikon D700, 70-200/2.8 VR, f11, 1/320s, iso 800, handheld

While the previous post was all about using my newly aqcuired ND500 filter eating up 9 stops, in this post I wanted to display one image from the timelapse series (roughly 450 images in all) illustrating the beautiful golden hues that iluminated the skies before and after sunset. I had set up the slider so that the camera could move low over the surface of the water creating a strong 3D effect for the time-lapse. While I picked this image, truth be told, each and every image of the series was a pleasure to see while back at home.

Can you image these colors just refusing to dwindle? Just gorgeous!

Nikon D700 24-70/2.8, ISO 400, f22, 1/30s, Slider

The resulting image (the top one) is one that fits well with the longevity of the sunset. Just after finishing the time-lapse with the slider (I hope to be able to post some images of the TL, or the video itself soon) the colors were still abundant. Having recently purchased a 9 stop ND filter (Lightcraft Workshop ND500 MC HRC) I decided to try something different: max out on the exposure time. I set the camera to f11, added the filter and guessed my way to a exposure time of 11 and a half minutes (yes, minutes). The guess was a bit off. I tried to take into account the dwindling daylight but ended up missing almost one full stop. Well a bit pp in Lightroom combined with the very good image sensor on the D700 made relatively short work of this lack of light.

It is almost as if everything gets blended together that changes over time in just one shot, especially when compared to a more standard image (bottom image). The clouds obviously move, but the color also fade into each other with more and more blues being added towards the sun, and the water gets smoother than it actually is. All in all I like the effect very much.

Top: Nikon D700, ISO400, 16-35 VR/4, f11, 11,5 minutes, tripod, ND500 (9 stop)

Bottom: Nikon D700, ISO400, 16-35 VR/4, f11, 2s, tripod

The time of moonrise passed and no moon. Am I looking in the right place? I was (according to stellarium and the compass on my phone) and a little later suddenly there was the moon loosening from a thin strip of clouds. Yes! Time to start the time-lapse. Oh no! Clouds, Clear, Lets start, No! Clouds… and so on. I was beginning to lose hope when a larger clearing appeared. Having one camera set up with a wide angle lens minding his own (i.e. taking some 1800 images) the other was pointed to the moon with a tele lens. The opening was just big enough to squeeze in a 10 minute series I had hoped for. As you can see in the upper right moon, the clouds were obscuring the moon again, but it was beautiful to see a partial lunar eclipse after so much time.

Nikon D200, 70-200/2.8+1.4TC, f2.8, 1/25s, ISO400, tripod

Have a look at the National Broadcast from SBS6 Hart van Nederland - Evening Program featuring Aviodrome story. Click on the thumbnail for the article in the Volkskrant.