A Stand Up Paddleboarder glimpses a shooting star while enjoying the Milky Way from Sun Valley, Idaho. To light the water, I stuffed remotely-triggered flashes...
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A Stand Up Paddleboarder glimpses a shooting star while enjoying the Milky Way from Sun Valley, Idaho. To light the water, I stuffed remotely-triggered flashes into dry bags & strapped them to the underside of the paddleboard. I then leveraged the early light of the moon to bring the landscape & the iconic ski mountain to life. The paddler was a ninja at standing still on the board for the long exposure, despite the wind & numb feet. I had the warmer duty of shooting from atop an ant hill & fending off sprinklers & a pair of curious raccoons bent on climbing my tripod. Hope you enjoy the result!
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Awards
Chatter Award
Zenith Award
Legendary Award
Contest Finalist in Exposures Marketplace Project
Contest Finalist in A Milky Way Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in The Stars Photo Contest
Top Shot Award
Contest Finalist in Night Wonders Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Capture The Milky Way Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Water And The Night Photo Contest
Runner Up in Experimental Light Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Experimental Light Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Zen Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in People And Water Photo Contest 2017
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Contest Finalist in A Sense Of Adventure Photo Contest
Peer Award
Outstanding Creativity
Absolute Masterpiece
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Magnificent Capture
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Superior Skill
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charliepeepers
April 23, 2017
You Sir are in AMAZING Artist....This is beyond words...This is DEFINITELY a wall hanger
kellythatcherearnhartfarley
November 03, 2017
Join the conversation. Add a comment or even better, a critique. Let's get better together!
kellythatcherearnhartfarley
November 03, 2017
I thought I recognized Bald Mountain (born in Sun Valley).....Well Done!
Davewsphotography
November 06, 2017
incredible shot, I really love the tones. Bet that was a fun one to create!
jimdavis_8840
March 27, 2018
Amazing shot, please consider entering this into my long exposure challenge, Voting starts on April 4th
mikebreslin
August 06, 2018
So how did you get the flash remotes to trigger while underwater and in dry bags? What brand were they?
jeanmariebrun
February 24, 2019
Quite unique picture. Thank you for sharing in the caption some keys about the "making off". Definitely very creative! Congratulations!
imagesbyPattiC
November 02, 2019
Great imagination and creativity in both the composition and the technical aspect. Kuddos.
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this in the middle of a golf course in Sun Valley, Idaho.Time
After sunset (obviously)...the shoot lasted a few hours, from probably 10pm to 1am.Lighting
This was one of the trickier lighting challenges I've faced...in order to light the water, which was the vision, I put two SpeedLights attached to PocketWizards into dry bags and secured them to the bottom of the paddleboard, pointing in opposing directions. In order to get a signal strong enough to pass through the water, I had the model hold the transmitter and fire it upon my verbal command, which just had to happen at any point during my long exposures.Equipment
This was a few years ago (2016), so it was shot on a Canon 5D Mark III, on a Manfrotto tripod. Also, two Canon 580EXII speedlights, PocketWizards, dry bags, and a bottle of whiskey to stay warm.Inspiration
I'll happily throw some inspirational credit to Paul Zizka, up in Canada, who in my opinion is one of the grandmasters of environmental portraits at night.Editing
I always use both Lightroom and Photoshop for all of my workflow. I had to balance the ambient, and also shift the water color--which naturally comes out as a disgusting green when lit at night--to jive better with the bluer tones in the rest of the image.In my camera bag
These days, if you don't count the gear I have on my "to sell" list, I'm nearly fully switched over to Canon R5 camera bodies, and am gradually moving to the R-series lenses. In general, these are my lens configs: 14mm f/1.4, 15mm f/2.8, 16-35mm f/2.8, 35mm f1/4, 50mm f/1.2, 24-70 f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8, 85mm f/1.4, 100mm f/2.8 macro, 200-400mm (w/ 1.4X extender) f/4-6.3, 200mm f/2. I use Manfrotto and Peak Design tripods & ball heads, also have an arsenal of Elinchrom lighting gear.Feedback
Be sure to have a firm grasp on long exposures, flash photography, and how to make those work in tandem before subjecting a model to tough conditions...at least if you ever want them to shoot with you again! Also, scouting plays a huge role, and not just for compositional elements (foreground/midground/background), but also including the timing of things like moon phases, Milky Way positioning, etc., and also the weather...we would have been dead in the water (pun slightly intended) if it had been cloudy, or even slightly windy, as they boarder would have been all over the place. Lastly, be sure to take good care of your model...even in the summer, they'll likely get cold, and certainly uncomfortable after standing still for long stints. Lastly, be patient and have fun!