DariusPeckus

Night flight

NIKON D750

settings

Aperture f/4.5 ISO 400 Shutter 30/1 Focal Length 140/10

upload_date

Oct, 2017

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1431

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+200

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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was shot in my mother in laws driveway. When it rains heavily a large puddle forms at the end of her drive, I was doing some night photography and saw some nice reflections and thought it would be interesting to get some low shots with a wide angle. My favorite saying really applies here.. "You don't have to live in amazing places to take great photographs, you just have to take great photographs to make places amazing"

Time

The time was around midnight, it was nicely dark with some light pollution from the nearby city. I love to do long exposures in this location as Lake Michigan is just beyond the bushes in the background just across the road. The sun rising of the lake is often incredible.

Lighting

This being a 30 second exposure I used the natural light with my 14mm wide angle Rokinon lens, the bonus light from the passing car added a great highlight to this image.

Equipment

For this photo I used my Nikon D750 with the Rokinon 14mm f2.8 lens and a Miggo splat tripod. The Miggo lets me get really low to the ground and I use it often to get fantastic low angles. In this case the tripod was in the puddle about 5 inches off the water, thankfully the Miggo is quite sturdy and won't drop the camera in the water with some care. The camera settings were f4.5, 30 seconds, at ISO 400

Inspiration

I really enjoy long exposures, and reflection shots. I'm also a big fan of light painting. This shot was able to encompass all these techniques at once. Whenever I see large puddles my shutter finger twitches in anticipation. Low shots and puddles make for fantastic photographs.

Editing

I did some minor processing in Lightroom, mainly to crop and straighten the frame and , to adjust the lens corrections and exposure.

In my camera bag

I have a Lowepro Flipside 300, and usually pack it full. I always carry my Nikon D750, 4 batteries, my 24-120mm f/4 kit lens,a 105mm f2.8 micro Nikkor, a 50mm prime,and a 14mm Rokinon f2.8 lens, dozens of sd cards, and assorted other cleaning and lens care products . Its pretty heavy but well worth the effort as I can get most shots I desire.

Feedback

For a shot like this there's not much to it. First you must be low to the ground, as close to the water as you can. the wide angle lens is essential as it gives a large angle of view. Focus half way into the scene set a 10 second timer to avoid camera shake or use a shutter release. Wait for a car to be approaching so the tail lights will light your scene, the headlights will overexpose the shot so avoid pointing the camera towards them. In this case the car was passing from the right of the frame. If there is a lot of peripheral light raise your f stop. Experiment with your settings and you'll have a great shot.

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DariusPeckus

DariusPeckus

Night flight

Behind The Lens

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