Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Thread of Fame: Alien Shore Revisited


Alien Shore Revisited
Originally uploaded by jahdakine.

This photo is our latest addition to the thread of fame by way of #1 interestingness for Nov 6 2006.

I and many others have been inspired by this trick of the camera. As seen in a previous post Jah used his Pan/Zoom Technique to achieve this wonderful image. Without his technique the image would surely have reached a high number in interestingness. The composition and the colors alone make people interested in this photo. However it is the results of this ingenious camera manipulation that has pushed this image to number #1.

Monday, November 27, 2006

LE of the Week: Last trolleybus


Last trolleybus
Originally uploaded by Nick Kharchenko.
This has been chosen LE of the Week due to the feelings that this image creates in the viewer. It could easily be one of bitterness and annoyance missing the last train that would take us away from the cold back to our warm homes. Instead it has this serene feeling to it that its okay, we missed it the walk isn't that bad and its nice to be out during the first moments of snow. The peace that is generated by the snow swallowing up all the noise is one we wish would happen more often in a busy city.

Thread of Fame: Do You Believe In Ghosts?


Do You Believe In Ghosts?
Originally uploaded by eye of wally.

Again LE images in this kind of sub genre are fairly common. However in this day and age most people will assume that it is some digital trick that has created this. When in fact it is all done by the settings and clever movement while the shutter is open. The fact that most people can do this with out any kind of digital manipulation intrigues people. However that alone will not get a similar image to #1 of interestingness.

What propels this image beyond the ghost imagining sub genre long exposure is the attention to detail eye of wally has paid to the setting where his ghost hovers. The time of day this image was captured is dusk or twilight that limbo state between night and day, where your eyes are still adjusting and very easily could play tricks on you. The graveyard could have been designed to look menacing or scary. Instead like the time of day it is show in a limbo state. Its where a ghost would hang out but you are unsure of the nature of its hangout.

It is the lack of decision in this image that makes it so appealing. Everyone who views it has to really examine it to understand what the intentions of the photographer are, but in the end they realize that eye of willy has left the intentions up to them.

Thread of Fame: driving is fun (it pays well too!)


driving is fun (it pays well too!)
Originally uploaded by Ben McLeod.

This is the first induction to the Thread of Fame that reached #1 on interestingness. I am unsure of why these photos become so popular. I'd imagine that it gives people a view of the world they see every day but from a different perspective. No matter how many types of these I see, which in all honestly is not many, I never see any that are exactly the same.

This particular photo is unique in terms of the view it shows. It does not show exactly the view of the driver or the view straight on but instead shows a view that is rare in life and this kind of photography.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Thread of Fame: Hello!


Hello!
Originally uploaded by Major Clanger.

Reaching far into the past I have uncovered the original LE Group's icon! For a short while now I've been racking my brain trying to figure out which one it was and I stumbled upon it again in my "comments you made section."

Group Icon from October 2004-May 22, 2005.

This was a fun icon that was welcoming but also showed what this group was all about to the very early Flickrites. It helped set the tone for this group as a fun easy going one that was inclusive. It also was one of the first examples of how the definition for this group was open to early interpretation.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Jahdakine's Blind Pan/Zoom Technique


Jahdakine recently opened a thread at the Long Exposure Group about Double Exposures. Interested in it I asked him to write up a tutorial and give some examples. Here is his post.

I'm calling this technique the Blind or Black Pan/Zoom. It came to me while experimenting with moon zoom blurs. I'm sure it's been done before and will afford possibilities other than moon superimposition, but these are a few of my first attempts. My objective was to make these appear like a single image, unlike the obvious overlap in the top left example. For that, it requires little to no cloud cover around the moon.

The process: zoom in on the moon and take as many shots as needed to understand where your exposure time needs to be to keep from "blowing it out" (losing the detail).
Then do the same for the second exposure and make sure you have some kind of reference so you can know where to aim.
Finally, point back at the moon and lock the shutter release. After the determined exposure time, cover the lens and then re-aim to the second spot. Zoom out and uncover the lens for the determined second exposure. Release the lock. Pray. Repeat as needed.

I'm considering a scope to get a better view of the second part of the exposure, and possibly a digiscope to create even more unbelievable moon size. The ultimate trick – get the sun and the moon or even two moons for that crazy other worldly effect.

Thanks Jah! I am fascinated by this and will have to go out and try it myself. If anyone else has examples please post the links in the comment sections!

Why do we shoot low-speed film for long exposure?

Wouldn't it make more sense to use faster film, so that you can get the exposure done with faster?

The answer? Reciprocity. See, normally film obeys the reciprocity rule. Go from f/2.8 to f/2, you can take the shutter speed from 1/30 to 1/60.

However, all films only obey this within a range of shutter speeds.

So, take for example Kodak's T-Max films. At 100 seconds, you T-Max 100 calls for a 200 second exposure. At 100 seconds, T-Max 400 calls for a 300 second exposure. T-Max P3200 calls for a 400 second exposure at 100 seconds. If you continue the curve onwards, you'll quickly discover that the 100 speed film will end up calling for a shorter exposure than the 400 speed film.

Digital cameras are different. Digital sensors don't have reciprocity, but they do accumulate noise in a variety of ways. There is often a sweet-spot that balances ISO-noise and dark-noise for a given sensor.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

The color of night.... (crossposted)

There's a certain amount of standard advice for shooting night photography. One of them is to shoot either Fujichrome 64T or Kodak Ektachrome 160T for film. Both films are well-behaved and well-characterized tungsten balanced slide film. With slide film, you don't need to worry about automatic machine corrections like you do with print films, so that's easy to understand. Both films have about as reasonable figures for long-exposure reciprocity as you'll find in a manufacturer datasheet.

But, tungsten color balance? Why do most night photographers shoot using tungsten color balanced film, or the tungsten setting on their digital SLRs?

I hate hearing standard advice without a justification. I like to research things to understand why the advice is given and to know when I can break these rules. To understand why this is the standard advice, and furthermore, why this is advice I ignore frequently, you need to understand the color of night.

(Read more at wireheadarts.com)

Monday, November 20, 2006

Thread of Fame: transubstantiate


transubstantiate
Originally uploaded by fallsroad.

This is the groups icon from Nov. 6 2006 - ???. Chosen by the members of the group.

Centrifuge gave LE a face, while we grew as Flickr grew. Transubstantiate is poised as the icon that represents a matured Long Exposure group one that has found and defined a pretty good yet robust niche with members from all over the world. This icon represents the the way this group was defined by its members. Originally the group was to capture pictures like Centrifuge, show time through photography, but has now grown to include images from everything between heighten reality and completely abstract.

Thread of Fame: Centrifuge


Centrifuge
Originally uploaded by BombDog.

The center of Remix had been the groups icon from May 22 2005-November 6, 2006. For that year and a half the LE group grew by leaps and bounds. For a time there we were closing in on number 5 of the Top 5 groups in Flickr.

People in each continent has seen this image or at the very least a part of. It also represented us as Long Exposure in the Best Group category of the Flicky's.

It has now been retired as the group icon but is placed in this thread as a thank you for sharing the great image with us and allowing the group to share with everyone else.

Thread of Fame

Recently I added the Thread of Fame to the Long Exposure Group. (That will continue.) However I also wanted to put it here to make sure everyone has seen it. To carry it over the tag thread of fame will denote images caontined in the thread.


NB: LE of the week are a seperate honor and will not be inducted into the thread of fame.

LE of the Week: hurricane force by El Ray


hurricane force
Originally uploaded by El Ray.
This image is the first LE of the Week!

I chose this image because of the absolute disregard El Ray has for his camera. This was created via a camera toss, where someone will start the shutter and then throw their camera into the air. As you can see it produces magnificent images with the kind of fluid motion you cannot get any other way. What sets this one apart is the colors used in it. Very surreal and abstract. What might be even more interesting is to have a moving image on the computer screen when the camera is thrown in front of it.

Welcome

Welcome everyone to the new Long Exposure Blog. I wanted to expand the group out side of Flickr and thought this was a great start.

What you might expect here:
1. The Weekly Long Exposure Picture
Where a poster here will select a picture from the group pool and write a few words about why they choose it.


2. User Submitted Reviews...
of cameras, lenses, filters, etc. That directly enable one to create long exposure images.

And much more!
We are just getting started here so check back soon to see what we accomplished.