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© © Marsel van Oosten | squiver.com

Circling the Dead


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© © Marsel van Oosten | squiver.com

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There is only one photograph that I know of that features Deadvleiwith star trails, and it was shot by Art Wolfe many years ago. I'm inNamibia every year, so on this year's Namibia workshop, I thought I'dgive it a try myself.

Wolfe's shot is a double exposure on slide film; one for the overallscene when there was still sunlight (polarizer and grads to darken thesky), the second for the star trails.For my shot I did something similar, but there are also somedifferences. For my first exposure I waited until the sun had set andthe sky was already quite dark, so no need of any filters - theforeground was lighter than the sky anyway. The 30 second exposure wasenough to pick up some glow on the dunes in the background. I then setthe timer to start taking 4 minute exposures when the moon had set aswell.

The next morning the battery of the D3 had managed to last 47 4-minuteexposures, a total of 188 minutes and more than enough for some decenttrails. Back home I stacked the star trail shots on top of the baselayer and got this result.

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Marcel, I love your shots normally .... but while this one is nice, somewhat it looks like a digital composition. Without your explanation (blindly) I would surely consider such and skip it. Given the explanation, i must say that it was superbly done.

 

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This is way too cool! It has the feeling of a surrealistic painting. Thanks for sharing the technical details behind this photograph, it was fascinating to read, and makes me very much appreciate the end result. Well done! Cheers! Chris
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Very cool photo. Thanks for the details on your technique. Love the shape of the trees and the star trails. Excellent work.
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Francesco - this is a digital composite, but no different from taking a double exposure - the way this was done in the film era; one shot for the whole scene with still some light in it, and one for the star trails. I would love to shoot the star trails in one single exposure, but the limitations of digital sensors make this impossible - the sensor overheats and you get an incredible amount of noise. Shooting many shorter exposures currently is the only way to prevent noise in these situations. I'm sure that in the near future digital sensors will become totally noise-free and I can shoot this just like an old fashioned double exposure.
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Marsel, first my apology I misspelled your name earlier on.

What I meant is that the overall effect is more of a something drawn digitally (by using various textures plus some rotational step) than a composition of photos.

I agree with you that it is impossible to use one exposure to get such results.

 

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Hi Marsel, this is just superb in every aspect:

The image and the technical aspect.

I have a question, what kind of a timer do you use to take pictures all night long?

Thx!

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Marsel is a f*#king incredible piece of work, the whole concept and approach to the shot just proves to others that you can achieve what the mind can perceive.

 

I truly think that anyones throwaway comments about composites or any such other flippant dismissals is seriously lacking in self asteem and needing to give out a put down to rectify the inadequacies of their own imagination.

 

Its the best image I have seen in a very long time from Namibia, and that's coming from someone who doesnt usually like star trail at all. Great, great work and worth risking the gear for it indeed.

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I love this picture, I tink is an ecelente work! Thank you very very very much for the explanation on how you did it. Regards. Alejandro
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Its Just brilliant, HOWEVER

can you please explain briefly how you took this picture in a simple language... I am a student and it was a bit hard for me to follow.

 

Thank you!

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@Govind:

-Take one shot just before or just after sunset. Make sure that the exposure is on the dark side; this is going to be a night shot after all. This image is going to be your master image that is the basis of your final shot. I usually try to take my master image just before the stars start appearing so that I have a completely empty sky.

-After you have taken your master image, wait until the sky is completely black and full of stars.

-Use a programmable cable release to set the camera to take 4 or 5 minute exposures for as long as the battery will last.

-The master image should preferably be shot in raw, the star shots can be taken in jpeg.

-Process your master image in your raw converter and make sure it doesn't look too bright.

-Open your processed master image in Photoshop.

-Open all the star shots in Photoshop and stack them all on top of your master image. You'll get a huge file with many layers.

-Set the blending mode of the star layers to Lighten. Only the brightness information of the star shots is being used now. When you have set the blending mode of the final star layer to Lighten, your image will appear with the star trails.

 

This is the short version of how this was done, which should work. Make sure you don't change the camera position after you have taken your master image, and don't change the aperture.

 

Hope this helps.

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