Rodney Campbell's Blog

Week 35

Continued with the 50/1.4…

Roadster

NIKON D7000 + 50.0 mm f/1.4 @ 50 mm, 1/500 sec at f/2, ISO 100

On Hold

NIKON D7000 + 50.0 mm f/1.4 @ 50 mm, 1/200 sec at f/2, ISO 100

During a recent trip to Sydney’s eastern suburbs I took a quick trip down to Bare Island at La Perouse and whipped out the B+W 10 Stop ND filter at sunset for some stopping of time and space. Nothing particularly special – I wish I’d had a wider lens (which takes filters) (about to be rectified :)) and I wish I’d had more time (I had to rush off somewhere)…

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

Ten Stop Bare

NIKON D7000 + 17.0-50.0 mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm, 88 sec at f/14, ISO 100 + ND3.0

I joined my regular photographic crew for another post sunset shoot again over the weekend – we were really pressed for time (since we had a 7:30PM deadline and only an hour of darkness) so we didn’t get to do half the things we were thinking of doing but it was still a most enjoyable and enlightening evening.

The aim this time was to explore the photographic possibilities of steel wool. The basic idea is to:
– find a large open area of non flammable material (e.g. rocky shelves)
– wire together a cage to hold a handful of steel wool
– attach it to a length of wire which allows you to spin it around away from your body
– and whilst being extremely careful not to set yourselves, the environment, your gear or anything else on fire
– set the steel wool on fire (think flash burning magnesium)
– spin the resultant ball around whilst flash burning pieces of molten metal are thrown about
– photograph the results using long exposures
This is almost a twist to the LED orb of light imagery – except you end up with more of a fiery explosion of sparks which is much larger (and more dangerous :)).

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

For our purpose we found a remote area of rocky island outcrop against the ocean

Ocean Trails

NIKON D7000 + 17.0-50.0 mm f/2.8 @ 25 mm, 1/60 sec at f/8, ISO 1400

We tried lighting the inside of the shipwreck (on the left) using a couple of LED torches whilst we get a great show on the right, however the wreck is really too far away and lost in all the sparks so we abandon the idea after that 🙂 – 6:20PM and about the end of twilight

Whirling Dirvish

NIKON D7000 + 17.0-50.0 mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm, 30 sec at f/8, ISO 100

Ring of Fire

NIKON D7000 + 17.0-50.0 mm f/2.8 @ 19 mm, 35 sec at f/8, ISO 200

We then try with our intrepid whirler up on the cliff tops swirling fire down onto the rocks below

Fiery Outcrop

NIKON D7000 + 17.0-50.0 mm f/2.8 @ 19 mm, 120 sec at f/11, ISO 200

Last shot of the evening (7:05PM) and we’ve moved back down onto the flat rock area so we can see where all the sparking material lands and bounces around on the rock shelves

Fiery Fountain

NIKON D7000 + 17.0-50.0 mm f/2.8 @ 42 mm, 120 sec at f/11, ISO 200

On a recent walk in the city at night I took some images inside a church I’d been meaning to visit – St Philip’s, York Street Anglican (which is at the end of York st in the city just as you come of the Sydney Harbour Bridge).

This was a really very beautiful building inside and at night with all the lights on inside everything was golden honey coloured. The warm light coloured wooden pews and floors, the light sandstone walls and pillars, the wooden ceiling and the creamy and light brown tiles on the floor already gave the whole ambience a very light honey coloured feel but the additional warm lighting just made it all glow like the whole room was swimming in golden honey.

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

Liquid Honey

NIKON D7000 + 8.0-16.0 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 8 mm, 8 sec at f/10, ISO 100

I still had to do an image in monochrome however 🙂

Path to Enlightenment

NIKON D7000 + 8.0-16.0 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 8 mm, 6 sec at f/10, ISO 100

Golden Honey

NIKON D7000 + 8.0-16.0 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 8 mm, 6 sec at f/9, ISO 100

Week 34

Something a little different this week – both shot with the 50/1.4 (a beautiful lens :))

Avenue

NIKON D7000 + 50.0 mm f/1.4 @ 50 mm, 1/250 sec at f/2.8, ISO 100

Note that I havn’t sepia toned or coloured the following image – this is the natural colour of the environment when I took the image

Dreamy

NIKON D7000 + 50.0 mm f/1.4 @ 50 mm, 1/160 sec at f/2, ISO 800