Rodney Campbell's Blog

Twilight Curve

DJI Mini 3 Pro FC3582 + 6.7 mm f/1.7 @ 6.72 mm, 1/6 sec at f/1.7, ISO 200 x 21 Frames

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

A spectacular sunrise this morning. I must have just had this feeling and got up early to appreciate it (with the drone at least)

With the sun rising directly behind the tall buildings this spot was good for this 180˚ panorama. I’m actually surprised how well the smallish sensor in the Mini 3 Pro has performed. Managing to retain detail and not nuke the central sky. I did shoot the frames at -0.7EV exposure compensation

Slash and Burn

NIKON Z 7 + NIKKOR Z 20mm f/1.8 S @ 20 mm, 10 sec at f/1.8, ISO 3200

Very last shot of the session. The milky way had rolled over close the horizon in the west

It was just after 12:30AM and we still had a 3+ hour drive back to Sydney!

We just had to pack up and be gone… but not before revisiting the beach at Green Patch to see if by some miracle the bioluminescence had appeared… no such luck I’m afraid… time to head home

Panoramic Light

NIKON Z 7 + NIKKOR Z 20mm f/1.8 S @ 20 mm, 10 sec at f/1.8, ISO 3200 x 14 Frames

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

Capping off an excellent dark skies night at Cape St George – Panoramic Light. Gerry wanted to switch lenses (from the 14mm to 21mm) and finish with a stitched panorama

I had my Novoflex multi-row pano rails with me so this makes shooting the frames easier. The initial setup is a little longer, but once done it’s much easier and faster

I initially shot a single row of frames centred around the horizon. But I switched to this two row version (2 x 7 frames)

The panorama covers from directly left of camera to the right (perhaps a little over 180˚ all up). You can see Gerry’s camera, tripod and even some blurred mess of Gerry to the left of my frame 🙂

I actually shot 30 frames to get the 14 that I used in the final pano stitch. The reason being that we were trying to delicately light the foreground (not too much, not too little… just right) during each of the exposures. With two of us taking frames. Not necessarily pointing in the same direction and using different shutter times. It was a little bit of creative chaos 🙂

e.g. this is what can happen when our timing isn’t right :). This is a SooC of one of the frames – there’s no recovering from that 🙂

NIKON Z 7 + NIKKOR Z 20mm f/1.8 S @ 20 mm, 10 sec at f/1.8, ISO 3200

Light House

NIKON Z 7 + 14.0 mm f/2.4 @ 14 mm, 835+500 sec at f/6.3, ISO 100

Was pretty happy with how this one turned out. Light painting the heck out of the ruined Light House at Cape St George

In the sky I’ve blended in the static milky way frame with the star trails from the long exposure light painting

My LED umbrella orb was a little hair raising for this. It turned out really well but at the time I thought I might slip off in the dark. I’d climbed up there with the lights on so I could see. But once we’re doing the exposure all ambient lights are off so it’s basically dark. Gerry’s helpful comments about the archway I’m standing on possibly collapsing didn’t actually help :). Anyway it was somewhat disconcerting waving the umbrella around vigorously for 10 minutes on a dark precipice

The foreground was done with “copious” amounts of EL wire work by both of us. I was running with red, blue and green strands. Gerry with the same plus a lighter almost white strand. Thankfully the EL wire puts off just enough light to see. Since you’re stumbling around across an area of strewn jagged boulders :). Ideal location for some bone breakages one might say…

Hold the Stars

NIKON Z 7 + 14.0 mm f/2.4 @ 14 mm, 15 sec at f/2.4, ISO 3200

Having completed our light painting on the western side of the lighthouse buildings it was time to move to the eastern (seaward) side which Gerry was keen to see and photograph

As you can see, by now the milky way core had moved into a pretty ideal location for this prep shot for some light painting

The lighthouse tower and most of the building is actually in ruins

The Cape St George Lighthouse was doomed from its very inception. A result of official bungling and lack of supervision, its light lasted for less than 40 years, after which it was unceremoniously destroyed

Constructed in 1860, it was active until 1889. The tower was destroyed (target practice by the Royal Australian Navy) between 1917–1922 to avoid confusion in daylight

It was replaced in 1899 by a new lighthouse at Point Perpendicular, a much more suitable location for a lighthouse on this part of the coast