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Ursa's Magical Quill
Ursa's Magical Quill
violinist123


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Long Exposure IV (Minimal Editing I)
Camera: Canon EOS-5D
Lens: Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM
Location: USA
Date: Sep 15, 2008
Aperture: F11
ISO: 50
Shutter: 16.0s
Galleries: Studio
Date Uploaded: Sep 14, 2008

 I hope this scores well because it took a ridiculous number of attempts to get it right. I think it looks pretty cool considering the restricted editing rules, but it's no dreamy waterfall or rocks in the water shot so who knows. I actually bought a 3 stop ND filter to go snap a cliche shot myself, but 3 days of rain put that on hold and in the meantime I became obsessed with getting this shot. So here it is.

This was set up in a dim room (couple windows letting light in on a cloudy day, not dark by any means). With a modeling lamp turned on, I targeted a light stand in order to auto-focus the lens and then switched the lens to manual. I tried this with the sigma 105 (so-so results), the 70-200 2.8L (lens flare like you would not believe in every single shot) and finally the 85 1.8.

A 16 second exposure gave me ample time to 1) press the shutter button on the camera, 2) walk to the 'spot' where the light stand had been, 3) use a key chain flashlight to blink out the pattern of the Big Dipper 4) drop the light 5) crouch down on the floor 6) hold up hand with feather and hope to god the tip of the quill was centered in the last 'star' and 7) fire the strobes via the pocketwizard held in my other hand. Get up, go to camera, check image, repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

The radical difference in light levels between the dim room and the blasting strobes and keychain light meant I could walk around in front of the camera with impunity while the shot was being taken - the invisible man.

The lighting is a softbox to the left, and to the right is a 7 inch dish angled against the wall in order to drop the most light behind my arm for separation with the fall-off making a gradient which would get darker under the stars. The dish brought out a lot of ugly surface detail on the wall which wasn't apparent on the tiny camera lcd, but I am definitely not going to re-shoot another couple hundred times to fix it. At this small size it's not quite so noticeable (I hope).

The title is a reference to Ursa Major, which this constellation belongs to.

post: well kiddies, if you want to win stick with the standards. Thanks for the comments and favs!

Statistics
Place: 12 out of 127
Avg (all users): 6.5697
Avg (commenters): 7.5714
Avg (participants): 6.6481
Avg (non-participants): 6.5315
Views since voting: 2598
Views during voting: 637
Votes: 165
Comments: 29
Favorites: 15 (view)

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AuthorThread
 06/12/2010 05:46:40 PM
LOL...yes a great photo...even more so when you think of the restrictions place on you by the "rules"!

The voters in this challenge got this shot wrong.
 09/29/2008 07:26:00 AM
amazing! One of the most creative in the bunch. I would like it even more it the arm were a little more delicate looking or if the background was black. Great job!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/26/2008 06:59:21 PM
you nailed it, any edit would not have made it any better. Should have finished higher.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/26/2008 12:07:58 PM
The effort alone deserves a gold ribbon! Well done!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/26/2008 12:00:37 PM
Awesome shot. One of my top 5 votes.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/26/2008 09:04:03 AM
An impossible feat which you have really done excellently.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/26/2008 05:23:20 AM
Ah! This was one shot that fascinated me, perhaps most, in the long exposure contest. I was so curious to how is it was done.

I should congratulate you on this shot. Great work, and highly creative. Please keep on going. Ribbons may come and ribbons may go. :-). But if I could vote (unfortunately it is a member only vote), it would have been a definite 10.

Thanks for the note on how you shot it.

Kudos and Cheers!
~vikram
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/26/2008 04:22:10 AM
This could have easily been a ribbon winner. Very creative execution.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/26/2008 04:08:35 AM
WOW this is amazingly well done!! Great and funny to read your description LOL... Thanks for posting the "how to"... It scored great, congrats :o)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/25/2008 10:44:15 PM
Wow, certainly was a well thought out and planned shot. I am amazed it didnt do better as I thought it was the best shot of the lot.

  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/25/2008 08:45:40 PM
Fantastic, original idea that's executed very, very well. Your imagination and planning, plus your perseverance, paid off. Congrats! And thanks very much for the setup details.

Message edited by author 2008-09-26 00:45:57.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/25/2008 08:12:27 PM
Excellent set up notes. Thanks for that. Had initially thought holes through the bg with light coming through, but wowowowow.... amazing effort. Loved it, thought there would have been a ribbon here.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
09/25/2008 07:05:05 PM
Nice work, that is a cool idea.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/21/2008 10:55:44 PM
That is really intriguing. I hope you share the explanation. It looks really cool.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/21/2008 05:48:42 AM
Very clever. However, my limited knowledge of constellations tells me tis should be horizontally flipped.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/20/2008 04:27:01 AM
lovely use of creative lighting to deliver the shot - i wonder if a conversion to b/w would have been better as the shadows and color in the hand actually distract me a bit...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/20/2008 04:06:35 AM
I love the stars and the idea. The white background is a little boring. Maybe black or a bright color would have grabbed me more.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/19/2008 01:01:13 PM
I think a more delicate arm (a young girl or child?) would have made the composition more effective.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/19/2008 10:49:03 AM
cute idea, assume it is holes in paper....
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/19/2008 07:48:24 AM
wow.
so interesting.
I would love to know how you did this.
perfectly executed, great shot, and good focus
9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/19/2008 04:46:52 AM
Nicely done :-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/19/2008 04:34:32 AM
I really like this effect. Well done. It comes to show that you dont need post processing to get a great shot. 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/19/2008 01:57:31 AM
=]
 09/19/2008 01:21:48 AM
very clever and nicely executed - 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/18/2008 08:49:06 PM
Really like the effect but hope that Ursula doesn't have such a hairy arm!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/18/2008 08:34:41 PM
nice job , muggle! simple but cute, 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/18/2008 08:32:25 PM
Brilliant concept.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/18/2008 08:26:01 PM
One of the better shots this challenge - 7
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/18/2008 08:06:45 PM
Beautiful!
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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