Check out this photo. I took it while on vacation. I love to play around with my camera, even more than taking actual portrait sessions (sorry clients). Take a look at the photo, and below I will explain how I did it.
Here’s how I did it. I had my camera on a tripod, and my camera set to bulb. Bulb is a setting on a camera that allows the shutter to be open as long as you hold the shutter button. I actually have a remote shutter release that I can lock in place. Once the shutter was open and “recording” the scene, I ran around with my external flash and triggered the flash in various areas. You can plainly see my flash on the sand, and another flash popping off behind the grass. When I was done, I ran back to my camera and stopped the exposure. I honestly can’t remember the exposure time, I believe it was about 90 seconds, possibly less.
You can see that the stars aren’t quite sharp. That’s because my camera was stationary, but the earth is moving. If I did a really long exposure, say 2 or more minutes, you’d see streaks instead of stars. It’s really fun to mess around with this type of photography, not to mention the exercise benefits. I must have attempted this shot four times, then I was all in. The sand didn’t help that’s for sure, not great for running efficiently and for those of us out of shape.
This is the type of photography that can consume me once I get started. I seem to always want to do another one a little better than the one before, or my mind will start thinking of ways I can add something cool to the shot.
This particular photo might end up in one of my composites. I’d like to “fix” the stars so they are not blurred, and perhaps add someone or something in the foreground. Hmmm, I’ll have to see what this mind can come up with.
Enjoy!
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