Monday, February 05, 2007

Only in Texas

Lone Star

This shot was a high dynamic range composite of three exposures, taken about two thirds of a stop apart. It is the Texas state history museum at twilight. I've been wanting to shoot this for a while now and felt that twilight would be the perfect time, to get that deep blue sky colour. I pushed it a bit further to get a really strong complimentary colour relationship to the orange star and deep blue sky that I think makes for a much more dramatic scene than if the sky was totally black. I found that you just have to be there at the right time to get shots like this - and the right time doesn't last very long. Ten minutes earlier than this and the sky was too light, ten minutes later and the magic was gone. The sky was black and while it still works, the result just isn't as effective. Low angle, on a tripod, Canon 17-40mm F4L at the 17mm end and stopped down quite far to get the point light sources to give that characteristic small aperture star pattern. This subject is one of those I want to capture for my Iconic Austin series. I'm beginning to question the idea of shooting all of this project with a lensbaby. I might have to revise how I'm approaching this, or expand into an Austin at Night side project.

4 comments:

Ted said...

This is an image about color... um, no... It's about shape... wait... wait... it's about form, er... composition... light... texture... It's a grand slam. Nice vision here Gordon. Me, I'd have cropped it at the right just a hair, even at the expense of the star bursts... while attractive, they don't add power to the picture and distract my eye. But, still... it is a terrific capture, and effective pp. Thanks for sharing.

Ted
http://imagefiction.blogspot.com
http://homepage.mac.com/byrneprintmaker

Unknown said...

I love to read your posts, as I can learn from you the patience. So many thoughts went into this image. You didn't leave anything to the accident. Great result, as always.

Elaine said...

I agree the sky works better as dark blue. This is a great shot. I love the colors and lines.

Unknown said...

wow!