{"id":1210,"date":"2009-05-16T22:19:52","date_gmt":"2009-05-16T13:19:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-05-16\/1210"},"modified":"2009-07-12T21:17:39","modified_gmt":"2009-07-12T12:17:39","slug":"pitch-black-photography-moon-over-the-south-china-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-05-16\/1210","title":{"rendered":"Pitch-Black Photography: Moon over the East China Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Sigma 30mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4 sec freestanding handheld<\/span>, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 6400<\/span> —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMoonlight over the East China Sea<\/span>\nIshigaki Island, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan\n<\/div>\n\n

Since getting my Nikon D700 and exploring its low-light abilities (see\n“Impossible\nPhotography: No Light, No Tripod, No Hope<\/a>”) I've been more and more\nbold in where I give<\/span> it a try.<\/span> I shocked<\/span> myself with the results during my\ntrip to Okinawa in January (The Atta\nTerrace Hotel at Night<\/a>), and I pushed<\/span> the limits even further during this month's trip\nto Ishigaki Island<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

I took the picture above standing on a pier,<\/span> with the moon just out of\nthe top of the frame. As I described<\/span> in yesterday's\npost<\/a>, the vignetting comes naturally from using the Sigma 30mm f\/1.4\nlens on my full-frame D700.<\/p>\n\n

Unlike when I was shocked with the good quality of the low-light results\nof the photos I took<\/span> at the Atta Terrace hotel, the results this time were\nmore attuned with what I expected<\/span>: horrible quality, photographically, but\nthey'll help preserve nice memories for us.<\/p>\n\n

What did surprise me is how well the stars came out, as you can see a\nfew.<\/span> With the bright moon, and our eyes not really adjusted to the dark, we\ncouldn't see more than a few<\/span> in the whole sky, nor much else at all, for that matter: it was\nsimply dark<\/i>. We certainly<\/span> couldn't see the land on the horizon (just\nleft of center in the frame), Iriomote\nIsland<\/a>, I believe,<\/span> about 15 miles distant. Taiwan is another 110 miles\nfurther in the same direction, but we couldn't see that, either. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Sigma 30mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4 sec freestanding handheld, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nShort Pier<\/span>\nat the Fusaki Resort Village<\/a>, Ishigaki Island, Japan\n<\/div>\n\n

We'd gone down to the beach to check out the night view after dinner on our\nfirst night<\/a>, then took the short path back to the accommodations\narea...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Sigma 30mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>20 sec freestanding handheld, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nRush Hour<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

But we decided to return to check out the view from the pier itself, so after a short<\/span> U-turn...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Sigma 30mm f\/1.4 — 0.3 sec freestanding handheld, f<\/span>\/1.6, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nFumie on the Pier<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Like I said, these won't win any awards, especially with 1\/3-second\nexposures handheld, freestanding(!), but they're nice enough for me...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Sigma 30mm f\/1.4 — 0.3 sec freestanding handheld, f<\/span>\/1.6, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSurprise!<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

We were on the pier for a couple minutes as I worked<\/span> my way down trying\nto find angles that gave interesting shots, but it was difficult because\ndespite how bright it looks in these photos, it was really<\/i> dark. I could<\/span> see the silhouette of the little roof, and probably the circle of the\nlife preserver, but no detail at all – I couldn't<\/span> see the railing at\nthe far end, or benches, or detail in the roof, or anything like that.<\/p>\n\n

It would have seemed less dark had we spent the time to let our eyes\nadjust, of course, but we hadn't, so a minute<\/span> or so after I took<\/span> the\npicture above, I was startled<\/span> when a couple<\/span> suddenly emerged out of the\ndarkness and walked back toward land. As they passed<\/span> me, I thought<\/span> wow,\nit's so dark that I didn't<\/span> even see them standing right there!<\/i>, but in\nreviewing the picture this evening as I write<\/span> this post, I realize<\/span> some\ncontributing factors: they had been behind the bend in the railing, and\nthey hadn't been standing. Doh!<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Sigma 30mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4 sec freestanding handheld, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

As you can see above, at high ISO, bright light in an otherwise dark\nfield produces strong streaks across the frame.<\/p>\n\n

At one point I braced the camera against the railing and faced back\ntoward the beach, and took a longer<\/span> exposure (2.5 seconds)....<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Sigma 30mm f\/1.4 — 2.5 sec braced<\/span>, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nCouple on the Beach<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I really wish we'd have been able to see that many stars when we were\nthere, but we didn't let our eyes adjust that first night, and it turned\nout to be overcast for the next two nights, so we missed that chance.<\/p>\n\n

Continued here...<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since getting my Nikon D700 and exploring its low-light abilities (see \"Impossible Photography: No Light, No Tripod, No Hope\") I've been more and more bold in where I give it a try. I shocked myself with the results during my trip to Okinawa in January (The Atta Terrace Hotel at Night), and I pushed the limits even further during this month's trip to Ishigaki Island.<\/p>

I took the picture above standing on a pier, with the moon just out of the top of the frame. As I described in yesterday's post, the vignetting comes naturally from using the Sigma 30mm [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1210"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1210\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}