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Nikoneer's Journal


Light Painting at Tschida Uploaded: 12/01/17 7:50 PM GMT

Image: Light Painting at Tschida

Although I used my 8mm fisheye for this photo, I aimed it directly at the horizon along Lake Tschida's shore, in south-central North Dakota, so as to not deform it with an unnatural curve. What I got in return was 167 degrees of the scene in one frame (as opposed to 46 degrees from a 50mm), stretching from the north to the south-southwest. I left the shutter open for 45 seconds, "painting" the tree at the bottom with a red flashlight for no more than one second, and I placed the horizon at the center to show that, here anyway, the sky is as important as what's below it. The tree exhibits a slight blur; that's from a slight intermittent breeze during those 45 seconds (if I waited for perfectly calm nights I'd hardly ever go out). Some might say that tree color constitutes manipulation, except that I did it physically, on-site, with a flashlight, and not in the software. It's the photo my wife and I have decided to use on our Christmas card this year. Hope you like it half as much as we do. [By the way, if you look to the horizon on the far right, then move left, you come to the second light, this one very tiny. Above it is a conical point of black land sticking up... that's Heart Butte.] 12.2-11