African Skies
Apr, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in a field of rocks at Kaap Che Hoop, a small town in South Africa.Time
This was quite a fun image to capture. A close friend and I walked into this field of rocks late at night with just one torch guiding our way in the dark. We came across this large boulder and decided to experiment with long exposure and painting with light.Lighting
The most fascinating thing about this image for me is the stars. How little we are able to see with our eyes. I wanted to make the invisible visible. So using a long exposure with a medium to high ISO I was able to bring out more details and light within the night sky while simultaneously lighting the rock in the foreground for a second with my torch.Equipment
I shot this image with a Nikon D700 with a wide angle lens on a tripod, and I used a torch to light the rock.Inspiration
I have always loved the night sky in South Africa. The sky always looks flooded with stars even in the city and wished to capture that in a photograph. And being in a remote little town with little to no light pollution gave me this perfect opportunity.Editing
For this image I didn't want to edit it too much. I wanted to keep it as real and true as possible. I adjusted the colour of the sky from the warm yellow tones to a more colder blue purple range as I felt it worked better with the rock formation in the foreground.In my camera bag
My bag always contains by Canon 550D, my 18-55mm lens and my 70-300mm lens. I always like to be prepared for any situation, you never know what you might need on a shoot where ever you are. And of course I carry about a handful of SD cards because I never seem to have enough.Feedback
The most important thing I think is location location location. I found that when wanting to capture something like this its best to go out somewhere in the wild, and it doesn't get much wilder than a little town in South Africa. Kaap Che Hoop is situated in a area that is much higher than the near by town of Nelspruit. I think that attributes to the fact that I could capture such a clean image with no excess light. It is also important to plan out this shoot, to find the spot you want to photograph. Its also important to pack an extra bag with torches, blankets, food and anything you might need.
