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A lonely cross.



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The setting sun forms a solar pillar over the hills near Casey Antarctic base, highlighting the memorial cross of an expeditioner who tragically died while depl...
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The setting sun forms a solar pillar over the hills near Casey Antarctic base, highlighting the memorial cross of an expeditioner who tragically died while deployed at the base.
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upload_dateJul, 2018

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Awards

People's Choice in Sun Flare Photo Challenge
Peer Award
MyNikonLens Blish josfrias sterretje ckaiser DocTom gregedwards +16
Absolute Masterpiece
Lamproulis eelcovanroden florence LifeForcePhotography thecatsmeow countryside
Top Choice
robanaka BARoland
Magnificent Capture
emilydufour Littson_Photo
Superb Composition
Echidna_Images Hprue
3 Comments |
BARoland Platinum
 
BARoland August 01, 2018
Amazing.....
The_Photo_Wave_Rat
 
The_Photo_Wave_Rat August 05, 2018
So good
eelcovanroden PRO+
 
eelcovanroden January 21, 2019
Congratulations on your Challenge Award!
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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken near Australia's Casey Antarctic station, from a rowing boat.

Time

The photo was taken just after the sun set and created this Solar pillar in ice crystals in the cold Antarctic air. Three of us were on a photo expedition travelling in a rowing boat across a short stretch of water from Casey Base Antarctica to a penguin rookery on a nearby island.

Lighting

Taking photos into the sun or a very bright object has its own attractions providing very sharp images and silhouettes. However the bright light can swamp all detail and I needed to reduce the amount of light coming into the camera to get the best shots. In this case I reduced exposure by two stops in obtaining this image. Often in Antarctica you are taking images with a significant amount of snow or ice so white is a predominant feature of the image. This being the case the camera doesn't get the white balance right and the whites end up being more of a grey. To counteract this I increased the exposure by half to two stops and ended up with nice crisp whites. In this case I had to do the opposite to restrict the amount of light into the camera

Equipment

This is an old photo of mine. Like many older people interested in photography I have a large number of slides taken in the pre-digital age. This image was taken on a Pentax SuperA camera with a Sigma zoom 28-200mm Lens using Fujifilm Velvia slide film. The slide image has been digitized to make it useful in modern environments. Before digital cameras you needed to take a full seasons supply of film with you as there are no shops in Antarctica. Each time you went to take a shot you had to judge whether you would expend one of your precious pieces of film on this scene. You also took your own chemicals to Antarctica to develop the slides yourself, another limiting factor. These considerations are completely lost today as you take as many digital shots as you like them delete those not wanted, I love digital photography.

Inspiration

The solar pillar just begs to be photographed as it is such an iconic and startling solar phenomena. In this case myself and 2 other Antarctic expeditioners were out in a rowing boat, crossing the short distance from Casey Base to a nearby island where the was a penguin rookery we wanted to visit and photograph. It was later in the Antarctic summer season and the sea-ice had melted so we could not walk across the short stretch of water to the penguin rookery to take photos. There was a bit of a current flowing when the solar pillar appeared and we could see the cross on the hill erected in memory of an expeditioner who had unfortunately passed during his assignment to Antarctica. I wanted to take the photo of the pillar with the cross highlighted in the centre of the pillar so we rowed upstream then drifted down trying to take the photo at exactly the right time, took the photo then rowed back upstream to repeat the process. We must have done this about 10 times taking turns rowing and photographing. Of course with film camera's you didn't know whether you got the shot you wanted until much later, it was do your best and hope for a good result

Editing

This is the original image taken from slide film and digitized, possibly cropped to balance the shot.

In my camera bag

These days I use digital cameras and love them. I have a NIKON D3400 for more formal photography but the camera I love the best is my NIKON P900 superzoom. I am an amateur photographer and many of my shots are opportunistic and I especially like taking shots of wildlife. The P900 allows you to zoom in on subjects and get the shot quickly with little or no setup required, it is also great for travel due to its versatility. Having said that a P1000 is now out with bigger zoom, hotshoe and shoots RAW. I am hoping the next version will have a bigger image sensor before I upgrade, this I think is something of a drawback to a great day to day camera.

Feedback

Taking shots of solar phenomena is opportunistic, but more likely in Antarctic or Arctic regions. In Antarctica the freezing level is mostly at or near ground level. This means that any moisture in the air is held as very tiny ice crystals called spicules. These tiny ice crystals reflect light quite strongly and are responsible for the solar pillar I photographed, water droplets can do a similar thing. In Antarctica I have seen spicules falling out of a clear blue sky, it is more common in inland Antarctica but occasionally seen near the coast in summer where I was. The most important thing to remember when taking these types of images is to reduce the incoming light to manageable levels by bracketing or appropriate filters to get the best image.

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