Tired & Hungry, One by One, the Birds Returned to Roost

[Colin Southern]

Tonight's Creation (be sure to view image as large as possible).

[Bobobird]

Amazing capture. I was looking at each bright spot to make out what it was.

Must learn to do something like this one day...

[Colin Southern]

Thanks Bobo - I had to think pretty hard on this one !

[Carl in Louisiana]

Wow! Is it a train, the red dashes? That is so cool!

[Donald]

Wow! Is it a train, the red dashes?

Carl - I think we need to think what comes in from the sky and then lands in a long straight line.

[FrankMi]

Thanks Bobo - I had to think pretty hard on this one !

Quite a nice effect and a great vision to see what the result of painting with light could achieve! Well done Colin!

[Donald]

What I think is so ingenious about this is, in line with Frank's thinking, the fact that the light trail imitates (if you use your imagination) the shape of a plane - the body and then the tail at the end.

What I'm trying to work out is why there seems to be so much white light on the approach, but much less once it's down on the ground. Do some of the lights get switched off on landing, or is it just because of the perceived speed in terms of the angle of view (it appears to pass more quickly past the sensor as it gets closer and more towards a right-angle to it)?

[Carl in Louisiana]

Carl - I think we need to think what comes in from the sky and then lands in a long straight line.

I thought plane at first but after looking as hard as I could I then thought train, because a plane would have to of been very low to the ground. I know they do come in fairly low in cities, so low they seem to scrape the roof tops. It was a guess but not too good of one.

[dje]

Very clever and effective Colin. What surprises me is the balance in exposure between the stationary and the moving lights. The EXIF info shows an exposure time of 179 sec which I think would be longer than the time required for the plane to land ? Maybe you've used two separate exposures blended together - one without the plane and one with ?

Dave

[MajaMolly]

Not what I was expecting by the title, but once I saw it, it made perfect sense. Fun image.

[Colin Southern]

Hey folks,

Thanks for the kind works

How it was done ...

- To get the star effects, it's necessary to shoot at a narrow aperture (F22) - so that took a 3 minute exposure.

- Unfortunately, we don't normally get 3 planes arriving in 3 minutes - so they were shot separately, and blended

- As the planes get closer, the lights get brighter, so for the plane shots I had the lens at F2.8, but with a Vari-ND filter attached (up to about 8 stops of attenuation) -- the closer the aircraft, the more attenuation I dialed in ("hit and miss" is a bit of an understatement ... it's impossible to see the calibration marks on the filter (can't really shine a torch at it with the shutter open!) - and of course one needs to be careful not to move anything).

- Of the 3 aircraft that came in, one ran full length and taxied of via what we call Taxiway Alpha (it was the rotating tail light from that aircraft that added the red dashes). One of the aircraft stopped short and exited via Taxiway Charlie, and a third smaller aircraft with just a single light did the same. Also - the bigger aircraft have 2 wing lights and a nosewheel light, but they turn off the wing lights as part of the after-landing checks (presumably so they don't daze apron workers), which is also responsible for some of the lighting "disappearing" to the left of the image.

- Add to all of that a bit of masking for flare reduction - bit of sharpening - and viola

[Dizzy]

Hellova shot Colin! Your creativity/imagination made it happen..

[gcowan]

Great image Colin. Too much setting up for me. One question. It is in panoramic format, was it cropped that shape or did you use a panoramic camera?
Graham

[Colin Southern]

Hellova shot Colin! Your creativity/imagination made it happen..

Thanks

[Colin Southern]

Great image Colin. Too much setting up for me. One question. It is in panoramic format, was it cropped that shape or did you use a panoramic camera?
Graham

Hi Graham,

Thanks for the kind words.

The setting up wasn't too bad - I had a couple of hours to kill while #2 daughter was as a "social engagement" - so took about 1/2 walk with fairly heavy pack (each way) - and about an about an hour "on location". Did the planning in my head whilst there.

No - not shot with anything special - just a 24-70 and cropped.