No Wind 1

[dubaiphil]

A calm starry night

[dubaiphil]

and in colour

[bnnrcn]

Hi Phil, I like #1 very much

[csa mt]

Phil, #1 is very striking; that's my favorite!

[NorthernFocus]

Interesting shot. Interestingly I don't have a strong preference for one version over the other. So my default would be to lean towards color. Nicely done either way.

Ironically since it has a light on it when there's no wind the turbine is consuming energy rather than producing it. It likely has winding heaters too.

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured, both versions.

[Mike Buckley]

Lots of nuance in the monochrome version makes that one my favorite. Most important, the blades seem more like they are dancing in that one. Great image!

[KimC]

Love the colored version - beautiful.

[LocalHero1953]

I prefer the coloured one, but would be inclined to desaturated and darken the green ground - it distracts my eye from the beautiful blue.

[rpcrowe]

Very nice captures. These wind machines are, IMO, quite difficult to photograph...

[Nicks Pics]

Yes, as others have said, those are interesting images. I am trying to figure out why stars in the blue sky don't look completely un-natural. Was it in the evening when the stars were just starting to come out and a high iso and/or long exposure captured more stars than would have been apparent to the eye? I have been attempting non-advanced astro-photography lately, thus my curiosity. Also, if I may ask, did you stack images, or just use one? Thanks for sharing the photos!

[ajsmith]

I like the color version. The stars really sparkle on the blue sky.

[dubaiphil]

Thanks guys - it was a moonless night and perfectly clear, so ideal for capturing stars. ISO800, f4 and a 30 second exposure, which I was using to find my settings for a longer exposure later. Just running at 30 seconds captures more stars than you can clearly see with the naked eye, and then increasing contrast a little brings out the less bright stars in post. The second long exposure image was at ISO200 and 32 minutes.

[dubaiphil]

Very nice captures. These wind machines are, IMO, quite difficult to photograph...

Thanks Richard. They are indeed tricky to photograph. Luckily this one wasn't running as at night you lose all blade detail if you're shooting longer exposures and just end up with the masts and nothing else. Around 1/3rd - 1/2 second exposure would be good, but you'd have to shoot wide open and at a very high ISO for that at night. Having said that, a full moon in the right direction may help capture 'discs' with a longer shutter - 10th/11th August at around 23:30 - 01:00 being my window of opportunity to try that out.

[nimitzbenedicto]

Optical illusion?

The shadow seems to make it look "curved".

Nevertheless, both are cool.