The remnants of hurricane Ike ("remnants" might be an understatement) came roaring through Pittsburgh last Sunday night with wind gusts up to 70 mph. But here's the kicker -- it was clear and the moon was bright. About the time I was lamenting the fact that my neighbor wouldn't turn off his @$%&! flood light, BAM! -- the power went. The only light around was from the moon.
These are shots of the tree in my backyard. I experimented with placement and exposure, and when things started getting dangerous, I laid the camera face up on the ground, set the time lapse, and went inside. They're not great shots, especially given the limitations of this challenge, but I think they're at least interesting. The noise is going to kill me here, I know, as I working with ISO of 400. Oh well -- maybe at least a few voters will find something creepy or alluring in all that noise.
Shot in JPG. Then in PSP X2, rotate, resize, JPG. That was it. Sharpen only enhanced the noise, so I skipped it. Also, I used a "weighted average" resize which further eased some of the noise (and it was the only one that didn't brighten a few bad pixels).
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POST: I'm completely stupefied by the reception this received. I truly almost pulled it at the last minute, and the only reason I didn't was because I had a good story to tell.
Truly, I did this in "sessions" -- I set the camera face up on the ground, set the time lapse for five shots or so, one a minute, and made a few trips back and forth to the tree to see what I got, tweaking the camera settings and recomposing as needed. During those fifteen second intervals, gale force winds would come and go, and clouds would zip by, blocking or filtering the moonlight for a few seconds at a time. My camera is a small point-and-shoot, so it wasn't moved noticeably by the wind while the shutter was open.
We don't get hurricanes in Pittsburgh, at least not the wind component, so this was a real novelty. I'm sure no one expected this from me -- not only because I live where I do, but also because I don't typically do nature shots.
Thank you! This was a blast...
Statistics
Place: 6 out of 127 Avg (all users): 6.7866 Avg (commenters): 8.8500 Avg (participants): 6.8182 Avg (non-participants): 6.7706 Views since voting: 5394 Views during voting: 476 Votes: 164 Comments: 48 Favorites: 36 (view)
wow, this is a magnificent picture..captures my inner feelings if I have to think about hate and passion blend together.that is a complicate feeling it gives me.brilliant shot, you know!
Well, I love this picture, and I'm glad you lived through it. Good story too.
I do have one memory of sitting in my car in a parking lot in Pittsburgh, terrified, while the car shook and bobbed and the trees bent over and the street lights sprang back and forth and I thought I would die in a tornado! Who woulda thunk. (we were driving to State College).
What I liked about this is that it seems like something someone would see as part of a Halloween nightmare. Very spooky. Congrats on the great placement in the challenge!
I'm back to say, this was my favorite of the challenge -- I gave it a 10. It really stood out from the rest. I'm glad you explained how you did it, because I really couldn't understand how this artistic effect was achieved without post processing.
This is a cool and rather spooky shot. I'm glad that you didn't get harmed while out in the wind and that the lights went out right on cue.
Congrats on a fine finish, and thank you for the thoughtful comment on my entry.
My favorite of this challenge - moody, striking, very well done for straight from the camera! Congrats on a great score, a top ten, and a new image in your top row!
Geez. I saw this one and realized I had to give it a ten. But to give it a ten I had to vote on thirty more. Thanks a lot! This is absolutely beautiful you know. Adding to favs.
Man, I should have done this. Excellent photo. My guess this is Dave or Ian. Or someone else from Houston that I missed. Great shot. Hopefully this tree didnt fall on your house. I love the effect
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