Spot research
Spot research
” If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it? ” – Albert Einstein
” Man can learn nothing except by going from the know to the unknown. “
Those are favourite quotes and describes best what we do when we are looking for new spots and locations. You never know exactly where to go and what will find. That gives its beauty and challenge at the same time. And usually the biggest mistakes bring us the best developments. In this post we would like to share some of our “mistakes” and the results.
Whenever you are in research mode one of your best friend is google maps in satellite view. It can help a lot to identify some objects in middle of nowhere. You can also google interesting places in your area, such as silos, coal loaders, abandoned places. One of our hit was an abandoned soviet military base. There is an abandoned bunker, 2 huge “pipes” to keep military vehicles off grid and a huge silo (tower). Some rumour say it was a rocket silo (recently we did not find rocket 🙂 )
A short walk though of the bunker.
During the night it could be quite scary, would not be recommended going on your own. Recapping from our previous post why is always smart to go at least with one buddy.
The first time at the base the sky was clear in the beginning, unfortunately Milky way wasn’t rise this time yet. Few days later another visit brought success and we could perform some more test shots what is possible on this location. The light pollution is quite bad, however the Milky way is visible and “catchable”.
Another interesting spot is a place what gives you the feeling of a little desert. That’s quite unique as we do not have real desert in Hungary. The sand even looks more real and “desertistic” if it’s dry. At this time it was a mild rain and it was wet.
That also could be a potential spot for astrophotography. Will test it as soon as the moon lets us work again.
Than the last research adventure we would like to share is and abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. How to find it? As mentioned, Google maps, satellite view. You just need to look for the right spot in terms of light pollution and star direction. Always consider the Pole star, than you can make an interesting star trail. If you can shoot towards south, south-east you can capture the Milky way. If light pollution allows you to make a panorama from south to north, you can stitch a Milky way arch. Even on one location you can play with different lenses, angles and compositions.
- The arch was made with a 24mm f1.4 lens wide open. 10 images in one row with 50% overlap.
- The other two images were made with a 12-24mm f4 lens wide open.
- The star trail consists 120 images and been post processed in Capture one and PhotoShop.
- The Milky way shot was done by stacking 5 images to reduce noise.
Will dedicate a post what to use and how we use our equipment. What are the top tools you should have with you as a photography survival kit.
Soon will come a post about retouching techniques and tools we use. Stay tuned.
Till then happy shooting and stay safe.
” People are pretties when they talk about something they really love, with passion in their eyes. “
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