It's been quite some time since I found a new way of shooting the wonderful view of the Mall from the Iwo Jima Memorial, and it's been several months since I entered a free study. Don't expect this to do very well, but I'm hoping some folks will appreciate it.
This is a variant on the "multiple exposure in one frame" technique I've used before (e.g., for the tutorial on Moon Over Jefferson). I took advantage of my zoom lens' tripod mounting collar, within which the camera can freely spin:
1) Take a couple of test shots to work out the proper exposure for a normal image. In this case, at F/8 and ISO 400, 2s was right.
2) Frame with the buildings on the left side
3) On manual, set exposure to bulb mode
4) Open shutter and count to 2
5) Cover lens w/cap, spin camera 90 degrees
6) Wait a sec for the camera to stop moving, uncover lens
7) Count to 2
8) Repeat until all four images are recorded, close shutter
I have a bet w/myself someone will ask for this to be validated. :)
Editing was simple, all done in iPhoto: exposure, contrast, sharpening adjustments. I also rotated it a little to get it away from straight up and down and to distract from the fact they're not all quite 90 degrees from each other. Oh, I also rotated it 180 degrees from that to get the least-sharp buildings over on the right instead of being the first thing you see on the left.
The fun of this kind of shot is that you never quite know what you'll get. For example, the way the sky and trees created the cross in the middle was a nice surprise.
Post-voting: given that the rest of the votes more or less center on 4, I'm a little baffled at the 11 1s. I'm going to assume they thought this was a composite and instead of hitting the validation button, they dropped a 1 on it.
Statistics
Place: 428 out of 435 Avg (all users): 4.1805 Avg (commenters): 4.8000 Avg (participants): 4.1224 Avg (non-participants): 4.3429 Views since voting: 1088 Views during voting: 214 Votes: 133 Comments: 8 Favorites: 0
Wow I can't believe this scored so low! I bet if you had something pretty in there, say maybe about 3 aurora boreali (is that the plural?!? hehe) you would have at least reached a 5 :P
I appreciate your ingenuity with your photography. Your work really makes people think, and I do believe that "thinking" is an element that gets lost during voting in the big challenges.
Very interesting view of the place! You have quite the collection going of this scene. My only suggestion would be to have the not-as-in-focus on the left, even though you say you didn't want it there for the eye to find first, but I think the eye (for most English speaking folks) starts in the upper right third. Or that could just be me - I do tend to be a bit backwards.
As photographers, sometimes we have what we think is a good idea that just doesn't quite work the way it was intended - this is a pretty good example of that concept. It might have worked better with a more focused primary image with less grain and highlights. The rather odd angle of the images is rather distracting and not terribly effective. While a good idea, it failed on execution. Having said that, it is a technique to keep in mind for the future - some patience looking for the right image would be in order for this technique to be truly technically and artistically effective.
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