Psychedelic Karoo Dreams

I was photographing this dry shrub under the Milky Way in the Karoo desert of South Africa earlier this year. After getting the standard "static" starscape I normally attempt, I started playing around a bit with in-camera techniques.

This is the "standard" photo...

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8 @ 14mm  |  f2.8  |  30 seconds  |  ISO-3200

Now, the photo you see below was captured using in-camera techniques.
Some of you won't believe me, I'm sure...as it looks like something that was tweaked in Photoshop, right?

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8 @ 14mm  |  f2.8  |  30 seconds  |  ISO-3200

For this photo, I started at 14mm focal length, performed light painting to get the bush sharp and lit up, and merely zoomed the lens in to 24mm gradually during the last 10 seconds of the 30 second exposure. You need to be very steady and gradual in this process.

Here's another variation...

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8 @ 14mm  |  f2.8  |  30 seconds  |  ISO-3200

In this case, I followed the same approach as above, but instead of turning the zoom ring during the latter part of the exposure, I turned the focus ring, rendering the image out of focus for the last 10 seconds.

It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I do like experimenting with these slow shutter exposures, and trying different techniques. It can be so boring to capture the same images over and over and over and over and...

What do you think? Which do you prefer?
Leave me a comment...

Until next time!

Morkel Erasmus