Star trails in Mow Cop, Staffordshire

15 January 2012

Another photographic ambition accomplished. This time, star trails. Quite simple these days with digital techniques. A digital camera isn’t likely to handle extreme bulb exposures in a single frame, so we shoot continuous thirty-second exposures and “stack” them using software. Close up, you can see the individual dots making up the trail, but generally the result is quite good, and turns quite a few heads.

I’d practiced a few shots in the garden, but I’m a firm believer that shots like this need good foreground interest, so on a cold, clear Saturday night, I headed up into the hills of Mow Cop and pointed my camera at the little folly on the top of the hill and hoped the clouds wouldn’t interrupt me! Fortunately they didn’t. The cold did, though. I’d intended to stay there a lot longer, but gave up after an hour before my fingers and toes fell off!

The finished image, an hour of star trails across the Cheshire/Staffordshire sky.

The finished image, an hour of star trails across the Cheshire/Staffordshire sky. #

More photos

Wire wool spinning in Helsby

6 December 2011

I’ve always been a fan of the various types of long exposure photography. I find it quite fascinating that these sorts of shots have so much impact, yet, are some of the easiest to produce.

The current “in thing” seems to be wire wool spinning. Plenty of people seem to be having a go at it, and you can see why; the effects are quite interesting. It’s pretty simple, you just need something to hold some wire wool on the end of something to swing it on. We used a metal balloon whisk (a kind of natural cage) for the wool, with a butchered USB cable tied to it. I’m not entirely sure why we used a USB cable, I’m sure rope would have been a cheaper and simpler solution, but I didn’t make it, so I’m not going to complain! It did the job!

You then just have to ignite the wire wool. This is surprisingly easy with either a cigarette lighter, or you can use a 9-volt battery on it. Then just start spinning. The oxygen flowing through it makes it burn more and thousands of sparks fly off it to be captured as pretty arcs on your sensor.

In an open space they flow with gravity. In an enclosed space they bounce off the walls and ceilings (usually exploding a bit as they go) which often has a nice effect, as the pictures below show.

As with most of this sort of stuff, I think it’s a case of once you’ve done it once, the novelty has worn off and you won’t do it again for a while. The shots get very samey, very quickly. I wouldn’t mind a few more out in the open, but I’m now a bit bored of the enclosed ones.

Another thing ticked off the list, though!

The only shot we managed to get from the top of the hill, it was very windy up there! You can see some of the odd arcs caused by the wind and despite tripod usage, the background is still very blurred!

The only shot we managed to get from the top of the hill, it was very windy up there! You can see some of the odd arcs caused by the wind and despite tripod usage, the background is still very blurred! #

More photos

FIA Formula Two rounds 15 & 16 – Barcelona – 28/29/30 October 2011

10 November 2011

FIA Formula Two’s 2011 season finale at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. The champion had already been decided, Mirko Bortolotti got that one out of the way at the previous meeting in Monza. Second place was still up for grabs and on Saturday morning was possible for three drivers to take those positions; Christopher Zanella, who currently resided in second place as he had done for most of the season, despite not gracing the podium since early July, Ramon Pineiro who was currently very much on form with podiums from five of the previous six races, including three wins, and Miki Monras who seemed to be regaining his form. Ramon and Miki both had home advantage being Barcelona-born.

Mirko Bortolotti was still the most on-form driver, racing this weekend for the title of most successful F2 driver of the new era; winning both races would give him eight career wins in Formula Two so he wasn’t about to relax. He played his usual tactics in both qualifying sessions by timing his flying laps right and getting them in on an empty track, giving him pole for both races. The Circuit de Catalunya’s reputation for lack of overtaking held true this weekend and Bortolotti scored two lights to flag victories. A fitting end to a dominant season.

Christopher Zanella kept hold of his second place by just four points, finishing just about where he needed to in both races, while Ramon Pineiro tried his hardest to steal second but could only manage third. A valiant effort considering his performance in the first few rounds of the season.

Ten seconds in to the Sunday's race and Ramon Pineiro, Mihai Marinescu and Mirko Bortolotti are fighting for the lead into the first corner. Being in front is important at the Circuit de Catalunya as it is notoriously difficult to overtake here.

Ten seconds in to the Sunday's race and Ramon Pineiro, Mihai Marinescu and Mirko Bortolotti are fighting for the lead into the first corner. Being in front is important at the Circuit de Catalunya as it is notoriously difficult to overtake here. #

More photos

FIA Formula Two rounds 13 & 14 – Monza – 30 September, 1/2 October 2011

8 October 2011

FIA Formula Two made its way to Monza, Italy for the penultimate meeting of the season, where it looked very likely that Mirko Bortolotti would be crowned champion at some point over the weekend. Mirko didn’t quite manage it in the first race, perhaps due to bad luck with yellow flags in the first qualifying session, but finishing second meant he only had to score two points in the second race to take the title. Mirko was oozing confidence on Sunday morning, claiming that despite only needing the two points, he still wanted to win the race. He put the car on pole after a single reconnaissance lap, a change of tyres and three flying laps while the track was empty and went on to win the race, the championship and a test for Williams F1.

The eventful weekend also saw Mihai Marinescu’s first Formula Two win on the back of two consecutive podiums at the Red Bull Ring, and podium returns for Miki Monras and Alex Brundle, which we hadn’t seen since early in the season.

Mirko Bortolotti celebrates in crowd-pleasing style, performing a few donuts on the start/finish straight for the fans.

Mirko Bortolotti celebrates in crowd-pleasing style, performing a few donuts on the start/finish straight for the fans. #

More photos

A Monza mascot…

7 October 2011

An unusually hot October weekend at Monza, Italy for the FIA Formula Two championship (gallery to follow), I was stood at the outside of Curva Parabolica and spotted this little fella! It was an inquisitive little beast!

Just hangin' around on some tyres!

Just hangin' around on some tyres! #

Sunset – 20 September 2011

20 September 2011

Yes. It’s another sunset. I promise to try to not fill this blog with sunsets, but I figured I’d just launched the website and it was quite pretty outside. People were even raving about it (the sunset, not this blog) on Facebook! I might as well plug the site a little bit! Just the one image here.

So there we go. I thought it was quite pretty!

So there we go. I thought it was quite pretty! #

FIA Formula Two rounds 11 & 12 – Red Bull Ring – 26/27/28 August 2011

16 September 2011

Rounds 11 and 12 of the 2011 FIA Formula Two season headed to Spielberg in Austria and the Red Bull Ring, the newly refurbished A1 Ring. Ramon Pineiro continued his run of form winning both races. The podiums for both races were the same; Mirko Bortolotti in second and Mihai Marinescu in third. Mirko Bortolotti extended his lead in the championship further and the title certainly seems like it’s his to lose at the moment. Ramon Pineiro will be hunting down that second place from Christopher Zanella who had a fairly average weekend in comparison, finished twelfth and fourth in the respective races.

The lead shot in this gallery is unashamedly eye-catching. On the first lap of the first race Johannes Theobald managed to turn his car over for the second time this season. Fortunately, I was there to capture it! There are more pictures of the crash in the gallery, just click through for the rest.

Johannes Theobald rolls his car for the second time this season during the first lap and approach to the first corner at the Red Bull Ring. An unfortunate wheel-to-wheel collision with Jack Clarke saw Johannes barrel roll up the hill, clipping Formula Two newcomer Rene Binder (#25) in the process. Binder is seen here also airborne.

Johannes Theobald rolls his car for the second time this season during the first lap and approach to the first corner at the Red Bull Ring. An unfortunate wheel-to-wheel collision with Jack Clarke saw Johannes barrel roll up the hill, clipping Formula Two newcomer Rene Binder (#25) in the process. Binder is seen here also airborne. #

More photos

Growing chives – three day time lapse

4 August 2011

I always thought the chives I grow on the windowsill grow back at an extraordinary rate and wanted to attempt my first bit of time lapse photography to investigate just how quickly they grew.

Shot with a Canon EOS 40D and a 50mm f/1.8 II lens and using the EOS Utility on my laptop to run the shooting. The shots span for exactly three days, starting at 20:44 on a Monday, finishing at 20:44 on a Thursday. The shots were taken at two-minute intervals. 2,132 images in total. (I know the maths doesn’t quite add up, but that’s how many images there were!)

Theoretically, every second of this video roughly equals an hour.

Naturally, through the night the area would need to be lit. A pretty basic setup of a desk lamp and a small spotlight clipped to the tripod was used.

The shots were taken in aperture priority, at f/4.0, ISO100 with auto white balance, due to the obvious changing light. Obviously I’d prefer the depth of field to be unchanged during the process rather than the shutter speed. Shutter speeds ranged from 0.3 s to 1/400 s. The tripod and no visible movement meant 0.3 seconds wasn’t an issue.

Music: Stonevalley “Relative” (Gorm Sørensen Remix)

To find out more about Gorm’s work, have a look at his website.


Read more

Sunset – 29 July 2011

29 July 2011

Just one of those days where you look out of the window and see something amazing. Five minutes later it was gone. I grabbed the camera just in time!

A very interesting sight!

A very interesting sight! #

More photos

FIA Formula Two rounds 9 & 10 – Brands Hatch – 22/23/24 July 2011

29 July 2011

Rounds nine and ten of the 2011 FIA Formula Two season were back in the UK and at Brands Hatch. Ramon Pineiro had a fantastic weekend, finishing second in the first race, then getting his maiden F2 win in the second race on the Sunday. Jack Clarke also had a great weekend on home soil, winning the first race and finishing third in the second race. Mirko Bortolotti further extended his lead in the championship, finishing ahead of main title rival Christopher Zanella in both races.

Mihai Marinescu (ROM) prepares for first practice.

Mihai Marinescu prepares for first practice. #

More photos