Sunrise at the Dark Side of the Moon

[Bjørn Rørslett]

[ Posted 10 October 2011 - 10:56 Edited and reposted by agreement ]


Today I got the first results back from my remote deep space probe. IR of course, that's the better approach on space trips. Need remote control as I'm prone to getting space sick. The advantage with the remote is that you get a glimpse of the space craft itself blasting into the starry heavens.

Sunrise at the Dark side of the Moon (Astral Domain)




This might have been Jupiter, however. The camera didn't have a GPS feature. Darned.

Ingredients to arrive at this photo were as follows;

Panasonic GH-2 [modified], Rodenstock TV-Heligon 50 mm f/0.75, morning coffee at the breakfast table

Can also be perceived as a way to get over the disappointment by waking up to yet another rainy day. So I finalised the M39 alternate mount on one of my 50 mm X-ray lenses to fit the M39-m4/3 adapter for my Panasonics, imbued myself with strong Swedish coffee, and let imagination roam. Pink Floyd blasting from the speakers put me on the appropriate track. Shot with the GH-2 in semi-IR mode to capture alienated colours.

Including the actual shoot and a little PS work later*, about 5 minutes worth of work. The coffee hadn't time to cool down.

(hint: reflections captured with an f/0.75 lens really are out-of-this-world, so you're already flying when you use it).

* to produce the stars, the remaining elements already done in-camera

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Obvioiusly I need to practice more on shooting the Universe. Some of the stars aren't entirely sharp. Next trip hopefully will see improvements.

For now, back to the strongest Swedish coffee available. Morning has truly broken. My head aches.

[Frank Fremerey]

Wow. Looks more like a rendering than a photo. Very fine art work.

PS: Looks like some Ergot derivative might have been in the Coffee?

PPS: Now I get it: The dark side of the moon is a coffee mug from above and the "stars" are some bread crumbs left on the table :-)

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Not even in the same solar system, Frank. But kudos for giving this a try anyway.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

One has to take into account that a lens such as the 50 mm f/0.75 is utterly alien in all its behaviour. The plane of focus is so extremely narrow that virtually everything dissolves into bokeh. The three-D dimension warps completely and all sense of reality is lost. All this makes the lens a tremendously powerful tool, yet well-nigh impossible to gain strict control over. Thus you simply have to let any previous perceptions float away and enjoy what the finder shows you. Just a slight movement of the lens relative to the subject alters the image entirely.

[Frank Fremerey]

After your last throw in I suggest that camera stands in front of an old mirror and the lens is taking a "selfie". The stars are "speckles" on the worn down mirror, the huge lights are reflection from light sources?

[Bjørn Rørslett]

No mirror. No specks. But indeed light sources and reflections.

[Gary]

I'm not even gonna try to guess what the moon is made of, (cheese I suspect). It is morning here now and I wake to this out-of-this-world image is quite refreshing and reinforces and reminds me of the good side of man. Much, much better than reading of the financial woes of Greece. Colombian Supremo this morning, invigorating after being semi-conscious over the course of a night. Coffee is good.

(I wish I had the skills and vision to create such art.)

[Frank Fremerey]

Gary: I just work trough the "Encyclica Laudate Si" obviously the best text about global responsibility and biodiversty I have yet read or written ... should cheer you up... good side of man wise

[Gary]

Gary: I just work trough the "Encyclica Laudate Si" obviously the best text about global responsibility and biodiversty I have yet read or written ... should cheer you up... good side of man wise

Thanks for the tip ... I shall immerse myself into your suggestion. 

[elsa hoffmann]

whatever that is - I like.

[Fons Baerken]

very cool indeed

[Bjørn Rørslett]

The scene that facilitated this picture has met  my eyes for 20 years, yet no picture was created until now. To my defence mostly at a time of the day in which my perceptive faculty was at its minimum level even after a morning ritual of imbibing strong Swedish coffee and reading the newspaper.

This brings me to the underlying point here: we urgently need to look beyond what meets the eye and explore the visual potential inherent in the scene. We are in essence blind as long as we trust our eyes and deny our imagination to play around.

[Frank Fremerey]

You lie under a glass table and take a shot upwards. A vase stands on the glass table. Several light sources reflect in the surfaces.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Kudos *** for imagination Frank, but no. I just put down my newspaper, lifted the camera that was in the pile in from of me, and shot this capture. Then, went over to the nearest work station and did the rest in a few minutes. Got back, continued reading, coffee still warm.