Don’t make me explain the movie reference in the title…
Given that I’ve shot maybe six creative frames throughout the entirety of December, this month’s abstract shot comes from back in May, a cropped version of one of the many (hundreds, I think) sunrise images that I obtained while at North Topsail Beach. I did a slight tweak in contrast to bring out the waves better, but otherwise the colors are as found, a nice alien landscape. It’s funny – as I look at it, I could easily believe that it was taken this month, because the overall humidity cut out a lot of the yellow registers, making blue dominate the frame and giving the appearance of coldness. It wasn’t, of course – I was standing in the water in shorts and sandals, though I suspect The Girlfriend, had she been out there that morning, might have worn a light sweater mostly due to the stiff ocean breeze.
Just a little later on (less than two minutes actually, as I check the EXIF info,) I endeavored to do a fartsy composition with a seagull, firing off numerous frames as it cruised near the sun. These all came out less than ideally, partially due to most of the frames catching the wings at a downward angle, but also due to the lower light. Even slightly underexposed, the shutter speed was slow enough for a bit of wing blur to come up each time – I think the best effect would have been with the silhouette tack-sharp, so maybe next trip.
Notice how this one is a bit more orange in comparison to the one above it; this is actually what was happening at the time, because I had the white balance set for full sunlight so it wasn’t altering anything in-camera. The exposure probably shifted a little, as the sun emerged further from some of the semi-obscuring clouds and got a lot brighter – you can see the clouds underneath now look a little darker.
And if you look closely, you can tell how far the sun moved between frames. In the top image, there is a ‘fork’ in the clouds at upper left on the sun, and that same fork is still visible in the second image at lower left. Bear in mind that the sun was not rising straight up, and never does at this latitude, but instead shifting diagonally up and to the right – you can see an animated sequence of this motion within this post.
My New Years’ resolution is going to be either a) take more photos, or b) stop whining about not taking enough photos. I’m not sure which is the more attainable goal…