"The Awakening" (Long Exposure)

    Found on Digg.

    Favorite comment from Digg: "This is going to confuse the f--k out of whatever intelligent species comes after man is gone."

    4 minute, 21 second exposure of THIS notable sculpture in Washington, D.C. Note the streak of lights from an airplane landing at Reagan National Airport on the other side of the Potomac River. Also, first posted photo with my new Tokina 12-24 mm.

    You can only really even tell what's going on when viewing this BIGGER

    Comments and faves

    1. ★

      Andreas Reinhold, Pen Waggener, Mauricio Mejía, WasabiDoobie, and 78 other people added this photo to their favorites.

    2. Random and Odd (70 months ago | reply)

      This is beautiful! Fantastic. Wonderful. Is there more words I could use?

    3. Ray Byrne (70 months ago | reply)

      Excellent

    4. Cristian Bucata (70 months ago | reply)

      How you do this without noise?

    5. christopherdale (70 months ago | reply)

      Thanks everyone.

      @cristian: The D50 has a built-in noise-reduction feature/process for long exposures, in which after the original exposure it closes the shutter and exposes pure black for exactly the same amount of time as the original exposure. Also, because I was on a tripod (naturally, given the long exposure), I shot this at ISO 200 which keeps noise levels as low as possible.

    6. donnacv (70 months ago | reply)

      Very very very very nice.

    7. pixthree (70 months ago | reply)

      Yikes. That's amazing. The lights across the water look like fire and give this a real apocalyptic feel.

    8. Jan Richard (70 months ago | reply)

      The sky is amazing!! I think it would work even without the sculpture there. You captured some outstanding colors but my eyes are fighting between the giant leg and the sky, if that make sense??
      The little lights on the horizon are also great.
      Will you do one for me without sculpture sometime?
      I know you have sooooo much free time for personal requests.
      Ha!! Bye!! Gosh I wrote a book....

    9. christopherdale (70 months ago | reply)

      Thanks donnacv, pixthree, and Jan.

      @Jan: I totally see what you're saying about the eyes fighting thing. I struggled with how to best compose this and think I didn't get it quite right. It was tough to get the sky and the sculpture without a boring composition and also somehow convey a discernable perspective of the sculpture since it's in the ground facing up. I'll see what I can do about that request :) Now I've written a book in return!

    10. airportsleeper [deleted] (70 months ago | reply)

      Awesome exposure. The colours and blurred clouds are really wonderful.

    11. crolaydyslexia (70 months ago | reply)

      I have been here. Once when I was a small child and then again when I was in middle school.

      Amazing photo.

    12. Mauricio Mejía (70 months ago | reply)

      simply outstanding; the composition, the colors. excellent!

    13. Werewolf Puppy (70 months ago | reply)

      The yellow sky is pretty. Thanks for sharing the photo of the Awakening.

    14. ram.rom82 (70 months ago | reply)

      WOW - great night capture!

      Please consider adding this to my group - "After the Sun Has Set"

    15. ram.rom82 (70 months ago | reply)

      Hey, also how do you get the D50 to do that - I have not been able to figure it out - guess I could read the manual, but just thought I would ask.

    16. mike.irwin (70 months ago | reply)

      beautiful exposure, great subject and composition - nice job

      the last day of summer

    17. christopherdale (70 months ago | reply)

      Thanks everyone! It's hard not to get some cool effects when doing long exposures around D.C., I think.

      @ram: As far as getting the D50 to do "this", I'm assuming you mean a long exposure. For anything up to 30 seconds, you can set the shutter in shutter priority or manual mode. In manual mode, you can also set the shutter speed to "bulb", which opens the shutter with a first press of the camera and closes it with a second press.

    18. mossko (70 months ago | reply)

      really well done.. you can see a plane come in to land too!

    19. Andrea Dal Max (69 months ago | reply)

      Great capture!

    20. L8o (69 months ago | reply)

      .....Oooooohhh! .....Aaaaaaaahhh!
      You have just been Top-V Admin Admired!
      * * Follow the " topvaa " tag * *

    21. *bratan* (69 months ago | reply)

      I like very much fantastic images. I like very much this one!

    22. joewilsondallas (69 months ago | reply)

      Hey -- GREAT photo... and THANK YOU for your 'how to' comments. Not everyone 'shares' this info -- but it is a great attribute of our fellow Flickrites! So, thanks for sharing!

    23. christopherdale (69 months ago | reply)

      Thanks, people. @Joe: I've never understood why some wish to keep their techniques secret. That said, what I've shared is rather common information, available in the D50 manual and a million other places. I'm definitely not good enough to have any of those special techniques/secrets, but if I did, I'd be more than willing to share.

    24. innusa (69 months ago | reply)

      Brilliant night shot!! Great work, Chris...

    25. carola's look (69 months ago | reply)

      Awesome capture and great colours! :)

    26. salnunzio (69 months ago | reply)

      great colors here! you're a master at the long exposure.

    27. Stevacek (69 months ago | reply)

      Freakin A!!

    28. shawhouse (69 months ago | reply)

      Ni-ice. This is one picture that really does need to be viewed LARGE. And thanks for sharing tips. Everyone benefits. We'll get more beauties like this shot.

    29. Vincent.Vega (51 months ago | reply)

      Expect a little increase in views:
      digg.com/odd_stuff/Fantastic_Statue_of_a_100_ Foot_Giant_E...

    30. nspitzer1 (51 months ago | reply)

      For those who don't know, the statue is called "The Awakening" It used to be in Hanes Point in Washington, DC but was recently moved to the new National Harbour project in PG county, MD (about 5 miles south). The airplane streaks in the background you see are landing or taking off from National Airport and the background city lights are Alexandria, Va, and the Crystal City (and possibly Rossyln) areas of Arlington county.

      BTW, this is a REALLY cool statue. I used to go during Cherry Blossom time to see it because you went down a cherry-blossom filled street to get there. Kids can play in the hand, overall it was a really cool statue and I was sorry to see it moved.

      One other thing is that both at Hanes point and its new location, in case of flodding or very high tides the statue will be partly submerged in water. You should be able to get a great shot at that time to.

    31. Synthetikid (51 months ago | reply)

      i remember many nights after buzz bringing friends to hanes point and waiting for them to sober up enough to realise we were sitting on a statue of a giant man.

    32. Paul Mayne (51 months ago | reply)

      congrats on the DIGG

    33. luku (51 months ago | reply)

      Cool shot!

    34. BY-YOUR-⌘ (51 months ago | reply)

      For some sense of scale...

      www.flickr.com/photos/aparejador/2194473810/i n/set-721576...

    35. callrob (51 months ago | reply)

      love it, love dc at night

    36. Heroicos / Conga (48 months ago | reply)

      que hermosa foto, muy muy linda!

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