Showing posts with label Floodlights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Floodlights. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Standing Tall

Sometimes It Pays To Aim For The Sky

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON


Sometimes everything just falls into place. I'd been waiting to take this shot for about three weeks, but I wanted several prerequisites. I wanted a clear sky, I wanted that fifteen-minute window of pre-dawn light, and I wanted the floodlights in the foreground to be operating. Yep, so you're thinking: ``This bloke really has a big wish list''. Right?

But patience pays off, sometimes. You see, we had a couple of cloud-free mornings, but I didn't quite get the timing right and the pre-programmed floodlights had been switched off. This remarkable X-shape structure works as a perfect foil for skyline shots in this part of Melbourne. And the floodlights rotate between three colours - red, amber and pink.

What I wanted was a combination of clear azure sky and amber floodlights. Sounds easy? Believe me, it took me a lot of patience and then it all fell into place. I rocked up about ten minutes early and kept my fingers crossed that the floodlights would not go off while I waited for the sky to take on the exact hue that I wanted.

The image has not been enhanced in any way and if you want the technical details, I shot this with a Pentax K100D, shutter speed 0.5, F4.5, ISO speed 800.