Long Exposures from Kilgii Gwaay
I had few opportunities to take long exposures – I never took my tripod to the site so was without it during the day, and too busy in any case to set up a shot like this as they take a bit of time. So, the couple of times I took longer exposures were around sundown, some with the neutral density filter, some without but when light levels were very low. The shot above is from the deck of the cabin showing the moon rising over Rose Harbour. All the other shots are taken from the east side of Ellen Island looking out Houston Stewart Channel to the east, or across it to Moresby Island in the north.
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This link catalogues my posts about volunteering on the Kilgii Gwaay archaeological site project.
I was accompanied on this trip by one of the Quimper Hittys, Tansy, who is blogging about the trip from a doll’s view and you can find those posts here, including long exposure shots at the end of this post, as well as one below.
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Canon 5Dii, Canon 50mm/f1.4 lens, Cameron Fader ND filter varied between about 2 or 3 f-stops to about 7 f-stops of density. All taken at ISO100, exposure varied from 2 to 30 seconds, f-stops between 18 and 22.
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Beautiful. I love how you see reflections. The second, third, and fifth images resonated with me. I love the light on the water.
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Thank you Ryan. Light on water is almost always special, but being equipped to capture it on ‘film’ seems to be a tiny fraction of the opportunities out there.
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Indeed. But, you do it so well.
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Well, thank you!
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Really well done, my friend, top drawer! I particularly love the one taken at a low perspective in b&w, the third picture in this series. Very powerful and dramatic. I really enjoy the effect that long exposure work can bring to a picture, and I really think you’ve done a great job here!
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Hi Toad – thank you. I like that one too. It was interesting lighting, and the long exposure made it more so.
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ehpem….I’ve missed not seeing your photos. I’m not doing well with blog visits! Seeing your beautiful images again makes me wish I hadn’t missed any. I love every one of these. I’m enchanted with the soft water/sky shots at dusk. But they’re all great. The B&W’s are fantastic too! Thanks for a great post!
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Hi Judy, It’s nice to have you visit whenever you can. I have the same problem, I go for many days without enough time to browse other blogs. I am glad you like these views. It would have been nice to be able to do more long exposures, but I really was not starved for good picture taking opportunities, so I am not complaining!
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Beautiful series, I really love the first and fourth one’s.
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Thanks! The view of those small islets was hard to get right – I never really got the exposure I was looking for, and the light kept on changing. Somehow the distant island in the middle was sometimes lit which those nearer were not (as in the b&w version) and I would have liked to get a really good shot of that as it is a bit of a strange effect.
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Totally agree!
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Thanks Katherine – nice to see you “up and about” in the blogosphere these days.
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Gorgeous. I am especially fond of 4077.
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Hi Karen – thank you. I really like that one too, the round boulders and smooth water. One story that beach has to tell. But, those boulders are all round like that for a reason – this beach faces the opening to Hecate Strait and gets some very heavy weather and swell. It would be neat to see it in a storm.
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The mystical sense of timelessness that some long exposures produce definitely shows in your photos here. This is a beautiful portrayal of that aspect of Canada’s west coast.
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Thank you so much Joseph. That sense of timelessness is very much present in these remote places. I’m glad that you have found a bit of it in my pictures 🙂
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Nice series. I’m glad you had the time and opportunity to get some creative scenic shots in addition to all the others. They look pretty sharp for no tripod available. You must have a steady hand.
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Hi Ken. Sorry, I was not clear. I did have a tripod but I did not take it to the site from the cabin during work time – there seemed no point and it would have been one more awkward thing to deal with in the boat every day, or when we were hiking over to the site it would have been even worse. I am not totally sure why I brought it with me, except I did want to try some shots like these up there. Opportunities were few for these kinds of creative shots.
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And, wouldn’t it be nice to have a hand half that steady?!
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Beautiful!
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Thank you David and welcome to my blog. Hope to see you come by again.
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Gorgeous pics!
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Hi Daniel – welcome to my blog and thanks for your comment. I just found it in my spam folder, for some unknown reason.
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