Some pictures looking north (that’s where the Sun is)…
August 3rd, 2009 Posted in AntarcticaI think a lot has happened here this week although, when I try and put my finger on exactly what has been achieved, details escape me. Certainly a lot has happened this weekend including some artistic carpentry, some learning of new tunes on the guitar and some watching of Das Boot (Director’s Cut) and the underrated classic Donnie Brasco. Instead of boring you with the minutiae of base life I shall simply show you pictures of the amazing phenomena the Sun has treated us to since her return…
Here we have a sun pillar which is not simply camera flare but appears here pretty much as I saw it as I left the boatshed after tending to a troublesome boat radio. The sight was jaw-dropping enough for me to return to the boatshed, raise the boatman and then put out an ‘all-stations’ radio call so that all of the other base members could take photos.
The sun pillar receded quite quickly and by the time I reached my DSLR it was gone. There was however a very clear sun dog in view to the right of the sun which lasted long enough for many pictures to be taken. Since the return of the Sun, most of us are surprised at just how much we’ve missed it and the contrast it provides.
Since it was such a glorious day with very little wind (and nearly lunchtime), Shaun and I got the deckchairs out and proceeded to soak up the rays on on the beach, despite the temperature edging towards -20°C.
Finally, an example of one of the wonderful scenes across North Cove this week. This was Monday morning, around smoko time and was my first proper experiment with HDR Imaging and the use of Photomatix Pro which seems to create most of the exciting HDR images I see.
So, four views looking north, three of which are essentially the same scene at different times (you should be able to match the bits of ice on the shore in the last three photos). That’s kind of what life is like here, new and exciting things often happen in what is essentially the same scene every day.
7 Responses to “Some pictures looking north (that’s where the Sun is)…”
By Dad on Aug 3, 2009
Whoever said “What on earth will they do with a deck chair down in Antarctica!” - Ideal for taking in the rays.
I suppose the music of the day should be the Beatles “Here comes the sun”.
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By Mum on Aug 3, 2009
Awesome!
I am having breakfast on Amanda’s balcony overlooking the River Medway in Kent.
We are cat sitting Gin and Tonic for the week. They are delightful.
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By Mat on Aug 3, 2009
All you need to make the picture complete would be a snowcastle. Come to think of, you’ve been down there all this time, with more snow than most of us have ever seen (and will ever see), and we havent had any photos of snowmen!
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By Mum on Aug 3, 2009
Yes, a good point, Matt.
Don’t you remember that Class 4 wanted you all to have a snowman building competition & they would be the judges?
Karen said you were too busy at the time but maybe later….
I like the snow castles idea though!
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By Emma & Dan on Aug 6, 2009
Wowie… amazing pictures. Reminds me of Narnia. Loving the deck chairs, surprise you didn’t get frostbite though!!
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By Craig on Aug 7, 2009
pix are amazing, so much detail even looking into the sun pillar.
what do I do wrong even the dawn shot would have come out black except for the sky.
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Andy Reply:
August 8th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
Ah yes, shooting into the Sun is rather tricky, depending on where you point the camera your exposure can get thrown off. Have a read on the web about exposure compensation. The dawn shot is the hardest of the lot because there’s so much difference in brightness level between what was a very dim foreground and the bright sky. That’s what this High Dynamic Range technique is all about… have a look at http://www.vanilladays.com/hdr_tutorial/ for that sort of thing.
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