When Time is Short

As we live in a valley that goes from SE to NW we don’t often get to see sunsets. For that I have to drive up top in the hope of catching one; often there isn’t or I’m to late.

So last Tuesday I decided to drive the extra miles west to have a clear view of the impeding sunset. Now have you ever noticed how things start to go wrong when you know you have about 5 minutes to take a shot:

I arrived with the sun just caressing the horizon but still had about 1 km to walk over ploughed fields before I had a decent view. Halfway there I realise that the dog, Poppy thought every blade of grass smelt like doggy Channel No5 and was still near the car. I don’t know what purple faced monster she thought owned her, but it worked and she finally followed me.

1/2 of the sun was now showing on the horizon.

I finally get to where I think a good photograph could be had, only to discover that there was a dirty, stinking factory in the distance spoiling the view. I had to find somewhere else.

A 1/4 of the sun now showing on the horizon.

Eventually, I find the a decent spot with the added bonus of a prop; a cob of corn. I set the tripod up and get the camera out. The god-damn zip has stuck, not just stuck, it’s gobbled half the bag up. Finally, I get the camera out; it’s the wrong lens….or is it…yes it is. Change lenses, I can’t marry-up the lens with the camera “damn you Sigma, damn you, make the friggin white spot bigger next time”. Eventually, the camera is on the tripod with lens and I’m ready to take the shot.

1/8th of the sun is now showing on the horizon.

SNAP! Look in the display, too dark. SNAP! look in the display , to light. The only option is to bracket the shots for HDR. So I now have to change all the settings on the camera – which I have to say are pretty easy on the Nikon, but is still consuming precious time.

1/16th of the sun now showing on the horizon.

So I’m all set up, horizon straight, EV set at .7 etc and I’ve set the interval time to 2 seconds. I hit enter and 2 seconds later the camera starts blasting away. It’s about halfway through the sequence when the bloody dog decided she wants my corn and walks right into the shot.The purple faced monster returns.

A 1/32th of the sun now showing on the horizon.

The corn now replaced and the dog sulking behind me, I set the timer again only to see a couple in day-glow neon friggin green vests appear from the trees on the right and proceed to walk across the horizon to the trees on the left. Did they improve the shot? NO! In HDR they looked like aliens from the planet ZOG. It is at times like this that I often think a long range sniper rifle would be a good accessory to have in one’s bag.

1/64th of the sun now showing on the horizon.

The aliens now out of shot and the dog winging behind me; I’m ready to take the shot, AGAIN. Nothing happens. Try again; nothing, diddily squat, zilch….the bloody cheap after market piece off crap Chinese Ebay special worthless junk battery was dead. Now I have to get the camera off the tripod, carefully this time unzip the bag and get the spare battery out. This, of course, means that I have to set the camera/tripod up again and recompose the shot.

NO SUN ON THE HORIZON.

Anyway, as it turns out the shots without the sun look better than with. And the moral of the story: leave the dog in the car; get a sniper rifle and DON’T PANIC!

~ by ducatirider on October 19, 2007.