173. Rim Light - October 2-8, 2016
Kevin-
Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin Jr. was of course the second man to set foot on the moon. Buzz tried repeatedly to be the first man, even lobbying Neil Armstrong during the Apollo 11 flight that as the mission Commander Neil should order Buzz onto the lunar surface first, in case of any unexpected dangers, before finally following Buzz down the ladder of the Lunar Module. Neil intelligently told Buzz that they would stick with the mission as originally planned, and that was that.
Of course Neil is gone now. But Buzz Aldrin (age 86) is still alive, as is Apollo 11 Command Module pilot Michael Collins (age 85). So as part of a new Old Guy’s in Space program NASA decided to dust off some almost 50 year old hardware to allow Buzz to return to the moon, and to allow Michael Collins to actually set foot on the moon (rather than having to orbit again from 60 miles above as he did during the first moon landing on July 20, 1969). So who piloted the Command Module? James A. Lovell, Jr (age 88), who commanded the catastrophic Apollo 13 mission in which the astronauts were rescued from near fatal disaster. I guess that NASA figured that at least Lovell would get to make several orbits of the moon, rather than just viewing it out the window of the Lunar Module life-raft as Apollo 13 made it’s single lunar pass.
Three guys, all in their 80’s, living one last mission of a lifetime! And not as crazy as it might sound, after all Senator John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth also flew on the Space Shuttle (STS-95) at age 77.
The decision was made to set the Lunar Module down just at the very edge of the sunlight shining on the moon. So Rim Light was definitely the result. One singe light source, the sun, 92 million miles away.
Okay, back to reality. The Buzz Aldrin character is 1/6th scale, was made by Dragon Models and has been on display on a shelf above my dresser for years.
Nikon D4s, on a Manfrotto 055CXPRO4 tripod with a Acratech GP ballhead, 70-200mm f/2.8 Nikkor zoom lens set to 165mm, ISO 320, f/11 @ 1/250th of a second (flash sync). A single studio flash provided the "rim light" from the sun.
Actually finding an photo of the earth with the sunlight coming from this direction to Photoshop onto the image was one of the most difficult parts of creating this.
And of course after capture I needed to crop the photo to a square, as all of the moonwalk images were shot with the lunar Hasselblad cameras in the 6cm x 6cm format.
I can’t help but note that one of the truly memorable experiences in my life was attended the airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 1994, 25 years after Apollo 11 flew to the moon. There I stood and listened to Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins speaking from a stage about the Apollo 11 mission, and as they departed I was able to shake each of their hands!
Enjoy the moonwalk Buzz!
Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin Jr. was of course the second man to set foot on the moon. Buzz tried repeatedly to be the first man, even lobbying Neil Armstrong during the Apollo 11 flight that as the mission Commander Neil should order Buzz onto the lunar surface first, in case of any unexpected dangers, before finally following Buzz down the ladder of the Lunar Module. Neil intelligently told Buzz that they would stick with the mission as originally planned, and that was that.
Of course Neil is gone now. But Buzz Aldrin (age 86) is still alive, as is Apollo 11 Command Module pilot Michael Collins (age 85). So as part of a new Old Guy’s in Space program NASA decided to dust off some almost 50 year old hardware to allow Buzz to return to the moon, and to allow Michael Collins to actually set foot on the moon (rather than having to orbit again from 60 miles above as he did during the first moon landing on July 20, 1969). So who piloted the Command Module? James A. Lovell, Jr (age 88), who commanded the catastrophic Apollo 13 mission in which the astronauts were rescued from near fatal disaster. I guess that NASA figured that at least Lovell would get to make several orbits of the moon, rather than just viewing it out the window of the Lunar Module life-raft as Apollo 13 made it’s single lunar pass.
Three guys, all in their 80’s, living one last mission of a lifetime! And not as crazy as it might sound, after all Senator John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth also flew on the Space Shuttle (STS-95) at age 77.
The decision was made to set the Lunar Module down just at the very edge of the sunlight shining on the moon. So Rim Light was definitely the result. One singe light source, the sun, 92 million miles away.
Okay, back to reality. The Buzz Aldrin character is 1/6th scale, was made by Dragon Models and has been on display on a shelf above my dresser for years.
Nikon D4s, on a Manfrotto 055CXPRO4 tripod with a Acratech GP ballhead, 70-200mm f/2.8 Nikkor zoom lens set to 165mm, ISO 320, f/11 @ 1/250th of a second (flash sync). A single studio flash provided the "rim light" from the sun.
Actually finding an photo of the earth with the sunlight coming from this direction to Photoshop onto the image was one of the most difficult parts of creating this.
And of course after capture I needed to crop the photo to a square, as all of the moonwalk images were shot with the lunar Hasselblad cameras in the 6cm x 6cm format.
I can’t help but note that one of the truly memorable experiences in my life was attended the airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 1994, 25 years after Apollo 11 flew to the moon. There I stood and listened to Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins speaking from a stage about the Apollo 11 mission, and as they departed I was able to shake each of their hands!
Enjoy the moonwalk Buzz!
Paul-
How's that old photography joke go?
Q: What’s the best camera? A: The one you have with you at the moment. Or something like that. This submission was captured with a cellphone, so that was the best camera I had at the time.
Last Sunday I was out taking a long bike ride—not one of an epic Deron-length rides, of course—but a goodly number of miles. I happened to pedal by what is arguably one of the ugliest fountains in the Lincoln. It’s a hulking, blocky, pitted concrete affair that looks less like it was designed to express an artistic vision and more like it was design to withstand an sustained aerial bombardment by the Russians. Ironically, the fountain is situated right across the street from the “Sunken Gardens”—whose praise I was singing last week when the theme was Reflection on Water.
I stopped to rest in the shade of one of the wet concrete slabs. It was just after noon and I suddenly realized I had chanced upon kind of a 2001: A Space Odyssey moment. You know…the scene where the African sun is beginning to crest the ebon top of the first alien monolith? Yeah, that one. I’m not suggesting this was the scene I was trying to capture. (Though I did have an inexplicable urge to hit something with a big bone little later.)
Anyway, I hoped it would qualify as rim lighting.
To be honest, I took the time to read a few definitions of “back lighting” versus “rim lighting” and I suppose you could make a reasoned argument that this falls into the former category. Maybe it’s the latter. I’ll defer to those of you who are more practiced at this kind of thing than I am.
The backstory…: Again, I took this picture with my cell phone so the meta-data is a little sparse: 12:45PM; ISO 160; 1/4800 sec. at f/2.4; manually control of the exposure compensation.
How's that old photography joke go?
Q: What’s the best camera? A: The one you have with you at the moment. Or something like that. This submission was captured with a cellphone, so that was the best camera I had at the time.
Last Sunday I was out taking a long bike ride—not one of an epic Deron-length rides, of course—but a goodly number of miles. I happened to pedal by what is arguably one of the ugliest fountains in the Lincoln. It’s a hulking, blocky, pitted concrete affair that looks less like it was designed to express an artistic vision and more like it was design to withstand an sustained aerial bombardment by the Russians. Ironically, the fountain is situated right across the street from the “Sunken Gardens”—whose praise I was singing last week when the theme was Reflection on Water.
I stopped to rest in the shade of one of the wet concrete slabs. It was just after noon and I suddenly realized I had chanced upon kind of a 2001: A Space Odyssey moment. You know…the scene where the African sun is beginning to crest the ebon top of the first alien monolith? Yeah, that one. I’m not suggesting this was the scene I was trying to capture. (Though I did have an inexplicable urge to hit something with a big bone little later.)
Anyway, I hoped it would qualify as rim lighting.
To be honest, I took the time to read a few definitions of “back lighting” versus “rim lighting” and I suppose you could make a reasoned argument that this falls into the former category. Maybe it’s the latter. I’ll defer to those of you who are more practiced at this kind of thing than I am.
The backstory…: Again, I took this picture with my cell phone so the meta-data is a little sparse: 12:45PM; ISO 160; 1/4800 sec. at f/2.4; manually control of the exposure compensation.
Jerry-
I used a little trinket that a Catholic organization sent me a few years back, I suppose they thought it might get a donation of some sort. Catholics sure have the funkiest religious stuff, I'm not sure how I got on this particular group's mailing list.
So I used some of my thrift store junk (a 500 watt movie light and a soldering jig with clips) to make the photo happen. The camera did not come from the thrift store - it was the Sony A6300 with the 55 micro nikkor. Exposure was 1/10 @ f16, ISO 100. Tripod was used again to eliminate my caffeine shake.
I used a little trinket that a Catholic organization sent me a few years back, I suppose they thought it might get a donation of some sort. Catholics sure have the funkiest religious stuff, I'm not sure how I got on this particular group's mailing list.
So I used some of my thrift store junk (a 500 watt movie light and a soldering jig with clips) to make the photo happen. The camera did not come from the thrift store - it was the Sony A6300 with the 55 micro nikkor. Exposure was 1/10 @ f16, ISO 100. Tripod was used again to eliminate my caffeine shake.
Don-
My intention for rim-light was to photograph a
model that our photography class was shooting on
Thursday. I took a couple of photos outside just
goofing before the studio. Well the studio became so
crowded I did not bother.
Before I had left for class I was checking the camera
and took this picture and it is my submission for rim-light
Focal was 70mm using a 24-70mm lens
Exposure 1/200th second; f/8; ISO 100; camera in manual, pattern metering and on camera flash used.
I almost always set the camera on aperture priority with auto ISO now with the highest ISO set to 3200.
My intention for rim-light was to photograph a
model that our photography class was shooting on
Thursday. I took a couple of photos outside just
goofing before the studio. Well the studio became so
crowded I did not bother.
Before I had left for class I was checking the camera
and took this picture and it is my submission for rim-light
Focal was 70mm using a 24-70mm lens
Exposure 1/200th second; f/8; ISO 100; camera in manual, pattern metering and on camera flash used.
I almost always set the camera on aperture priority with auto ISO now with the highest ISO set to 3200.
Byron-
It's hard for me to resist photographing objects that have interesting light hitting them. This optimistic plant was protruding from the rest of it's brethren and trying to catch some extra sunlight. I shot it with a wide aperture to separate it from the background.
ISO 100, 1/4000 sec, f2, sunlight white balance.
It's hard for me to resist photographing objects that have interesting light hitting them. This optimistic plant was protruding from the rest of it's brethren and trying to catch some extra sunlight. I shot it with a wide aperture to separate it from the background.
ISO 100, 1/4000 sec, f2, sunlight white balance.
Deron (in an honorary unofficial return) -
Using a 10-second timer, I took this cellphone selfie a couple weeks ago, on a Sunday evening ride in the mountains.
Using a 10-second timer, I took this cellphone selfie a couple weeks ago, on a Sunday evening ride in the mountains.