Assignment 7: Night and Color

Nicolas Mathis

I took this picture in the small park after the Hanna House on the way to the Dish from Stanford. I was looking for a place with trees and no artificial light. I wanted to capture the motion of the stars through the branches but when I arrived there many clouds were covering the sky. At first I wanted to set a 8 min exposure but with the clouds I limited it to 4min. To estimate the correct aperture with ISO 100, I first boosted the ISO up to 1600 and used the widest aperture available on my wide angle.

Then I did the math so the picture would be well exposed at ISO 100 with an exposure of 4min. To be sure that no parasite lights (from cars passing) went through the lens, I oriented the camera up to the sky. In the end I like the result. I was lucky, the clouds were moving along the diagonal of the frame that adds dynamism to the composition. The reddish hue comes from the light of Stanford and contrasts well with the cold blue of the top. No post processing were made.

This picture meets requirement #1.