Ewen Bell 📸Dec 22
Gonna be seeing a lot of this mountain for the next couple of months. Today the pink skies turned up to welcome the winter solstice.

#Norway #Photography #Lumix #EwenInNorway
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 22
For those who care about such details, this was captured with about 400mm of telephoto with the Lumix 100-500 F4.5-7.1. Was about 1/200th at F8 and ISO 2500. A touch of editing in Capture One. Not much required, just lift the white point a little to give a bit of pop and in my case I lift the blacks as well to make the dark edges a little softer. I like the softness.

https://social.ewenbell.com/notice/B1VXRsZvO41mQe2IbI
Ewen Bell 📸 (@[email protected])

Gonna be seeing a lot of this mountain for the next couple of months. Today the pink skies turned up to welcome the winter solstice. #Norway #Photography #Lumix

Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 22
And here's the bigger scene to show you where we are. This taken at 28mm, revealing the closer shoreline (and a hint of the salmon factory), and Grovfjord in the distance. That dance of light low on the horizon was a treat today.

I always expect these colours to disappear within a few minutes, but we're in the Arctic and these hues seem to hold for hours. This scene is around 11am, and was still holding at 1pm, although the low clouds had washed over the fjord at Grov and hidden some of the peaks.

#Photography #Norway #Lumix #EwenInNorway
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 22
Very early this morning, at around 5am, I was awake to see clear skies above and the very tail end of last night's auroras. Popped out to grab a few shots on the new 14mm F2.8, then headed back to bed for a sleep in :)

#Norway #Photography #Lumix #Auroras
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 23
Got a chance to experiment a little with the 11mm fisheye last night before dinner. Might take a while to get my head around the fisheye effect, and whether this lens will suit my creative bent.

#Norway #Photography #Lumix #Auroras #11mmFishEye
Show threadEwen Bell 📸
One of the challenges for me when shooting auroras is to capture a sense of the scale. The wider the lens, the more you diminish the events in the sky. The narrower the lens, the less of the action you get in the frame.

And then there's a question of how close you push elements of the scene into the foreground. The lens choice also plays with the perspective. Am sure a few of the more dedicated landscape photographers here can attest to the tendency for ultra wide lenses to make an otherwise magnificent mountain range look small and trivial.

Would love to see what other folks here are doing with the fish-eye perspective. How to lean into it, versus trying to subdue it.

#Norway #Photography #Lumix #Auroras #11mmFishEye
Dec 23 at 5:52amWeb
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 24
Went out to dinner last night for a Christmas celebration with friends. Then things kind of escalated. From now on when we talk about the "Christmas Lights" this is what we're really hoping for :)

PSA, always have your camera gear in the car when you drive to a friends place in the north!

#Norway #Photography #Lumix #Auroras #14mm #EwenInNorway
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 24
Adding this little video to my thread. It's not a great video, captured as an after thought. But does show two things...

https://vimeo.com/1149188863/513d029b1e

Firstly, the speed of an active aurora in real time. You see ripples moving across the sky in this footage, and the colour shifts. Some auroras barely move at all, others on this night were racing much faster still. They vary a lot. But hopefully this footage conveys the dynamic nature of auroras.

The other thing this footage demonstrates is the different between still photos and video. A 4sec exposure for the stills, versus 1/25th of second for video. This was shot on a Lumix S9 with an F2.8 lens and ISO 128000. A faster lens would help, not to mention waiting for a moonlit aurora event :)

#Norway #Photography #Lumix #Auroras #14mm
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 24
Got a wonderful opportunity to shoot with the 11mm Fisheye last night. Still not sure this is the lens for me, but definitely can see the value of such a wide perspective on such a big night of auroras.

Here's a little sequence from a timelapse series below. If you want to watch the video, there's a copy of that now posted on my tubes:

YouTube
https://youtube.com/shorts/pm4kH_HWC3A

PeerTube
https://makertube.net/w/74S64nV1htmsVRU6kF14h2

This lens by the way is an 11mm Fisheye F2.8 by TT Artisan. It's noticeably darker than their 14mm F2.8, and even though it's very very small it's noticeably heavier too. These are very affordable lenses and offer a decent ratio of fun:spend :)

#Norway #Photography #Lumix #Auroras #11mm #EwenInNorway
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 24
Today is a good day for me to remember all the folks who have shined a light into my life. You all make this world a little bit better.

#Norway #Photography #ShineALight #EwenInNorway
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 25
Special stratospheric clouds today. It's nearly midday on Dec 25 and there's no sun here for another few weeks, but we do get these funky clouds that are very high up in the atmosphere which catch the sun from over the horizon.

They often turn a rainbow of pearlescent colours, but mostly today they've been leaning into the Trans colours... because Trans rights are human rights :)

#Norway #Photography #Lumix #Nacreous #PolarStratosphericCloud
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 25
Lots of gaps in the clouds today, but not a great forecast tonight. We have a little rain shadow behind the house here, which often gives us clear skies when the wet weather from the south-west is headed our way. But that won't happen tonight.

So we might catch up on sleep for a few nights most likely instead :)
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 25
Adding this to my thread of Norway moments this week, because I just love the atmospheric dance of light in this corner of the fjord. It feels like the entire solar system has jumped in to make a composition for me. So dynamic. So ephemeral. So lucky to be standing here.

This was taken two nights ago, before the rain set in :)

#Norway #Photography #Lumix #Auroras #14mm #EwenInNorway
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 25
Sometimes I remember to point the lens directly overhead during an aurora event. It's often hard to find a spot without trees or a cabin overhanging the frame. It's a surreal perspective without any reference in the frame, but I still like having a few of these in a collection. I love the depth of structure that emerges during these dances of light. The red hues on the edges of fast moving filaments, the bright cores, and the ripples that reach out to the horizon.

#Norway #Photography #Lumix #Auroras #14mm #EwenInNorway
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 26
Having a few people over for Boxing Day. Shellie is baking cakes and cookies. I fixed the coffee machine enough to deliver espresso. The daylight up here is bright enough to almost look like dawn, at midday :)

#Norway #Photography #Lumix #EwenInNorway
Show threadMike HindleDec 26
@ewen Enjoy, Ewen and lovely photo 🤩
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 26
@mikehindleuk

🤍
Show threadHealth Is WealthDec 26
@ewen Stunning!!
Show threadz3zDec 26
@ewen This is beautiful!
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 26
@z3z

🤍
Show threadbook_dragonDec 26
@ewen It could be a soft-focus leaf, a windblown veil, the wing of some ghostly bird. A lyrical shape, inviting touch, sleek like jade. The lack of reference lets words flow at it, encouraging the imagination.
Show threadshomDec 26
@ewen coming back to this image again today and it's just stunning. The more I look at it, the more it feels like a wind swept mountain peak as the clouds create a jet blowing off the top. Gorgeous!
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 26
@shom

🤍
Show threadJamesDec 25
@ewen Rainbow clouds 🤩🤩
Show threadEl Perro NegroDec 25
@ewen wonderful!
Show threadAnna Spanner 👩‍🏫🇪🇺🧪Dec 25
@ewen WOW! These are stunning!
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 25
@Annaspanner

Merry Christmas Anna :)
Show threadAnna Spanner 👩‍🏫🇪🇺🧪Dec 25
@ewen To you and Shellie too! Have a super day!
Show threadStephen ShanklandDec 24
@ewen Very illuminating, in more ways than one. Thanks. Been wanting to see an aurora for ages but it's just hard to get to the right place at the right time.
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 24
@stshank

Location, location, location!
Show threadNicolas HoizeyDec 24
@ewen Vimeo now wants to check my age, using a selfie and my ID paper. No thanks. 😕
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 24
@nhoizey

Awwww that's no good. I can't load videos to my self-hosted server, they don't play for some reason.
Show threadNicolas HoizeyDec 24

@ewen no problem, you can keep it for a later video on your PeerTube… 😉

Enjoy the auroras, and Happy Holidays!

Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 24
@nhoizey

It's just a little throw away video, not worth posting on a channel. Norway doesn't seem to throw up any ID requirements for Vimeo. I guess this is the world we're living in now.
Show threadNicolas HoizeyDec 24
@ewen oh, I've been able to see the video on my phone without login into Vimeo, I guess my laptop is cursed… 😅
Show threadJamesDec 24
@ewen Woooow 🤩🤩🤩
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 24
@DrJLecter

We could not friggin believe it. Stood and watched for an hour and then went home for glüg and cake.
Show threadJamesDec 24
@ewen That sounds like sn absolut perfect dream-like ending to a wonderful evening 😍
Show threadGregDec 24
@ewen Beautiful!
Show threadFranz GrafDec 25
@ewen wow!
Show threadJohn RobinsonDec 25
@ewen Just wow!
Show threadBob HorowitzDec 23

@ewen Can't help you with wide-ange fisheye for landscapes and sky... but I've used an 11mm fisheye (16mm equivalent on a full frame) on a freeway shoulder. The reason: to bend what would otherwise be boring straight lines and make the result more interesting.

The fisheye's swoopy effect was most obvious in the foreground and seemed to fade out as distance increased. So it was all about bending close objects.

In your scenario, I imagine the coolness would apply similarly - say from bending nearby trees and buildings.

Add: I enjoyed shooting with the fisheye most when I wasn't taking more obvious, symmetric, snout-on compositions. That's just me, I think.

And yes, as you said, with all wide angles, objects in the distance are rendered even more distant. For an aurora, that's not so bad since it's sky-filling. But a distant mountain or structure... ooof.

Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 23
@BobHorowitz

That's a cool effect Bob! Adding a little swoop where there was no swoop :) Works nicely with the car lights. Something for me to think about.
Show threadBob HorowitzDec 23

@ewen
I should also have mentioned that photographing people with a fisheye can be problematic.

With ultrawides in general, when people are placed near the edge of the frame, you get a taffy effect. With fisheyes, it's not just the edge: the center of the frame is also a problem.

You know how they say a camera adds 10 pounds to a person? A fisheye adds 150. Portraiture requires consent.

Show threadMidgePhotoDec 23

@BobHorowitz @ewen

Most of it is correctable back to rectilinear in post, I think.
The percentage closerness of the tip of the nose not so much.

Takes an environmental portrait to an extreme though.

#photography #optics #nose

Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 23
@Photo55 @BobHorowitz

I had a dabble with correcting my 11mm and in the end I just lose so much of the image that I might as well just shoot 14mm anyway!
Show threadBob HorowitzDec 23

@ewen
That has been my experience too, Ewen. The stretching for the correction pushes the edges of the photo off the canvas.

I haven't experimented with enlarging the canvas before the lens correction but I suspect it will not help.

I also wonder whether the stretching involves "inventing" pixels - much like any transformation - and that, at the pixel peeping level, is noticable.

@Photo55

Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 23
@BobHorowitz

I'm just spoiled with my ultra-wide lenses. Loving the TT Artisan 14mm F2.8 for just $200. I was out shooting tonight and we scored a massive aurora event that dazzled us. Even shot some video, it's rippling so fast. Was very glad to have wider than 14mm for that hour or so. Will post a timelapse tomorrow while we're watching the rain arrive up here :)

@Photo55
Show threadMidgePhotoDec 23

@BobHorowitz @ewen
The image is round, I think.
How much falls off the edges of the sensor is one thing.
Correcting it to rectilinear straightens lines, but doesn't supply missing edges.

I find mine difficult to use.

Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 23
@BobHorowitz

I added 150lbs in chocolate this week too.
Show threadChrisRDec 23
@ewen The fish-eye has worked really well with those aurora photos, specially the last one, devoid of context. I've yet to use one so have no practical advice to offer!
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 23
@carusb

Plot twist – I marked on the photos but not the main post... but the last of those three is actually 14mm, to compare the same scene against the 11mm.
Show threadChrisRDec 23
@ewen I suspect it was the lack of a confusing curved ground reference that I liked!
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 23
@carusb

:)
Show threadScottDec 23
@ewen I am a big fan of using longer lenses for astrophotography, combined with distance to incorporate more landscape without diminishing the elements of the sky. Not a fan of wide angle Astro (also I recognize that a matter of taste). This was with a 35mm
Show threadEwen Bell 📸Dec 23
@Scott

That's a marvellous shot!

I don't consider auroras as "astrophotography" myself. Just a fascinating subject to chase in the night :) They span from one horizon the other on a good night, so wide is essential. I just got back from dinner with friends and we took a break between dinner and glüg to step outside and shot auroras and it was one of the best I've seen in a few years... and they were dancing in every direction and was very happy to have 11mm this evening!
Show threadScottDec 24
@ewen yeah, if I ever get another chance to shoot aurora I will probably have a different opinion