Tall Ships Festival - 8.28.10 - Post 4 (The Red Witch)

So this was kind of ridiculous and I knew that going in.  Let's think about this:  it's *night* and the ship is *moving* and I want to take pictures.  But I gave it a shot, mostly to see how ridiculous it would end up being.

The Red Witch at Sunset

This is the Red Witch.  I took this shot from the Windy, and it's pretty much the only good shot of or from the ship, since there was still, you know, light.

This ship was much smaller than the Windy and I spent most of my time up on the top of the cabin, under the boom.  (I kept ending up under the boom... I think because a.) I'm short and I could and b.) it was the highest place to sit.

But like I said, it was night and I tried to shoot anyway.

Abstract Chicago

This is what happens when I tried to shoot Chicago.  A fast shutter got me absolutely nothing.  A slow shutter (in this case slow = .8 seconds) got this.  It's interesting in a very Picasso sort of way.

Waiting for the Nightboat

I got a few shots with the flash.  Most of them.. not so great because even with the flash (I only have my built-in) my camera still ran a long
 shutter.  So here's a kind of creepy shot of the sail.






Before I left on the Witch, I shot the fireworks on the north side of the pier.  And when you're on the ground, you can do it properly (I'll have those shots later).  On a tripod, 3-second shutter, 800 ISO, the whole nine yards.  You have no idea how much NONE of that works on a boat.  But I tried a few things and played anyway...

Heart in Motion

 This was a .5 second exposure with an f-stop of 3.5.  I seriously had no idea I could go down to a 3.5 with my kit.  Anyway, in just the half second, you can see how the boat jerked down and then back up.  But the heart shape is still cute.

Fireworks: Sun and Star

This isn't bad for a .8 second exposure on a moving ship.  What I find really cool about this one is that the yellow disk at the top was clearly moving slower than the bright blue in the middle.  You can see the ship's movement in the yellow one but the trails of the blue one went fast enough to be straight.

Shake, Rattle and Boom

Another .8 second exposure.  Look how different this came out.  It's almost like light painting with a long exposure.

Directing Traffic on Lake Michigan

This was done faster - a 1/8 exposure as you can tell by the little dots at the top.  The best thing about this shot, IMHO, is the 'traffic light' in the water.

Red Sky at Night, Sailor's Delight

Same exposure, similar effect on the water, different colors.

Eye Heart Chicago

Okay, I admit, I like this one because of the shapes in the sky.  The heart is obvious, but the left hand one seems to be a giant eye in the sky looking down on the shells being launched.

Once we got out there, I noticed I could see something I hadn't seen from Chicago... I don't think ever.  Stars.  Chicago is just too bright, even on the clearest nights.  I asked how far out we were and the crewman said about two miles.

The moon was gorgeous and there was this intensely bright light next to it.  We happened to have astronomer on board who told us it was Jupiter.

Not Your Typical Journey  Across the Night Sky

Couldn't shoot them though.  Obviously the bright scribble is the moon.  The lighter scribble, right of the moon, is Jupiter.  Again with the Picasso-esque art. :)  This bizarreness brought to you by a ten second exposure on a ship (obviously) moving from right to left..








Okay, on to the ships that were there for boarding (but didn't sail) in the next set of posts.