O.T. - I need your online votes please.

Hey fellas,

First of all, I want to make sure it's ok to post this message and the accompanying request. If admins feel it is inappropriate, then please delete with my applogies.

A local business sponsors a calendar photo contest every year and the public is encouraged to vote on their favorite picture. I finally got around to entering a couple of pictures that I figured were good enough. Here's the one I like the most...

http://www.realnorthcalendar.com/photo.asp?p=6999

If such a request is ok with the forum rules and if you are so inclined, I would really appreciate your support. Just type your email address in the voting box and click on "vote". They allow one vote per email address, so you can vote as many times as you have valid email addresses. You have until September 15th to vote.

The person that submits the picture that gets the most votes (hopefully that's me) will win a Canon Rebel XSi digital camera. As well, those who vote (that's you guys) are eligible to win a Canon Powershot A590 digital camera. I see nothing in the rules that restricts voters to Canada.

FYI...the compressed version you see on the voting page distorts the original picture a lot. Here's the original in my photobucket album. Click the pic for the full res version...



Thanks very much in advance!

What is it a picture of?

Got my vote(s) - nice picture too - I really like it.

It looks like about a 2 hour exposure centered on true north. What are the slight blips within the star trails? Just a compression artifact?

Oh, by the way, I voted for you.

nettogrisen said:

What is it a picture of?

Click to expand...

It is a time lapsed photograph of the northern night sky, about 120 minutes long (How did I arrive at that conclusion?), showing the apparent motion of the stars through the sky as the Earth rotates.


edit: I see Bernie arrived at the same exposure duration I arrived at. Lets see who can explain how we deduced it.

About 30 degrees arc... one twelfth of a rotation.

Yes, it's a 2 hour exposure. I took it during last summer's Perseid meteor shower (Aug 12) hoping to catch some meteor trails. It was a perfect night. No moon and no clouds either.

With the 18 mm lens (approx 90° field of view) I was able to point the lens north, frame up my cottage in the lower left corner and (hopefully) get some meteors coming from the northeast. No such luck. No meteor trails, although we did see a few faint ones while waiting. Had I started around 11:30 I would have caught the ISS passing overhead. Nice pass. It went high overhead from horizon to horizon.

I waited till about 1 am, turned off all the lights at my cottage, walked back to the camera (already set up on a neighbor's dock), opened the shutter and walked back. Sat in the dark for 2 hours, then walked around with my flash to light up my sauna and cottage and lit a small camp fire on the shore. Walked back and closed the shutter. The other lights you see are landscape lights at other cottages. The glow in the center is from a combination of the Milky Way and lights from a nearby village.

Surprisingly it turned out really well for my first try at such a picture. The slight blips in the trails on the voting page are a compression artifact. You don't see them in the high res version (click the pic in my op to see that one)

For you photography geeks...
> ASA 200 film (couldn't find 100)
> Nikon FG body
> 18 mm lens (can't remember the name - cheap japanese ebay special) set 1 stop closed from wide open to compensate for the 200 ASA film (F5.6 if I remember right)
> 2 hour exposure (1 am - 3 am)

Neat effect with the flash. I was wondering why it looked so much brighter there.

2 votes.

Got My vote.

Darned how they can call this any kind of contest. Looks like there are over 2000 entries. Who is going to wade through all that and make any kind of decision on which they like best. I got bored after a few pages.

Good luck!

Ya there are a lot of them isn't there. It's getting more and more popular every year. I think this kind of online vote round up may eventually be the only way to win unless they change something.

I'd like to say thanks to those who've been kind enough to vote. I really appreciate it. Remember you can vote as often as you have email addresses so... PILE ON !!!!

BUMP

A little over one week left to cast your vote. Remember you can vote as often as you have valid email addresses.

For those worried about this being a spammer sight set up to get email addresses, there's nothing to worry about. They're a legitimate regional credit union... https://www.northerncu.com/

Thanks again to all those who have voted so far. It's very much appreciated. Keep 'em comin'

Very Nice picture....but you cant be in canada...dont we all live in igloos or something??????


You got my vote

D

darrenj said:

Very Nice picture....but you cant be in canada...dont we all live in igloos or something??????


You got my vote

D

Click to expand...

I'm hoping to move up to an Igloo someday

You got my 4 votes

controlled said:

I'm hoping to move up to an Igloo someday

Click to expand...

Right, there was forteen of us, livin' in shoe box in middle of road...