Wave-Particle Duality
After dark I decided to try my first ever night photography in the snow. The snow was just barely coming down. I was trying to set my camera to take multiple shots with different exposure lengths. The above and bottom photos are the results of one of those attempts–two identical photos taken in immediate succession. My settings were incorrect so both actually fired with the shutter open for 15 seconds each (I think, the bottom photo looks like it got a couple extra seconds but I’m not sure if that is really the case).
What happened in the above photo to render the wavy line of light that didn’t show up on the photograph below? I don’t know for sure.
My guess is that a snowflake wandered through the viewing area in the top photograph. That doesn’t explain why it begins at the light source though. Perhaps the wandering flake just happened to be in that position when the shutter initially opened. Or maybe the snowflake came off the tree and not the light. I don’t know. The light doesn’t really look like what I’d expect a snowflake to look like should one have stopped by to have its picture taken. Let me know if you have any theories.
December 16th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I don’t know how you did that, but it looks really cool.
December 16th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
I think you may have found the portal to the spiritual world.
December 17th, 2008 at 2:21 am
Al, I think you got a great photo. I’ve never tried this, but you have inspired me to do it.
December 18th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
i don’t have an explanation or even an interesting theory to offer, but to me it looks like a lit fuse. i imagine that the spark is about to zip along that string and cause some beautiful explosion somewhere outside the frame of the photo.
nice shots. just got a tripod myself & might try some nocturnal experiments, too.
December 20th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
No theories, but I’m enjoying this post and your other recent ones, too.
September 3rd, 2011 at 1:35 pm
As you took your camera off the tripod(or flat surface)wich was required to obtain a crisp clear picture during a long exposure shot,you mooved your camera slightly downward and then to the right at the very end of the exposure wich created this long streak of light.Same thing happens when you photograph a passing car in a long exposure/low light/small apperture setting.Nice work