the night of the owls

This is a night shot! 130 sec. exposure time. I took during the recent full-moon night at 11 p.m. Though it was somewhat bright, it was kinda scary to stand there all alone on the field. There was a dead silence except some little owls screeching in the distance. Goosebumps and wide opened eyes guaranteed!!! Hehe! 🙂
But somehow I love that feeling … alone in the dark, blind, helpless, being at the mercy of nature. It shows me how small and weak we are … I just remember last year when I spend a whole night all alone on a mountain in the Black Forest. All alone with the owls circling above my head ….

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24 thoughts on “the night of the owls

  1. romain says:

    yes gorgeous shot… i’ve never tried to shoot at night, the result is really amazing ! and it must be funny to be frightened by the noises of mother nature ! imagine you discovered a wolf on your final picture walking at three or four meters far from you !)

  2. Thomas says:

    Wow, absolutely stunning. You’d never guess this is a night shot.
    What I’m wondering though, how did you keep the camera still for so long? I’ve been out taking some long exposure shots myself and the slightest breeze always seems to cause some form of blurriness in my images (for exposures over 10 seconds mostly). And yes, I’m using a tripod 🙂

  3. Very cool night shot. Before I read the text beneath the photo, I was trying to figure out how in the heck you were able to get a long enough exposure in broad daylight to blur the clouds that much! I was initially thinking f/32 at ISO 50 with about a dozen ND filters stacked on top of each other. I’m glad to see that I wasn’t totally crazy. There must have been zero wind because the trees appear so sharp. Very nice job.

  4. Jan says:

    Matthias, if I look to your exposure bias from the last 30 pictures, I see that with your 350D you had to under expose quite a bit for long exposures while I don’t see this for you 5D. Do you have some explanation for this or is it just the camera difference?

  5. Hi Jan,
    interesting question. I didn’t noticed this at all. I think this has something to do with the difference of the dynamic range both cameras are able to capture. As the 5D has a larger sensor and a higher resolution the dynamic range is larger as well. I noticed this instantly when I got the camera. With the 5D highlights do not burn out so fast as with the 350D. Maybe that’s the reason why I always had to under expose with the 350D. Also I’m using manual mode every frequently with the 5D.
    Thanks for your thoughts. Maybe I should take some shots of one particular scene with both cameras.

  6. jyoseph says:

    One of the top photos i’ve seen in quite awhile. The fact that this is a night shot blows my mind. Wow.

  7. Karina Lizcano says:

    Hi! It is an amazing shot. I have always wanted to take pictures at night, but never tried it. I have a question. How do you know how long do yo have to have the camera “open” to get an image?

  8. Hi Karina,
    I needed 130 seconds for this picture. You can always find information about the exposure time and other camera settings below the description of the photo. There it says: “Exposure Time: 130 sec.”

  9. Sven Schneider says:

    Hättest du nicht geschrieben das es eine Nachtaufnahme ist, ich wäre nicht drauf gekommen. Sieht wirklich gut aus. Schöne Farben, hast du es noch bearbeitet ?

    MfG Sven Schneider

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