Star Trails @ Souter Lighthouse, Marsden

Ey-up!

Another blog entry heading your way. I'm gonna try and keep on top of my blog page as I know just how easily I can be distracted by my ACP Facebook page. Around 18 months ago I finally joined Facebook after steering away from it for so long. It was the commitment to that which was mainly to blame for me taking a back seat with my blog, so I'm gonna try not to let that happen again. It's a bit of a juggling act to say the least, but hopefully I'll get it right this time. I enjoy updating the blog, although sometimes I struggle with the task of not repeating myself. Ah well, I'll plod on and continue with the adventures of a roaming Mackem. Today's update comes in the shape of some recent Astrophotography. What the frig is Astrophotography, I hear you say. Well, let me enlighten you...(cut and pasted from the ver trusty Wikipedia)... 

Astrophotography is a specialized type of photography for recording images of astronomical objects and large areas of the night sky. The first photograph of an astronomical object (the Moon) was taken in 1840, but it was not until the late 19th century that advances in technology allowed for detailed stellar photography. Besides being able to record the details of extended objects such as the Moon, Sun, and planets, astrophotography has the ability to image objects invisible to the human eye such as dim stars, nebulae, and galaxies.

Now we've got that little issue out of the way I'd like to tell you about my recent trip to Souter Lighthouse, near Marsden, which lies along our coastal route between Whitburn and South Shields. I decided on this location to do a star trail sequence as it is an ideal spot with not too much light pollution if you're facing Polaris (the North Star). On this occasion though, I wanted to give Polaris a night off and instead capture the sequence in a westerly facing direction. I was pretty much dictated by the shot I had in mind and the particular direction I would need to face to achieve this. So, I took up position with my back to the North Sea, which included a nice lead in line which was a set of steps. Obviously the lighthouse was to be my focal point and the star trail would finish the shot off. Well, these things always seem to work in theory, but it was now time to put in all into practise. As you can imagine, it was dark by the time I set my gear up and there was no-one else around. I wish I had a quid for every time I looked behind me. Paranoia tends to kick in during situations like this, but you just have to grow a pair and get on with it.

I don't remember off hand how long I ran the sequence for. I remember 30 second continuous exposures clicking away for quite a while, or so it seemed. Looking at the finished shot I was guess I stood there for around twenty minutes or so. More than happy with the result. I've included a colour splash version for good measure.

I still feel very much a novice in this area, although I've done half a dozen star trail sequences during the past year. It's all about how long you can wait it out. The longer the sequence, the better the trails. Hope you like it..

Back soon... Ash

Star Trails - Something a bit different

Hello again!
Following on from my fairly recent Milky Way shots is another insight to my new found interest in Astro Photography. I've captured some recent star trail shots that I'd like to share here on my blog page, including one in particular that couldn't have been captured any closer to home! Contrary to popular belief, it's not always essential to escape the bright light pollution of a built up urban area to achieve half decent results. Of course, a dark clear sky is essential for the most effective star trail shots, but if the conditions are less than favourable, you can still have a dabble to discover what the camera throws back at you. In this blog entry you'll find a set of recent shots (all from 2014) that were shot under a clear dark sky, with millions of stars on show. I've also thrown another shot into the mix that demonstrates what effect you can pull in when clouds unexpectedly appear and blow across the frame. I almost abandoned this particular effort, but decided to roll with it just to see how the resulting image panned out, and even though I couldn't see the stars at one point, because of the clouds, I ran off an extra 40 exposures just for the hell of it.

For anyone reading this, who has no concept of how star trails shots are achieved, the answer is a fairly straightforward one. As we look to the sky above and see the stars, they don't actually appear to be moving, even though they are. The North Star (Polaris) is constantly static, as is the South Star, and other stars rotate around it. So, if I take 50x 25 second exposures, continuously, then stack each shot on top of each other using photo software, each star will have moved slightly in each shot. The software basically tracks the movement of each star, resulting in a light trail effect, which is what you can see here. Obviously, the more shots you take, the bigger and better effect it will have on the end result. The shots shown here were captured over a period of around 60 minutes, apart from the garden shot which was a result of 130 minutes of shooting time. This was the easiest of all my 5 star trails efforts to date, as I simply programmed the camera and went back into the house to watch footy for a couple of hours. After the match I went back out to collect the images. Job done!


1. Angel Of The North (120 x 25 second exposures)
2. Groyne Lighthouse, South Shields (140 x 30 second exposures)
3. Our Back Garden, HLS (325 x 25 second exposures)
4. Souter Lighthouse, Marsden (120 x 30 second exposures)
5. Sycamore Gap, Hadrian's Wall (138 x 30 second exposures)

This type of photography requires at least two characteristics. Patience and perseverance. It's not too bad when you've got company and can have a bit of banter while the camera pulls in the shots. Time passes much quicker this way. When you're out on your own it's a different ball game however, even more so if you're in a very dark area late at night, away from home, and paranoia kicks in when you hear the trees rustling behind you, or an owl screeches over your shoulder and you almost shit yourself! And the one where you see a figure walking towards you in the distance and you wonder whether he's up to no good. You laugh about it afterwards, but it's not so funny at the time. Maybe I just nee to grow a bigger pair of balls, he he. Eeee eh, the things ya dee for a decent photograph!

And on that note I shall depart once again, hopefully returning with more photographs from God's Country. I wonder where I'll end up next time. Probably the coast. I feel another Seascape shot coming on. Hope it's not a false dawn. Ah well, we shall see...

Catch ya later, AC

Floral Dance - Summer 2014

Welcome back to my blog page once again. The juggling act between here, ashleycorr.com and Facebook continues. Blogging occasionally takes a back seat when priorities remain elsewhere, but that isn't to say it will die a slow death in the near future, far from it. My Facebook activity tends be nothing more than a photo upload with an accompanying line or two, which is a world away from the more in-depth write-up that generally appears here, and I don't want to lose sight of that, so blogging will continue and be an active part of my website indefinitely. Which brings me nicely on to todays offering. I've photographed some nice landscape scenes over the last month or so, all very local and with plenty of colour to show, so here is a selection of them, beginning with a rural poppy scene at Foxcover Lane, near Hastings Hill, Sunderland. I noticed some nice broken cloud as I was passing, on the A19, and decided a quick stop off wouldn't do any harm, especially as my camera bag was in the boot of the car.

The next shot (shown here) was taken in the wildlife garden at Souter Lighthouse, a National Trust property that lies on the North-East coast between Whitburn and Marsden. The garden is saturated with a variety of plants and flowers, such as Sunflower, Poppies, Daisies, Firethorn, Foxglove and Lavender. A designated path runs round the entire garden, offering many different angles to shoot from, which is ideal and avoids a free for all when the trampling visitors land. The lighthouse, with its red and white hoops, is an ideal backdrop when photographing the garden, and if you're tall enough you might just fit some North Sea into the frame too. I had the place to myself during my short 30 minute stay, which was also ideal - no waiting around for people to move out of shot. The garden is very well maintained, it has to be said. Across the way, in the vegetable garden, a one armed gardener was getting a right old sweat on, digging away during big temperatures. He seemed to be in his element, with his little radio for company, grafting away and looking far more dedicated than I ever could. Gardening isn't something I'm keen on!

Finally, another floral shot with an ancient backdrop that is Hylton Castle, a landmark that I have visited and photographed many times. Having said that, this is the first time I have seen the floral display that is seen here, and although the light was quite poor on arrival, I managed to get this nice shot during a one minute window when the sun decided to cut through the overcast sky behind me. In fact, the only decent colour in the sky was exactly where I wanted it, behind the castle itself and right in front of my lens. The little fella was sat a few feet away, transfixed on two tiny frogs he'd spotted on the path. That kept him quiet while I ran off a couple of frames, he he. So there ya go, some nice colour in the form of local landscapes. I'll be back soon with one or two recent Black &

White shots, so until then, I'll catch up with ya later. Cheers!
Ash

Dawn Breaks At Marsden

Just 24 hours after my early morning visit to Littlehaven, South Shields, I was photographing another breaking Dawn at Souter Lighthouse, just a mile or so up the road. This coastal location lies within the small town of Marsden and is a National Trust site and I have cut and pasted a brief description of it here...
Souter is a special place all year round and was the first lighthouse in the world designed and built to be powered by electricity. Opened in 1871, decommissioned in 1988, the National Trust acquired it and opened it to the public in 1990. Souter remains an iconic beacon, hooped in red and white and standing proud on the coastline midway between the Tyne and the Wear. The Leas is a two and a half mile stretch of magnesian limestone cliffs, wave-cut foreshore and coastal grassland. The cliffs and rock stacks of Marsden Bay are home to nesting Kittiwakes, Fulmar, Cormorants, Shags and Guillemots.

As is normal, I arrived at Souter with plenty of time to kill before sunrise as there's plenty of colour on show at least an hour before the sun shows, which gives the photographer ample opportunity to grab a few shots from different angles and various positions at the site. I dropped anchor in the empty car park adjacent to Souter Lighthouse and noticed how chilly it was as soon as I got out into the fresh air. I'm no stranger to these conditions though, after many Winter sunrise outings down the years, but I dare say October throws up the'Mildest' weather in comparison to that during the months of November, December and also January and Feb. Again it was double fleece all the way with a body warmer for good measure, plus a pair of Wellies, even though I was above sea level. The Wellies come in handy if Plan B gets the go-ahead, but luckily today my original plan fell into place so I left the Wellies on regardless. I always prepare the night before, making plans around the weather conditions, sunrise times, tide table etc, so should I not gain access to Souter for one reason or another, my Plan B would have taken me to sea level at Marsden Bay, just another short drive up the road. As it was, everything fell into place so my original plan went ahead. As I grabbed my gear from the car I couldn't help but notice the colours on the horizon, which were worthy of a photograph even though there was little or no focal point in the scene, other than a puddle of water and a gate (see photo 1, above). The moon added a little something to the shot, shining quite brightly in the crystal clear sky above. I was off and running.

As the colour diminished it was apparent that Sunrise was drawing nearer. A small bank of cloud sat on the horizon, just behind the Lighthouse, which was where the brightest part of the horizon was - the position where the sun was about to rise. It was obvious to me that I'd have to wait longer to see the sun as it would rise behind the cloud cover, but that wasn't such a bad thing. I had the pace to myself, which is always a good thing, no distractions from other photographers or dog walkers wanting to stop and chat about the current price of bacon. As you may have gathered...I don't like interruptions and prefer to work on my own - it's also known as being a fussy b*stard where photography is concerned, but I'm nice with it, just ask my missus! And so it was time to turn my attention to Souter Lighthouse, just before Sunrise. The sky was a deep coral blue, an ideal backdrop and exactly the colour I wait for in low-light conditions. Too light and it's lost - too dark and it's muddy. Running with similar camera settings I used at Littlehaven, I was shooting once again, with heavy emphasis on the ND Grads once again, which were a 'Must have' in these conditions. Highlights and shadows were evident once more, so the filters got another run out to balance exposure to suit. These bits of kit are priceless - what did I do before I bought them? At one point the highlights in the sky were so burnt out I had to stack (times 3) to retain detail. A full set of soft grads, 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 done the job nicely. They're worth every penny.

My third shot (above) is possibly my favourite one of the batch. A brilliant sky and sun drenched walls of whitewash, adding to the overall shot - a typical picture postcard scene. The sun did eventually show once it cleared the low clouds, but due to its position I never included it in my shots as it was over to my right and out of frame. I pulled in lots of good shots of Souter Lighthouse from different positions, most of which can be viewed here, on a dedicated page on my website - Souter Lighthouse. My final shot shows my car, which contained a hot flask of coffee, so off I went, warming those freezing toes in the process. Heaters on full throttle. Job done.

Ash