Crescent Moon over Woodlawn - 5s The sunset outing to Woodlawn Beach had a dual purpose this night. I wanted to try out a new gadget, a remote cord and timer by Shoot, and use very long exposures to create some interesting natural abstracts. There were some nice clouds floating in the sky about an hour before sunset and it was windy enough to keep the clouds moving so conditions seemed favorable.

In the end sunset itself was a no show. A thick band of solid clouds covered the horizon just in the direction of the sun. All was snot lost though since the openings to the left and right allowed some color through and there was plenty of opportunity to have fun with the moving clouds and colors.

This is the shortest exposure of the series at only 5 seconds. The crescent moon was peeking through the cloud layer and wanted a portrait before clouds consumed for the evening. I know, tough to see in this small version - can you find it?

Now for the longest exposure of them all, here is a 470s photo of the remaining colors long after sunset. Why 470 seconds you ask? I'd like to know too, and I suspect I do. The manual for the timer did say the timer was not as accurate as a normal watch or something along those lines. I figured a second here or there but clearly, they were serious. This thing was off by 10 seconds on an 8-minute exposure. Not that it matters so much at these extended times but it's 2013 and how difficult can it be to include a more accurate timer? Add the surprisingly large size that prevents me from keeping it in the bag at all times and I think it's going to the return pile. I'd say not worth the $15.

Woodlawn Abstract - 470s Anyway, back to the abstract intent of the night. I kept Lake Erie to a minimum in this photo and gave as much space as possible to the moving clouds. The distant orange opening  did not move as much relative to the more overhead cloud layer and it seemed to have created a more horizontal motion where the overhead clouds moved diagonally across the frame.

The moon also created an interesting effect, almost something like a triple exposure would do despite this being a single long one. I guess the clouds covered it up in full several times during the exposure making it seemingly appear at three different places. I was not sure at first what I thought about the look of it but decided it fits the abstract concept and adds additional intrigue.

There was other entertainment available as the camera was busy taking these long exposures. Seagulls were first organizing on the beach going through a mission prep and took off in a flock couple times returning to the base for a debrief. Then they disappeared without coming back. However, a flock of geese floated not far from the beach in a single line formation. Watching the birds made the long exposures go by quicker. Now, where do seagulls go to sleep?

For the night I liked this last exposure the most. From the exposure length point of view, it was the middle of the pack at 117 seconds, which was meant to be 120, i.e. 2 minutes.

Sunset Swirl at Woodlawn - 117s Have fun with your sunsets, abstracts, long exposures, and other ways to express your vision!

Equipment used:

• Nikon D600
• Nikon 24-85mm Nikkor Lens
• Manfrotto tripod (055MF3) and head (496RC2)
• NEEWER Digital Timer and Shutter Release Remote Cord
  (I do not recommend this remote release. While cheap at under $15 and functional, it is very inaccurate as described above and it is also rather large making it difficult to keep permanently in my Speed Demon. I will be replacing it with a smaller solution. This is one catch with online shopping - pictures do not show you the size, you have t pay attention to posted dimensions.)
• Think Tank Speed Demon Waist Pack, Petzl Zipka Plus 2 Headlamp (always in the bag just in case), SanDisk Extreme 32GB SD Cards
• Nikon Capture NX2

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