Category

Self Portrait

Location

Dungeness, Kent, UK

Gear

Nikon Z 6 II + Nikkor Z 35mm 1.8

Description

The photograph features myself in a white dress entering an abandoned hut in Dungeness which I envisioned as a gate to alternative dimensions in which I believe we could be living an infinite number of lives. I wanted to create an eerie and unsettling feeling about this image which shows me coming inside the hut and peeking into the unknown worlds. You can see the Milky Way core rising in the sky and the Lagoon Nebula appears right above the entrance to the hut. I drove for about an hour in the night to get there and I walked for about 10 minutes in the dark navigating my way with a torch. When I finally got to my hut I laid on the blanket and stared at the stars for as long as 15 minutes and as my eyes were getting used to the darkness I started to notice the Milky Way rising above me which as you can imagine is always an incredible experience. There was no moon present and no clouds which is the perfect conditions for photographing the stars. I then captured this image on my Nikon Z 6 2 and I used a 35mm prime lens and a tripod. I put a green LED light inside the hut and I set up a one off camera flash to light up the scene. I focused to infinity and I used my phone with the Nikon Snap Bridge app to press the shutter button and then I stood still for 10 seconds. Settings: 10s f/3.2 ISO 4000 The 10 seconds exposure and high ISO allowed me to capture the stars and the Milky Way core. I did some standard tweaking and I applied a very gentle dodge & burn into the Milky Way core to make it pop just a little bit more but I wanted to keep it really natural looking and close to what the camera had captured.

Photographer

Aga McPherson

Social Media

Instagram: girl_in_a_yellow_jacket

Twitter: aga_mcpherson

Facebook: Aga McPherson Photography

Website: agamcpherson-photography.com

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