A Bit of History, Super Harvest Moon, and More!

Welcome to this week's Light Stalking community update!

Have you ever wondered why your Victorian ancestors looked so stiff in their portraits? And no, I'm not talking about the post-mortem photographic “solutions” from back in the day. Candid smiles being instantly captured with the notorious snap of a camera is one of those things we've taken for granted in more recent times.

You see, in the years of early photography — while Baudelaire was tormenting the craft with his eloquent tantrums — exposure times were very long, like several minutes long… And yeah, the guy was upset with mechanical imagery innovations of the time:

Could you find an honest observer to declare that the invasion of photography and the great industrial madness of our times have no part at all in this deplorable result? Are we to suppose that a people whose eyes are growing used to considering the results of a material science as though they were the products of the beautiful, will not in the course of time have singularly diminished its faculties of judging and of feeling what are among the most ethereal and immaterial aspects of creation?

The exhausting effort of remaining still was needed due to the available photosensitive chemicals of the nineteenth century. These weren't as sensible as the regular rolls of film we know nowadays or digital sensors as well.

So, imagine taking photos at the equivalent of ISO 8 or less!

Fast-forward into the twentieth century, emulsions became more efficient, and fast lenses allowed more light to be captured as well. However, the introduction of 35mm film cameras with shutter speeds up to 1/1000th of a second enabled us to capture candid moments as those requested by Tersha last week.

Swing by and share your best fleeting smiles, remember, all previous challenges are live too, so you can contribute to our endeavour of formalising visual language.

Photo of the Week

When we think about capturing a bright moon in the middle of the night, one usually thinks of a mate's finished texture across the whole orb's render. However, it can also be presented as the massive mirror in the sky we are familiar with. I do have to admit being ignorant about the “Super Harvest Moon” phenomena. So, after some digging, I quickly learned that this celestial event combines two unique happenings: a full moon and a supermoon. The first is monthly regular, but the second takes place when our moon orbits closer to us; making it appear larger and brighter in the sky.

Congrats Daniel, thanks for sharing such a high-quality photograph with us!

Weekly Photography Challenge Digest

Thanks, Tersha and Dahlia for pushing our creative boundaries one step forward every week!

a good bongo drum player

For contributing, check out the original challenge post!

A Highlight on the Latest Activity at our Community

Tersha saw this feather on the ground, and couldn't resist taking a snapshot:

beth shared this whirlpooling shot along with the following details:

west virginia wilderness. banjos and squealing like a piggy optional.

8 sec, f/14, iso 200 @ 23mm. 9 image focus stack. bracketed in camera, stacked on the computer using helicon. found out the side section of my L bracket needed tightened. luckily i brought my smallrig multitool and was able to tighten it up when i got back to the car.

Marty made an extraordinary comeback with a series on things that go bump in the night, here's our favorite one from the batch:

I thought I’d do a nature riff on Patrick’s horror series with masks. 😀 Every year our local arboretum showcases a Pumpkin Village with over 100,000 pumpkins, gourds, and squashes leading up to Halloween and trick-or-treat. These lopped-off pumpkins with their curly-cue tendrils trigger my imagination about what it would be like to see these shape-shifters in the dark as a child. Booooo!!! Eerie shapes doing strange and scary things in the night… the stuff of horror stories and legends. Pareidolia, anyone?

Patrick had a go at doing this image in monochrome:

And Robert Apple took this shot with a very old Exakta lens:

Last but not least, Dahlia announced the winners for the August contest on Human Impact.

If you want to make the most of your LightStalking user account, make sure to check the latest posts. Also, don't forget the Mobile Monday Challenge! Last but not least, Check out the current reading throwdown, it has some nice insights and recommendations!

We'd Love To Hear Your Thoughts

Our Feedback Forum is a fine place for all those people wanting to improve quickly as photographers. Here, you'll get your work reviewed by friendly photographers, but you'll also have the chance to comment on the work of others. We believe in the power of feedback, and here are the latest shots shared in the pool:

The Shark Tank is a great place to learn and discuss, but please read the instructions in order to get a useful experience. Share your comments, opinions, and doubts on any or all of the images above. We also will be delighted to see some of your own images. Remember all comments are given to the photographs; not the photographers. Also, don't forget to participate in our upcoming challenge!!!