Wide Angle at Night

I was just going out to photograph some stars, but the aurora borealis decided to put on a great show. It was a great first night shooting with a new-to-me wide angle lens.

Diamond

10:40 PM. My first real introduction to distortion with the Canon 10-22mm lens. The signal towers are definitely “leaning into the middle” in the photo above. I tried to correct it as much as I could in Lightroom.

This image is a combination of two images – the background and the train. The train was a lot more colourful than I expected it would be.

So far so good with the new lens at night!

Mile 16ish

Trains at night are so interesting to me. They present a lot of challenges to photograph that you don’t have at night.

One of the biggest challenges is that train headlights are so bright compared to the ambient light that you have to make decisions on what to show. If you set the exposure to be able to show stars, the train’s headlight will overwhelm the camera sensor and just show a white blur. If you dial down the exposure to show the headlights, the stars disappear and all you get is a black sky. I like the challenge.

For the photo above, I exposed for the headlights, so you just get a few stars.

The reason why the headlight “stream” is so bright at bottom left is a matter of perspective. From my viewpoint, while the camera’s shutter was open, the train spent more time in that portion of the view because it was still approaching me. On the right of the frame its relative motion was faster so it spent less time “on each pixel” so it wasn’t as bright. The tree helped break up the brightness of the approaching headlights.

I changed the ISO from 100 to 1600 to capture the rest of the train, which meant the camera was far more sensitive to light, and the stars came out to play. I really liked how the moonshadow of the trees on the train shows up.

The Aurora Appears

As I drove to Elie, I saw the aurora appearing to the north. Time to put this wide angle lens to work!

The aurora was amazing. Streaky colours reaching far into the heavens, at times flashing in and out over my head. It was dancing – visibly cycling and moving – and it was a joy to behold.

I tried a few viewpoints outside Elie. A westbound train came streaking through the scene (below), but the train and the grain elevator were dwarfed by the cosmic spectacle playing out overhead.

It was humbling.

Fortier

On my way west, I recorded the same westbound train rolling through the crossing at Fortier. This time I faced the camera south to capture a bit of the Milky Way, with the Northern Lights at my back.

Mile 40

Shooting at mile 40 allowed me to compare my two “wider angle” lenses – the 17-55mm lens I have been using and the “new” 10-22mm lens.

Here’s a comparison of two shots at basically the same angle (from different nights).

Even though I was standing in basically the same place, the 10-22mm lens shows a lot more of the horizon. The signals appear more distant because of the wider viewpoint.

The image on the right also shows some of the distortion that the 17-55mm lens doesn’t have. The telegraph poles appear to lean into the middle of the photo. I was expecting this, and you’ll see some more “leaning” later on.

Facing northwest, the aurora was still doing its thing.

Along the CP Main Line

This is the Baie St. Paul bridge over the Assiniboine River, near Poplar Point, Manitoba.

Next time I might try going down to the river to catch the aurora reflecting on the water. I never though of it at the time.

This is Saint Paul’s Anglican Church, just east of Poplar Point. I was doing a little light painting with my phone, trying to light the church up a bit.

Check out the lean on that telephone pole! It’s something I will have to consider when using this lens.

Sadly no CP trains came while I was driving between Marquette and Winnipeg, but the aurora was entertainment enough.

All in all, I am very happy with the Canon 10-22mm lens and it will get a lot of use.

You might wish to read my experiences in daytime with this lens.