Still by Rob Mulholland. This is a huge mosaic using a Tamron 35mm f/1.4 and a Nikon Z8 camera and Star Tracker
Introduction
Recently a stunning sculpture by Artist Rob Mulholland has returned to Perthshire’s Loch Earn after an absence of eight years. It remained in the loch from 2014 until 2017 when it was removed. ‘Still’ as it is formally known, is a 2.7 metre sculpture, covering it’s surface are hundreds of tiny mirrors. It is designed to reflect man’s relationship with the natural world. The return of the artwork is thanks to a fundraising campaign led by local community groups ‘Take a Pride’ and ‘St Fillans in Bloom’. We hope it remains here for many years to come. When I noticed Still had returned to the loch, I set out to photograph this unique sculpture under starlight.
Still with the glowing Orion constellation behind
How I Photographed ‘Still’
In order to make a memorable and cohesive picture, it takes time and effort, both in terms of capturing the best data, using the best techniques and also in processing to bring that data out faithfully. Firstly, I mosaiced the sky using a Tamron 35/1.4 prime lens. (Basically I made a huge panorama style jigsaw puzzle of the sky to gather as much detail and light as possible). I took a singular row with the camera in vertical orientation, then did another of the sky higher up, and ran across the sky. I used a Star Adventurer star tracker in order to be able to do 30 second exposures at f/1.4, ISO 800. This makes for a very clean image, with exceptional light gathering. You can see the dusty dark lanes in the milky way, and good star colour in part due to this. I then switched the star tracker off and pano’d the foreground in the same way. I took double exposures for the bright lights centre left, and horizon right. Without doing so, these areas would be blown out white, and would become very distracting in the final image, leading the eye away from the sculpture centrally.
Loch Earn from above as Orion and Taurus set in the distance
On the first night, I hiked up to this viewpoint over Loch Earn with Martin from Light, Land and Sky. This gave us a fantastic vantage point to watch the constellations set in the west. I used a 20mm to mosaic the sky here, however I am annoyed that I didn’t use a 35 or 50 in order to give more detail. Next year, we will do differently, however for now it is a nice reminder of the night under the stars, especially since it was bearable-cold, and Loch Earn was completely still for two nights. (Did you see what I did there…)
Aurora on the second night
On arriving for a second night to photograph Still, aurora appeared as I attemped to photograph the sculpture. Unfortunately it was much stronger whilst getting my gear out and preparing to shoot, however you can see the glow of pink in this image. This image is an ultra wide panoramic, shot quickly using a Sigma 14mm f/1.8 lens to collect the light as fast as possible. This panoramic is built from six vertical images to give what you see here.
Finally, here is another picture I made of Still at Loch Earn showing the major winter constellations; Gemini, Orion, Taurus, Auriga and Perseus:
Still @ Loch Earn by Rob Mulholland