Campus Life

Institute Double Take

This photo is a long exposure shot of the MIT Great Dome taken shortly after midnight. I recently got a new camera and was eager to take it out on a night photo adventure, no matter how cold it was that evening. After a few star trail shots with the Boston skyline, I decided to head to campus. There are many photos of the iconic Great Dome on the internet, so I wanted to try something different. I started exposing the image at 55 mm, and after two seconds I manually adjusted the zoom ring until I reached the wide-angle 17 mm view with another 2 seconds remaining on the shutter. I had to try it a few times to make sure I timed it right and got the zooming movement as smooth as possible. The result was an unusual, interstellar look to MIT.

Aperture:
ƒ/22

Exposure Time:
20 sec.

Sensitivity:
ISO 200

Effective Focal Length:
17-55 mm



1 Comment
1
Alumni almost 10 years ago

Very nice combo of effects and thanks for describing your process. Almost has a relativistic feel with speed of light foreshortening. Good picture.