How Benjamin von Wong Shot This Self Portrait With His Girlfriend Under The Mobius Arch
Aug 17, 2015
Udi Tirosh
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
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A while back I saw that one of my favorite photographers, mr. Benjamin von Wong changed his profile picture into this great portrait with his girlfriend, Anna Tenne.
I thought it was a great photo so I asked Ben how it was taken. Ben took this photos with the Sony A7r at night but some tweaks were needed to create this photo the way that it looks:
I’ve heard that the best star photos are achieved using a 20 second exposure, at high ISO at the widest possible aperture. Of course that means foreground and background aren’t all in focus so compositing is usually required.
Here is how the final image relates to the dark photo (with some post processing and variations)
And how it relates to the lit photo (with some post processing and variations)
For the composition, we scouted out the area early and used a star tracking app to figure out where the milky way was going to be at what time.
The rest was fairly simple – have a couple friends use flashlights to paint in the different areas in a nice beautiful way
We triggered the camera using the Sony Play Memories App which allows you to frame and shoot from a distance, pretty cool.
You can follow the rest of Ben’s adventures on his blog or facebook page.
Udi Tirosh
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
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13 responses to “How Benjamin von Wong Shot This Self Portrait With His Girlfriend Under The Mobius Arch”
Another good example, how subject and idea can be more important, than equipment.
Love the before and after sliders.
The second slider uses two different shots of Anna & Ben though. I guess that means they took multiple pictures with themselves in the foreground?
The idea of the sliders itself is neat, but this article is indeed very light about the actual “how to”. I understood better when Ben explained it on his FB page when he originally posted the pic and some commenters asked how he’d done it!
I’m sorry, but I had trouble following how he actually did it. Is this a composite of foreground and sky, or not?
It seems as though he shot a long exposure of the stars first, then shot himself and his girlfriend in the foreground, and composited the two.
Focus stacking !
Thanks for the reply, Benjamin. So you focussed at two different distances, but maintained the same exposure time for both? You and your girlfriend remained still for 20-30 seconds as the arch and you guys were painted with lights? Then you blended the two? Camera on tripod? Same focal length for both?
Great picture, and I like the sliders, but for me the “how it was done” article is very light on how it was done.
Who’s the guy holding up the arch? In the background.
How much amazing!! very professional and creative post, thanks for sharing your technique with us. Please keep it continue for help us.
The article does explain the technique, brief and to the point but how it was done none the less!… “20 second exposure, high ISO at the widest possible aperture” – two shots, one with focus on the foreground and the other with focus on the background… torches to light the arch…, then make a composite of the two….
personally I think that the arc in the second picture is more attractive Unedited, than the processed image. otherwise a great result
totally agree with you, the arc only has been over processed, i love it and inspired me to take similar ones in my upcoming trip i love Von’s work