By Chris Kotsiopoulos

This is a 24 hour picture. I was wondering if it is possible to visualize a full day on a photo. I finally decided to give it a try! The shooting began the morning of December 30, 2010. I started taking photos with the camera on a tripod facing east. The ‘day part’ is composed of a dozen of shots covering the landscape from east to west and the Sun’s course from sunrise to sunset. The Sun’s position was recorded exactly every 15 minutes using an intervalometer, with an astrosolar filter adjusted to the camera lens. In one of the shots, when the Sun was near it’s maximum altitude, I removed the filter in order to capture a more ‘dramatic’ shot with the Sun’s glare. After the sunset, I took various shots with the camera facing west – northwest in order to achieve a more smooth transition from the ‘day part’ to the ‘night part’ of the picture. The ‘night part’ is also composed of a dozen of shots covering the landscape from west to east.

After the ‘transition’ shots I mentioned above, I took a small startrail sequence, with approximately half an hour duration, and the camera facing northwest. Then at 19.13 local time, I turned the camera to north and I started taking the all-night startrail which lasted almost 11 hours. After the 11 hour startrail I turned the camera to northeast and I shot a half an hour startrail, and finally with the camera at northeast and east some ‘night to day’ transition shots… Read more on how Chris Kotsiopoulos created this image, visit his step-by-step tutorial.

Also, check out Chris Kotsiopoulos’s website at www.greeksky.gr.