It takes a bit of effort to get an original shot of Stanage these days. 12 min exposure, light trail is my headtorch.

Bonkers.

Dan,
Love it - fantastic originality and an interesting image.

Fantastic shot, but not sure about the originality comment?!: http://www.ukclimbing.com/images/dbpage.html?id=65345

Brilliant!

Bullwinkle - He did say of stanage ;)
Top shot though Dan!

good stuff

Wow, 26 5star votes in a day! Glad you all like it and thanks for your comments. It was a bitch to make - I had to keep a second headtorch pointed at the camera, top out on verglassed holds, and then come down only to not be able to find the camera, and then the remote shutter release battery had died in the cold. Difficult to process as well with different coloured light sources, tricky exposure, and a mix of noise and detail to seperate. Thanks to Scott for accompanying me.

Bonkers !!!!!!! :)

That's stunning. How on earth did you get the exposure right..?!

Dan amazin pic mate.10 stars for it, i have this camera could you tell me what setting and lens you used. cheers.

Quality effort, superb !

Fabulous shot!!

Why another torch pointing at the camera?

Original. I like it!

Caspar, the second headtorch pointed at the camera gave the continuous trail of light. Without it, a weaker indirect trail would result, which would have looked odd in comparison with the strong trail when I walked back. See Rock around the Block by Jamie Moss (linked on the 4th comment) for comparison. On some of 'Crack and Corner' the second light faced away and there are breaks in the trail.
Exposure f/4 813sec ISO 100. Canon 450D with remote release. Lens Tokina 10-17mm fisheye @10mm - fisheye effect mostly corrected after.
To get the exposure right I take shorter shots at max ISO, find the time needed to get the exposure ok. Then double the exposure time whilst halving the ISO until ISO 100 is reached. E.g. a good exposure in 45secs at ISO 1600 is equal to 12min at ISO 100. Low ISO is absolutely vital to control noise.

I love the star trails. Shows just how long the exposure was! An excellent shot which has paid off the effort involved!

excellent and worth the effort you put into it for something different at Stanage.

I'm impressed that you got the North Star centralised and had the star trail circular. Fluke or did you set it up that way? Very nice all said and done....

Superb photo! It would look good as a large framed print I think!

Can't be a fluke that the North star is central! Excellent shot, well captured & a great composure.

There are so many things I love about this pic. Just ace.

brilliant picture, i hopeyou dont m
ind its my wallpaper

Superb. The originality in this and all your photos is second to none. Keep it coming.

Congratulations! This photo was chosen as Photo of the Week, based on votes by registered users over the past 7 days.

You mad b**ger! BRILL! Stupid question but (and i dont know stanage) that looks well impressive for 12 mins!!

Absolutely brilliant photo, although I'm a bit disappointed you had to wear a second headtorch when in fact you could have soloed it all facing outwards :o) Happy Christmas!

Fantastic photo - worth all the effort!

Right, where's my headtorch!

Nice creative pic, well done!

Quite possibly my favourite shot of the year

Awesome, just awesome.

brilliant - love it!

Nice one Dan!!

Its now set as my LapTop backround

This is an astrophysicist teachers dream, surely!
5*s

Everyone has said it already, but well done. Don't think I've given a 5 to anything from stanage... all year!

Congratulations! This photo was chosen as Photo of the Week, based on votes by registered users over the past 7 days.

Brilliant effort. Very original.

Absolutely fantastic photo

Brilliant shot looks like you put a lot of effort into it and it's paid off.

What were the routes you did?

Fatnastic, love it!

with the star trails you can actually see how the world spins!

Congratulations! This photo was chosen as Photo of the Week, based on votes by registered users over the past 7 days.

Congratulations, the best photo of the year! so beautifull

Absolutly brilliant!! Good effort (lots of offort involved)

Can't believe only one person so far has asked what routes. (Brilliant photo by the way, yay!) Is that Crack and Corner you soloed? Masochistic git :-)

Yep, Castle Crack first, then down the cool descent behind the chockstone, up Crack and Corner which is always a bit awkward, then down Grotto Slab. It took a bit of time to decide which routes would look best, I needed to face North to get Polaris in, and needed and an aesthetic line with the down climbs visible, plus an attractive bit of crag. This one was originally just going to be a test shot to prove the concept- I wanted at least ten routes!- but some mates liked it on Facebook so I decided to go with it. Thanks for all your comments, Dan

Congratulations! This photo was chosen as Photo of the Week, based on votes by registered users over the past 7 days.

Nice work.Theres a lot going on in this pic, I could look at it for hours and find loads of wee nuggets that make it just 'work'.Perfecto mate.Cheers for sharing with us..

Hi Dan,
Just wanted to say that this picture is spectacular. I'd love to set this as my desktop background, but was wondering if you had one at a higher resolution for my large monitor?
Cheers
Oli

Absolutely brilliant.

Stunner

Superb!

Love it!! The spinning stars suck you right into the sky

I wouldn't say original as Jamie Moss has done one before Dan's. It's exactly the same idea but different location. The most common scenario of this type of photo is the trails of light emitted from cars during long exposure after dark. This one happens to be man made on a crag. One cannot be sure it's Stanage, can you in the dark? Pretty good though.

how did u do it!!!!!!!! how did u make the lights go like tht

awesome pic, you are a total nutter! :)

Have I spotted that petzl are using this shot or is it very similar? If so well done.

In reply to Skinny Kin re. "One cannot be sure it's Stanage, can you in the dark? Pretty good though."
Firstly, yes one can be sure that it's Stanage if you know the place - hint, Grotto Slab descent on the right.
Secondly, it's much better than 'pretty good'.
Thirdly, you do better.

Great picture, thanks for sharing!

wicked photo! Inspired me to do a copycat, just need to find a good location now!

That is Amazing !

Arkle, you are wasted on driving instruction...

That's one of the most astoundingly beautiful photos that I've ever seen.

Sweet photo nice 1

Amazing photo

incredible ! had to desk top it to !

The star trail makes me dizzy! Absoloutly stunning capture. Congratulations.

i never realised the stars rotated around the north star like that - brilliant

is there any way to get a big copy of this to put up on the wall? I want to frame it and have it above the fire place.

everything is just right, beautiful

I have this picture on my work PC as the desktop image and everybody stops to look at it. One new guy walked past my desk and said "that Grotto Slab." 15 minutes waisted gassing.
Reminds me of great days at Stanage

Fab Fab Fab

Amazing, love the effect.

simply AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm a big fan of Stanage and a huge fan of night climbing. I also like long exposures so this pic really make me smile. It looks like a bolt of lightning at first glance. 5*

This is absolutely amazing! :)

This is absolutely fantastic! You've combined two of my favourite hobbies in one go here! Light painting and climbing! Am going to have to experiment with this myself!

This is amazing! Will have to try this!

That's an awesome photo man!

Fantastic, a very original image

That is such a good idea, i have been thinking about playing with light at night but this is a great picture.

well done mate!!

A lovely picture

still a classic