Wishes (shooting stars)

Gallery: LandscapePosted October 21, 2010227 views7 comments

This was taken at Mt. Rainier National Park in the Paradise wildflower fields while touring around with Marc Adamus. We spent an afternoon hiking and scouting for potential images at sunset using Mt. Rainier as a backdrop only to discover that the sky was just "too clear and cloudless" to produce any drama in the sky above the peak. As sunset started to unfold, as expected, I was less than thrilled with sky portion of my images. The weather was gorgeous and the sky was crystal clear, so we decided to hang around for several more hours to do some twilight and night photography over the mountain.

This image required blending 4 images together taken at different points over a few hours for both exposure and focus. While we were standing around talking between shots, I did notice a shooting star to the left of where we were shooting. It wasn't until I got back to the studio and began sorting through the images that I discovered I had recorded two separate shooting stars throughout the evening. It goes without saying that I instantly knew I had lucked out and found my "drama" for the sky portion of my image. I used the two sky portions with the shooting stars along with the other two foreground images to recreate that evening in one slice of time.

Marc seems to think the big star trail might be a satellite, but I am happy with the thought of it being a shooting star.

I have no idea if there a small meteor shower that night or what was going on, but it made for a neat show over this iconic peak.

All C&C welcome.

Nikon D3x
14-24 @ 17mm
f/2.8
ISO 400-1600

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Kenn Leonhardt on October 21, 2010 at 11:45 PM

Great shot, and it's even better with the added details visible in the larger version. You've done an excellent job of keeping the light balanced so that it just feels right for a night shot, which is no easy feat. The one thing that troubles me is that the FG flowers go from being sharp, then to suddenly being very blurry in the MG, and then things go back to being sharp with the trees and mountain behind - presumably a result of your blending. Do you have an exposure that you could put in place of the blurry area to give a more consistent depth of field?

Registered on March 29, 2008, 27 Posts, 1710 Comments

Comment posted by Floris van Breugel on October 21, 2010 at 11:49 PM

I love twilight and lupines.. it's what first inspired me to start twilight photography. I think if you pull off from the blacks a little it'll become more engaging, as right now the shadows are very blocked off. Personally, I think the meteor (or satellite) actually distracts me from the peaceful mood that the rest of the image conveys (which this image certainly has). When did you take it? There's a meteor shower from Aug 8-11ish.

Registered on December 19, 2008, 306 Posts, 4840 Comments

Comment posted by Zach Ehlert on October 22, 2010 at 3:41 AM

I think this is a very cool shot. If anything, I'd like to see it lightened a little bit, especially the foreground (though that may just be my monitor).

Registered on September 17, 2008, 8 Posts, 28 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on October 22, 2010 at 3:48 AM

Me thinks the trail is too long for a meteor--im guessing satellite. Pretty shot though, love the deep blues. I might have wished for a few more red flowers in the fg for some contrast, but hey you can't always get what you want...

Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments

Comment posted by Nicolaus Wegner on October 22, 2010 at 3:10 PM

Not bad Anthony. A little more processing on this and you could have a real winner. The image is yours so the trail is totally your decision. Has it's own appeal or lack of depending on how you view the image.

Registered on February 21, 2010, 133 Posts, 1509 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on October 22, 2010 at 3:36 PM

Been anxious to see this, Anthony. I think meteors too as they seem too fat for satellites, but I'm no expert. I really like how I can make out the Big Dipper and North Start here. So many times it's hard to pick out the constellations in these night images.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 364 Posts, 22328 Comments

Comment posted by Anthony Gibson on October 22, 2010 at 3:51 PM

Thanks all for the feedback.

Kenn,
I know what you are saying and the reason is there was a steady breeze that would just not lay down at all. We made the move to do some star stuff with just enough time to get setup and make sure settings, focus, etc was where it need to be and still have enough light to get the initial exposures. I struggled greatly to get the foreground flowers sharp, but could not get the whole wildflower field to stop moving

. I can do some more sharpening work in the middle of the image to help it. The only other alternative I have is to use blurry foreground flowers, but who wants that.

Floris,
Thanks, and I used your techniques as a guide to help me with this capture and processing. It is funny several of you have mentioned the darks, as that has been my biggest struggle (although the blazzing white of the forum isn't helping). If I pull back the darks then, yes, the scene opens up some and you notice the details in the field, but it also decreases the "glow" in the lupine some as well. I have flipped between both versions many times, but decided that the main focus was the shooting stars and the glowing lupines. The lupines just seem a little more flat with the darks opened up...but I am certainly open to opinions.

I was there about 5 days after that Floris.

Tony,
I am still fighting those issues we were discussing

, but I am getting very close...I think

Registered on June 11, 2008, 19 Posts, 130 Comments