Star Struck

Gallery: LandscapePosted August 3, 2012354 views17 comments

Please view LARGE.

Kings Canyon National Park, California. From left the right the peaks are Mount Agassiz 13891 ft, Mount Winchell 13768 ft, Thunderbolt Peak 14003 ft, North Palisade 14242 ft, and Isosceles Peak 12321 ft. You can almost see my tent across the lake directly below Agassiz.

While this type of shot isn't anything new, I thought that since I was renting a 5D mark 3 I should try out some high ISO stuff. This shot was 3 exposures: f/8 for 10s at ISO 200, f/8 for 30s at ISO 200, then f/4 for 30s at a whopping ISO 25600 for the sky. The first two exposures were made during twilight; the sky exposure was made around 10 PM. The sky exposure turned out fairly well. With noise-reduction in Adobe Raw it cleans up pretty good. I'm happy to have my first night landscape shot that wasn't severely crippled due to camera limitations!

Comments and critiques greatly appreciated. Thanks for looking!

Comments

17 comments

Comment posted by John Williams on August 3, 2012 at 8:54 AM

Wow that's a lot of stars! Nice colors showing in that sky too. I lust after a camera that can shoot at night like this!

Registered on September 6, 2007, 221 Posts, 5985 Comments

Comment posted by Nicolaus Wegner on August 3, 2012 at 9:17 AM

Awesome shot Mat, is that the Aurora in the sky?

Only suggestion would be to up the contrast a bit in the land portions of the shot...looks just a tad flat.

Regardless, wicked photograph. Amazing you got that at 25600, and here I thought 6400 on the 5d2 was the limit.

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

Comment posted by Rick Turner on August 3, 2012 at 10:02 AM

Very well done Mat and thanks for the story too.

Registered on February 18, 2012, 534 Posts, 2755 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Budliger on August 3, 2012 at 10:04 AM

Registered on June 11, 2006, 113 Posts, 2116 Comments

Comment posted by Eva McDermott on August 3, 2012 at 12:14 PM

Amazing sky Mat. I agree with Nicolaus on slightly adjusting the mid ground contrast. Wonderful image none-the-less.

Registered on January 4, 2009, 1015 Posts, 13229 Comments

Comment posted by Mat Malone on August 3, 2012 at 1:12 PM

Thanks for the comments!

Nicolaus and Eva, yeah I added a little bit of contrast to the MG but was unsure how much detail I was willing to lose. I could probably increase it some more.

Regarding the aurora/green color in the sky... I really have no idea what it was. I don't think it's a true aurora because I wasn't very far north. My best guess it was light pollution from Bishop, when though it's a long ways away from here.

Registered on December 15, 2008, 91 Posts, 882 Comments

Comment posted by Zack Clothier on August 3, 2012 at 5:06 PM

Mat, this is a wonderful night shot, I could see bumping the contrast a bit in the mid-ground as Nic suggested. The color in the sky sure looks like the aurora I saw a couple of weeks ago here in Montana. When was this taken?

Registered on January 28, 2010, 343 Posts, 2257 Comments

Comment posted by Mat Malone on August 3, 2012 at 5:22 PM

Zack this was on Friday 7/20. If this was a really an aurora that would be freakin cool -- I never knew they were visible this far south!

Registered on December 15, 2008, 91 Posts, 882 Comments

Comment posted by Aaron Feinberg on August 3, 2012 at 5:26 PM

Looks pretty sweet here. Epic sky

aF

Registered on October 26, 2009, 399 Posts, 2789 Comments

Comment posted by Zack Clothier on August 3, 2012 at 5:41 PM

Mat, I saw the aurora the weekend before, according to Spaceweather.com, on July 14-15 Northern Lights appeared in the United States as far south as California, Colorado, Missouri, Utah, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Washington, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, Michigan and Arkansas. The source was a major X-flare that hit earth's magnetic field..

Registered on January 28, 2010, 343 Posts, 2257 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on August 3, 2012 at 6:36 PM

Wonderful scene with the star filled night and water reflection. ISO 25,600 is really amazing. Excellent shot, the larger image looks great, well worth the effort, way to go.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on August 3, 2012 at 11:32 PM

I like the scene. Color in the sky seems a lot stronger than that in the non-sky. Could see balancing these two out a bit for more overall coherence.

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

Comment posted by Harley Goldman on August 6, 2012 at 10:50 AM

I am generally not a big fan of night photography, this turned out really well. Beautiful sky with a very complimentary foreground. Very well done.

Registered on November 19, 2003, 586 Posts, 11271 Comments

Comment posted by Harry Lichtman on August 6, 2012 at 1:05 PM

Gorgeous night sky you captured. Maybe a slightly brighter reflection to see more of those colors if possible. Curious if you used the in-camera high ISO noise reduction, or just the ACR noise reduction. I realize you would have to waited another 30 seconds before your next exposure, but that sky isn't going anywhere! Magnificent sierra skyline

Registered on September 17, 2010, 304 Posts, 3507 Comments

Comment posted by Mat Malone on August 6, 2012 at 1:10 PM

Harry, yes I did turn on in-camera NR. Although I'm not sure I had the settings totally optimal since I wasn't familiar with all of the settings in the mk3.

Registered on December 15, 2008, 91 Posts, 882 Comments

Comment posted by Wick Smith on August 6, 2012 at 3:38 PM

Mat,
I've found on the 5D3, that 25 seconds, f4 at ISO 2000 is plenty to get all the stars I want. If I allow more sensitivity than that, I get too many stars & it looks a bit less realistic. Plus, there's a lot less noise to deal with in PP. I don't use in-camera noise reduction as the 5D3 doesn't need it at those levels. Great composure on this one.

Registered on June 12, 2009, 91 Posts, 379 Comments

Comment posted by Mat Malone on August 6, 2012 at 3:47 PM

Wick, yeah I can see what you mean about too many stars. In the field I was actually thinking I would post this to the Photo Gear forum, but I liked the results aesthetically so I posted it here instead

Registered on December 15, 2008, 91 Posts, 882 Comments