The Reality of Infinity

Gallery: Man & NaturePosted August 21, 2012392 views13 comments

Last weekend I was camping during the new moon, so I tried star photography again. I had made up my mind that I should try some of those stunning images where the stars appear to shine in a relatively bright sky -- images that you will never see by looking at the sky. Then I saw the milky way, and realized that I am more interested in capturing the reality of the stars to share with others than in creating fantasy images that exist only on paper and in the imagination.

I respect those who show us beautiful images on paper of what is in their imaginations, and I sometimes attempt images that are my personal impressions of reality instead of merely reproductions of it. But when I saw the stars through a thin atmosphere that is in peril, from a vantage point that can easily be destroyed if mismanaged, I knew my mission on this night was to share the infinite wonders of reality. I want to show people what they can see for themselves if they go to the wild places, and hope they will love what they see and defend it.

If you have some advice that will help produce a more eye-catching image that will still show a scene that others can see in nature, I would love to hear it.

PLEASE SEE LARGER IMAGE. It's a little closer to what my full-size image looks like, even though individual stars still look too big.
QUESTION: When I shrink an accurate star image, the result always seems to make the individual stars appear way too large. Any advice?

Canon 5DII; 14mm.
30 sec. @ f/2.8; ISO 1600
Tripod in knee-deep water, "painting" light with an LED headlamp.
2 frames stitched by hand in CS5
Deep blue "waves" of surface fog (probably from LED headlamp) were partially desaturated in processing, but I,m not sure if it's still too blue.

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Peter Cross on August 21, 2012 at 11:29 PM

I like what you've done here, Wayne. It really does help to put a perspective on things. Although I'll bet it would be lost on many folks. I think I would tone down the light painting as it seems to give the canoe too much attention. Needs to be part of the scene but the stars are the main attraction. I haven't played with something like this, so am somewhat ignorant of what to expect but in this case I'm a bit surprised that none of the brighter stars are seen as a reflection. Nonetheless, this is a great image and I really enjoyed letting my eyes wander across it.

Registered on April 3, 2010, 271 Posts, 1342 Comments

Comment posted by Patricia Brundage on August 22, 2012 at 6:43 AM

I disagree with Peter... the canoe's brightness is subtle enough to allow the stars to "shine". Never have tried photographing this but have witnessed it first hand and its awe inspiring. Thanks for posting this.

Registered on March 23, 2006, 1111 Posts, 6531 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Graham on August 22, 2012 at 8:01 AM

Beautiful, Wayne. I can see where darkening the canoe slightly might put more emphasis on the stars, but it is also fine as posted. I can't help with the question about the stars. The fog does seem pretty saturated, so decreasing the saturation farther might bring it back to a more natural look.

Registered on August 22, 2006, 842 Posts, 2824 Comments

Comment posted by Yiming Hu on August 22, 2012 at 8:12 AM

Beautiful image --- composition, brightness and colors are all perfect IMO. My nit is that some of the stars appear to be in front of trees --- probably caused by blending.

Registered on April 28, 2011, 38 Posts, 733 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Stough on August 22, 2012 at 3:30 PM

A very well composed and crafted image Wayne. I'm in agreement with you as to preferring night shots that have an essentially realistic appearance and I think you've done fine work with this one. If it were mine I'd probably cut the saturation down a little more and maybe reduce the brightness of the canoe a bit but in any case this is a beautiful shot.

Registered on November 20, 2010, 26 Posts, 273 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on August 22, 2012 at 7:58 PM

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Jones on August 23, 2012 at 12:02 AM

Thanks for all the comments and ideas, everyone. I may get the hang of this yet.

PETER: If you look at the larger image really close, you may be able to see some star reflections in the form of faint streaks. Most of the reflections were eaten up by the wave motion and dense fog during the 30 second exposure. Hard to tell with the long exposure, but there were dense bands of fog moving like waves on the surface of the water, plus enough higher puffs of fog to totally cover my lens enough to make it necessary to wipe it off before every shot.

YIMING: There were so many stars, some of them just got between me and the trees.

Actually, the only blending was in the sky, not even near the trees. What you see in this shot are stars shining through openings in the foliage. Those old white pines have lots of space between clusters of needles.

Registered on April 18, 2007, 953 Posts, 6435 Comments

Comment posted by Karen Kane on August 23, 2012 at 2:54 AM

Love the serenity in this scene Wayne. I see what you mean about the saturation level of the blue surface fog but this is beautiful as posted.

Registered on August 4, 2012, 66 Posts, 726 Comments

Comment posted by Tonia Graves on August 23, 2012 at 10:36 AM

Wayne, I really like the way you conveyed the scene here in this nightscape. The image is composed well and the light painting isn't over-done. Very nice work!

Registered on October 29, 2011, 92 Posts, 1035 Comments

Comment posted by Bob&Charly Nelson on August 23, 2012 at 7:04 PM

OH MY! Beyond words. Superb.
Bob

Registered on October 27, 2005, 289 Posts, 4202 Comments

Comment posted by Eva McDermott on August 24, 2012 at 6:40 AM

A beautiful night scene Wayne. That sky is amazing. I think the light painting is just right.