Hidden Galaxies +repost

Gallery: LandscapePosted October 27, 2012221 views14 comments

(This is the sixth image of the Longs Peak series)

Fortunately I caught this frame before the fish started jumping.

I really haven't done much astro/night-photography, so I thought I'd give it a try, nowhere else than Rocky Mountain National Park. If your gonna go for it, go for it. Of course, perhaps I tried and failed, but I'd like your input on this.

Stunning images from Alex Noriega, Shantikara Valuska, Daniel Rappaport, and others, inspired me to try and capture the beautiful night skies of Colorado. I read Floris Van Brugel's tutorial on making twilight images, but for some reason, the 'lighten' blend mode doesn't produce the image I'm looking for at all. Did I miss something? I know some of you probably have your own personal twist to this technique, but I'd appreciate knowing the basics of it if you have time. If not, enjoy the image (large, I might add...)!

Well, I didn't anticipate the amount of light pollution I would encounter while shooting this location. I'm a tad dissapointed it carried all the way from Boulder/Denver. Also (I know, I'm getting quite random with all my thoughts here), I learned that I would greatly benefit from a shutter release cable. Holding the shutter button down for a while without moving the camera can get quite tedious after even a few shots...

Canon 60d 10-22mm @ 19mm
ISO 2500 --- f/4.5 --- 34 sec. --- tripod (otherwise I'd have an image to be very proud of

)

Thanks for looking!

Comments

14 comments

Comment posted by John Mumaw on October 27, 2012 at 6:41 PM

Well, this looks pretty good to me, Nathan. There's just enough detail to reveal the fine mountain scenery (esp. in the large version) and produced a nice reflection. The light pollution actually enhances the sky to me, although I'm sure it wasn't what you were after. You even got stars relflected in the water!
Many more recent 'starscapes' consist of two exposures skillfully captured and blended (see Shantikara's image specs for example). Also, what you really need is a faster lens (f2.8 or faster) to capture more stars. Still, I think that this is a keeper.

"... tripod (otherwise I'd have an image to be very proud of ) "

Registered on September 9, 2005, 62 Posts, 2289 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on October 27, 2012 at 7:20 PM

This looks quite nice Nathan, but there's a very clear white line (probably one or two pixels) along the horizon. You may be able to fix that by adjusting your masks by one or two pixels and this is well worth fixing with the hints of texture along the far shore, the star reflections, and the touch of color on the left. Speaking of holding the shutter down, I've got an ancient slide pic where the big dipper looks like birds flying due to the operator holding the shutter down through a 10 minute exposure.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Nathan Apodaca on October 27, 2012 at 8:17 PM

Thanks for the comments!

John---Shantikara's image is spectacular! What I have trouble with is blending two images taken so far apart. Getting the right white-balance is tricky for me!

Mark---I see that horrid line now...

I'm almost sure it came about during sharpening. I (for the most part) did global sharpening, a no-no for images that include an obvious horizon. Thanks for pointing that out...

Registered on November 16, 2011, 67 Posts, 1127 Comments

Comment posted by Eva McDermott on October 27, 2012 at 8:35 PM

Fabulous image Nathan but I find you need to view this in a dark room to get the full impact. I like the reflected stars as well. The sharpening halo is easily fixed for your large print.

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

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on October 27, 2012 at 8:40 PM

This looks very nice. I think the light pollution actually works OK here. I like the subtle layering that creates depth.

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

Comment posted by Shantikara Valuska on October 28, 2012 at 5:13 AM

First, thank you very much for your compliments, Nathan. Actually I also just tried night photography a few times before, mainly star trails with few min. exposures. This time I tried to do it following Floris' article, although I had to adapt it to the circumstances.
I also had problem with the light pollution, I did not expect that high in the mountains. Looks like that even small villages light up the sky from a few valleys away.

So, about your picture:
I think it is a very nice image, I like your composition, with the different elements put together. My only nit is that it is a bit dark, but this you can easily correct. Although you took only one shot, you can brighten up the image (except the sky), and pull out more details from the shadows. (e.g Tony Kuyper has excellent luminosity mask techniques for this) Otherwise, it looks good.

Shutter release: it is good to have, especially if you plan to do star trails. Until that you could just use the manual mode with 30 sec. exposure times and 2 sec. self timer.

Registered on July 25, 2011, 38 Posts, 451 Comments

Comment posted by R.Bill Moser on October 28, 2012 at 10:35 AM

I love the comp. This looks very natural to me. The distant mountains just have enough details. But I also think you need to watch this in a dark room to really appreciate it.

Registered on January 29, 2010, 285 Posts, 4281 Comments

Comment posted by Nathan Apodaca on October 28, 2012 at 1:36 PM

Thanks so much for the input, everyone.

I've included this re-post, after lightening the shadows with TK's mask (first time doing it, so feel free to critique). I didn't lighten it very much, as I did enjoy the darker feel this image had. Also, I probably should have put it on a darker background here...

Shantikara---I feel so stupid! Why didn't I think to shoot in manual mode???

The altitude was gettin' to me...

Registered on November 16, 2011, 67 Posts, 1127 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on October 28, 2012 at 1:54 PM

I totally enjoy looking at this!, and your repost is even better. I agree with Eva that viewng this in a dark room really adds impact to the image. You did a nice job with this Nathan!

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments

Comment posted by John Mumaw on October 28, 2012 at 6:22 PM

The repost is much nicer, Nathan. Glad you didn't lighten things up more as it might have appeared unnatural and noisy.
I think you should be thrilled by your first attempt at a starscape!

Registered on September 9, 2005, 62 Posts, 2289 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on October 28, 2012 at 6:30 PM

Yeah, what John said.

The larger version shows how much detail there really is in the shadows, and it looks natural overall. Nice work.

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

Comment posted by Scott Smorra on October 28, 2012 at 8:49 PM

Very nice nightscape Nathan. I think you did a very good job for your first attempt. I definitely prefer the repost with the shadows lightened slightly.