by Mark Seaver
Here's an early evening view looking west from our Montana home about an hour after sunset. You may not be able to see it, but with an exposure time of 15s even at 28mm, the stars and moon show significant trailing. That's a trade off between between noise and pin point stars. It was a surprise to me that the moon (which was two or three days after being new) is completely blown and looks round. The bright star to the right of the moon is Venus, which is also blown. One of the things that I like about this view is that I can identify the constellations Orion (left of the moon) and the Pleides cluster (right and below the moon). In many wide angle night shots so many stars show so brightly that identifying even very well known constellations like the Big Dipper gets hard. (5D3, 24-70 f2.8 @ 28mm, 15s, f/3.2, iso 800, tripod and 2s self timer)
Comments
7 commentsWonderful image Mark, I've saved the settings/info for future reference
I like the timing just after sunset, when Venus is near the horizon. She compliments the moon nicely.
You say that the Moon & Venus are blown, but I disagree..
Their size in the frame makes it work just fine
The effect of the 15s exposure on the crescent moon is quite interesting to me. I have a rough rule of thumb of five seconds to avoid movement of the moon, but of couse it depends on the focal length. I never see that many stars (without trails) because of light polution. As a city boy, I've only actually seen the milky way a few times in my life.
Nicely done photo - I would love to have a scene like this from my house!
Mark, I think that the "blown" Moon and Venus actually work very well, they provide a strong sense of focus and "place" - gorgeous image!
Hi Mark
I you got it 
flaunt it
what a spectacular view you have from you home.!! the sky with the array of stars and moon makes for an incredible view 
perfectly captured ....
.
Albert Darmo
Canada
Mark: Night shooting is getting more and more intriguing to me. This makes me want to do more. Very nicely done.>=))>
Excellent rendition of the sky, including the Moon and Venus, and I agree with you about the ability to see the constellations. Another thing I think is great about this image is the perfectly-rendered part of that other planet in the shot -- Earth!