Posted by Paul Wegemann on April 20, 2008 at 1:44 PM
My girlfriend and I spent a rare windless evening in RMNP yesterday. We went poking around to see what we could do with the full moon. This is Taylor Peak (Erik, please correct me if I'm wrong!)
I'm not a big fan of star trails, as I think they're really hard to do well, but in this case, I felt the sky needed something, not only to balance the comp, but to show it was actually night. I started shooting about 30 minutes after sunset and this is a blend of 4 images, just to get the star trails longer. (I actually used Image Stacker from the guys who make PTAssembler).
Shot with a 40D, 70-200 f4L, and of course, a tripod.
Thanks for any comments.
Paul
Posted by Derek Sedillo on April 20, 2008 at 1:52 PM
Paul,
I really like this shot and idea of getting more night shots. It seems like most the stuff we see of RMNP and Colorado for that matter (99%) is during the day.
How about shooting places like Dream, Bear, Maroon Bells, etc... at night?
Obviously wind is a big factor in RMNP. For me at least for now with my 10D long exposure noise is another significant issue. May I ask how long each exposure was in this shot as well as ISO? The noise doesn't look bad here at least in the web size version.
Posted by Paul Wegemann on April 20, 2008 at 3:31 PM
Derek,
The shots ranged in length from 129 seconds to 264 seconds, all at ISO 100. I've been pretty impressed with the 40D as far as long exposures and high iso shooting. It's definitely better than my 20D. One nice thing about image stacking is that it does a great job of noise removal. I'd like to see more night shots from Colorado too. I think NPN has a weekly challenge for night images coming up here soon.
Paul
Posted by Rene Pirolt on April 20, 2008 at 3:40 PM
Really Cool shot Paul! I would try to bring out some of the other star-trails as well, so the one’s above the peak aren’t so dominant.
Great shot Paul! You are correct, this is beautiful Taylor with part of the Otis ridge just below it. I need to play around with this night time shooting sometime.
Like the composition and star trails but don't care for the halo all along the ridge lines next to the sky.
Posted by Paul Wegemann on April 20, 2008 at 6:46 PM
Thank for the comments guys. I like Rene's suggestion about bringing out the other trails. Gonna have to work on my PS skills for that. If anyone has any tips, please let me know. Now that Jody mentioned the halos, their driving me crazy. I can't believe I didn't seem them earlier. Something else to work on.
Jody beat me to it--he's on a roll right now
NIce shot btw.
Posted by Don Bartram on April 21, 2008 at 12:32 PM
Very nice. I have tried night shots with just moonlight as well as with star trails, but haven't gotten as good results as yours, even with the halo. Good work!
Posted by Dan Walters on April 21, 2008 at 10:45 PM
Discussion
9 repliesI'm not a big fan of star trails, as I think they're really hard to do well, but in this case, I felt the sky needed something, not only to balance the comp, but to show it was actually night. I started shooting about 30 minutes after sunset and this is a blend of 4 images, just to get the star trails longer. (I actually used Image Stacker from the guys who make PTAssembler).
Shot with a 40D, 70-200 f4L, and of course, a tripod.
Thanks for any comments.
Paul
I really like this shot and idea of getting more night shots. It seems like most the stuff we see of RMNP and Colorado for that matter (99%) is during the day.
How about shooting places like Dream, Bear, Maroon Bells, etc... at night?
Obviously wind is a big factor in RMNP. For me at least for now with my 10D long exposure noise is another significant issue. May I ask how long each exposure was in this shot as well as ISO? The noise doesn't look bad here at least in the web size version.
The shots ranged in length from 129 seconds to 264 seconds, all at ISO 100. I've been pretty impressed with the 40D as far as long exposures and high iso shooting. It's definitely better than my 20D. One nice thing about image stacking is that it does a great job of noise removal. I'd like to see more night shots from Colorado too. I think NPN has a weekly challenge for night images coming up here soon.
Paul
Well done!
NIce shot btw.