Posted by Brent Murphy on July 14, 2008 at 11:14 AM
So, my family and I decided to take our first real vacation this year. We stayed close, in case the kids were a disaster, and just headed up to Estes Park last week.
Even though I was so close to the park all week, I only managed to get out shooting a couple times. And even then, I had to stay somewhat close so I could get back to have breakfast with the kids. Our first morning there, I got up to shoot at Moraine Park. The next morning, I met Erik for a hike up to Two Rivers Lake. Thanks Erik! The only other shooting I did was of some elk up on Trail Ridge Road.
Slideshow HERE. Turns out my 2-stop ND grad was completely scratched, so I tried combining exposures using HDR instead. Not sure how I feel about the results. I think I like them, and tried to keep them as realistic as possible. This represents my first attempt using HDR, so I'd appreciate any comments. I already noticed that I have cloud issues on some shots. Next time I'll make sure I use auto bracketing to make sure the clouds don't move as much between shots.
Posted by Todd Caudle on July 14, 2008 at 11:31 AM
Those are really nice, Brent. I really like the stuff from your morning with Mr. RMNP. On the first couple, I shot that same little rocky tarn in '05, mid-June to be precise, and it looks like that snow bank is about the same size now that it was then. Says a lot about last winter's snow.
How are you exposing the night sky to pick up the Milky Way? I've seen a few of you guys do that recently, and would really like to try it.
BTW, the hdr looks perfect.
Posted by Jack Brauer on July 14, 2008 at 12:20 PM
Great stuff. My favorites are the last image of the first "page", with the cottonball clouds above the river. And the centered Notchtop reflection... awesome.
Posted by Brent Murphy on July 14, 2008 at 12:39 PM
Todd - For the night sky, I had to tweak those a bit at home. It showed up better in person, and on my LCD in the dark, but on the computer at home it was barely visible. I shot with the D300 and Tokina 12-24, 30 seconds at ISO 1600 and f/4. I adjusted in Lightroom and PS with similar results. Basically, I left the highlights and lights alone, and opened up the darks and shadows a bit. This changed the sky from black to those great shades of blue, and pulled out the Milky Way. I think if I had been shooting with a 2.8 lens or something, I could have gotten the same results with less processing. Finally, a little noise reduction with Noise Ninja.
Because I had to tweak the darks on those Milky Way images, they are incredibly noisy, and Noise Ninja wasn't able to do much with them. The photo of the stars from Bear Lake didn't really need much processing, and has very little noise.
I really love shooting these types of night sky shots. With my old F4, I could leave the camera on for hours, and get great star trails. With digital, this would just destroy the battery. So, I've been trying to do these short, high-ISO exposures instead, to try to get more realistic shots without killing my battery life.
Very nice, Brent! I really enjoy the Moraine Park pics. My son turns 3 next week and is already showing more interest in being behind the camera than in front of it. Sadly, his pictures tend to turn out better than mine!
Looks like you had a great time! Gotta love living in a place with so much beauty close to home.
I agree with the Milky Way shots, they are the special ones of the bunch. Thanks for the info on how you accomplished it. The next new moon I think I'll give this a try too.
Posted by Dan Walters on July 14, 2008 at 10:49 PM
The images llok great. Really like the detal and color in the iris image.
Posted by Bert Fukuda on July 14, 2008 at 11:42 PM
Sweet collection Brett. I really like the night shot from Bear Lake.
Discussion
15 repliesEven though I was so close to the park all week, I only managed to get out shooting a couple times. And even then, I had to stay somewhat close so I could get back to have breakfast with the kids. Our first morning there, I got up to shoot at Moraine Park. The next morning, I met Erik for a hike up to Two Rivers Lake. Thanks Erik! The only other shooting I did was of some elk up on Trail Ridge Road.
Slideshow HERE. Turns out my 2-stop ND grad was completely scratched, so I tried combining exposures using HDR instead. Not sure how I feel about the results. I think I like them, and tried to keep them as realistic as possible. This represents my first attempt using HDR, so I'd appreciate any comments. I already noticed that I have cloud issues on some shots. Next time I'll make sure I use auto bracketing to make sure the clouds don't move as much between shots.
Family snapshots HERE.
How are you exposing the night sky to pick up the Milky Way? I've seen a few of you guys do that recently, and would really like to try it.
BTW, the hdr looks perfect.
Because I had to tweak the darks on those Milky Way images, they are incredibly noisy, and Noise Ninja wasn't able to do much with them. The photo of the stars from Bear Lake didn't really need much processing, and has very little noise.
I really love shooting these types of night sky shots. With my old F4, I could leave the camera on for hours, and get great star trails. With digital, this would just destroy the battery. So, I've been trying to do these short, high-ISO exposures instead, to try to get more realistic shots without killing my battery life.
In no time those kids will be old enought to help carry your camera gear.
Looks like you had a great time! Gotta love living in a place with so much beauty close to home.
Great Milky Way shots and love the green grass/river shots from Moraine Park.
Mel-