Here is one of walnut trees with the Milky Way at ISO 6400. Plenty of noise if inspected up close at fullsize (or are those stars?), but simply amazing at this iso...The glow is from Ft. Smith.
Posted by Daniel Loomis on October 3, 2008 at 11:28 AM
Great work on the two celestial images. I like the contrast between celestial and earthly features. Almost bare trees make a great foreground for such shots.
Light pollution is certainly an issue when doing long exposures of the sky at night. Is it darker farther to the North of Fort Smith? I suppose if you go into the Boston Mountains the light from Fayetteville would begin to show up.
I look forward to seeing more examples of your late night efforts. I am getting too old to stay up that late myself!
Actually I am a long ways away from both of those urban areas (I live in one of the most remote locations in this part of the United States), and on certain nights you can still see a lot of glow like you see here (as in the other photo too). On other nights you can't see it at all, even though the skies are just as clear - not sure why that is. Having said that I actually like having that glow along the horizon - it adds more depth to these types of images. When there is no glow I will often include part of shoot near sunrise or sunset to get the normal glow on the horizon - which is more even all the way across.
Posted by Rob Graham on October 3, 2008 at 12:46 PM
Stunning view, Tim. Night photography is a lot of fun, IMO.
Posted by Tom Kennon on October 4, 2008 at 9:34 AM
Fantastic shot Tim, the Milky Way really stands out in your shot. It is amazing the quality you are getting from the new Nikon sensor. I guess I need to turn off my porch lights down here in Fort Smith!
Posted by Wayne Rhodus on October 4, 2008 at 10:09 AM
The milky way is amazing, especially at 6400. Really great night work Tim .... when exactly is it that you sleep?
Posted by Brad Mangas on October 4, 2008 at 11:09 AM
It as if the milky way is shooting up from between the trees! Very cool.
Hey Wayne, with a 90-minute exposure I get to sleep for three full hours while it does its thing. Actually I could set the camera to do two of them in a row if the batteries would hold out and then I could get lots of sleep. I've been pushing this camera to see how long the batteries will last - next exposure I'll try will be two hours so I'll get to nap for four hours - heck that is all the sleep I need!
These were taken with the Nikon D700 Ed. It can do ISO 6400 for shots like this, and also two-hour exposures. No way I could touch either with the P-45+, even with the new firmware update. This shot was done wide open - the 14-24 Nikkor can handle that with ease, and at 10-15 second exposure the stars won't smear much. Once you approach 30 seconds you are done for and the stars begin to smear. The star trails shot was something like f5.6 or 8 at ISO 200. The cover of my new Arkansas scenic 2009 wall calendar was shot with the P-45+ at about 16 minutes, ISO 50, and there is plenty of noise but you can't see it much in print. Contrary to what Phase One says I think 30 minutes is about tops for that back, and even then you have to hold your nose with all the noise (shooting in the winter would be better of course, but then you run up against battery issues - that little battery won't run for an hour when it is cold). It would be great if the new Leica S2 could handle long exposures and high ISO, but I have a feeling that they will need more than another year to get to that point. Perhaps before I hang it all up maybe!
Phase One is a little agressive with their high ISO and noiseless long exposure claims. From what I have seen, the P30+ is a little better on both counts but not by much. With Nikon's D3/D700 the bar has been raised substantially.
I originally thought I would use the P30+ for long exposures but as it turns out any fringe ISO and long exposures I do will be with the D3 for now.
Now off to the bookstore to pick up the 2009 calendar.
Yup, the D3/700 are pretty much ahead of the pack by a wide margin right now in that department, but of course that will change. If done correctly you can get quite a bit of detail and very large prints out of those 12mp, assuming you have great glass and technique as you know.
Don't run too fast to the bookstore - no one in the area has the calendars yet - we're waiting for the new picture book and new Cloudland Journal book to arrive before distributing any of that stuff - the new books should arrive later this week or early next week, which means everything will begin to arrive in the book and outdoor stores within a week or two after that (none of the chains other than Hastings will have the calendars though - long story but we don't like to deal with them on the calendars so we don't). Lots of places in Fayetteville will have them though, including Bedfords, Colliers, Pack Rat, and Hastings (Barnes & Noble will have the books but not the calendars - but they have to go to their warehouse in New Jersey first and then they will ship out to the local stores). Bedfords in Rogers may have them as well. It is a pain to order via the web since it costs extra for shipping, plus you don't get to look at the product first...
Discussion
10 repliesLight pollution is certainly an issue when doing long exposures of the sky at night. Is it darker farther to the North of Fort Smith? I suppose if you go into the Boston Mountains the light from Fayetteville would begin to show up.
I look forward to seeing more examples of your late night efforts. I am getting too old to stay up that late myself!
Which camera did you shoot this with? Would you mind including exposure details?
Personally, I think the glow from FSM adds to the image in this case.
Both posts are fantastic.
These were taken with the Nikon D700 Ed. It can do ISO 6400 for shots like this, and also two-hour exposures. No way I could touch either with the P-45+, even with the new firmware update. This shot was done wide open - the 14-24 Nikkor can handle that with ease, and at 10-15 second exposure the stars won't smear much. Once you approach 30 seconds you are done for and the stars begin to smear. The star trails shot was something like f5.6 or 8 at ISO 200. The cover of my new Arkansas scenic 2009 wall calendar was shot with the P-45+ at about 16 minutes, ISO 50, and there is plenty of noise but you can't see it much in print. Contrary to what Phase One says I think 30 minutes is about tops for that back, and even then you have to hold your nose with all the noise (shooting in the winter would be better of course, but then you run up against battery issues - that little battery won't run for an hour when it is cold). It would be great if the new Leica S2 could handle long exposures and high ISO, but I have a feeling that they will need more than another year to get to that point. Perhaps before I hang it all up maybe!
I originally thought I would use the P30+ for long exposures but as it turns out any fringe ISO and long exposures I do will be with the D3 for now.
Now off to the bookstore to pick up the 2009 calendar.
Don't run too fast to the bookstore - no one in the area has the calendars yet - we're waiting for the new picture book and new Cloudland Journal book to arrive before distributing any of that stuff - the new books should arrive later this week or early next week, which means everything will begin to arrive in the book and outdoor stores within a week or two after that (none of the chains other than Hastings will have the calendars though - long story but we don't like to deal with them on the calendars so we don't). Lots of places in Fayetteville will have them though, including Bedfords, Colliers, Pack Rat, and Hastings (Barnes & Noble will have the books but not the calendars - but they have to go to their warehouse in New Jersey first and then they will ship out to the local stores). Bedfords in Rogers may have them as well. It is a pain to order via the web since it costs extra for shipping, plus you don't get to look at the product first...