Barn and Stars

I went to a Tim Ernst workshop this weekend. I knew it was a risk weather-wise. Sure enough, Saturday was pretty miserable. We did shoot a couple of locations and had some great tutorials from Tim, but I really wanted to shoot stars and practice light painting. The clouds left Saturday evening and Tim suggested we get up early and see if we could see anything. We arose at 3:30, stoked up on coffee, and headed out in 15 degree, windy weather. We didn't try Star trails (doubt that batteries would last 15 minutes) but we did get some great Milky Way and light painting shots. Mine could have been better in decent weather, but I learned a lot and we had great company.

Thanks, Tim

This has a nice glow about it Mike. A good combination of an interesting old barn and the Milky Way. Hard not to enjoy yourself around Tim, glad to hear you had fun!

Hey Mike, it was great to have ya - I still can't believe we allowed so many Okies in the class though!

And I can't believe that we had all three big guns on tripods right next to each other and never did any specific shots to compare (5d2, A900, D3x). As we discussed it would not have many any difference anyway - we have long surpassed the quality level that most humans need and the time is better spent eating, drinking, and chasing waterfalls!

Nice shot Mike, man you guys were up early!

I like the color the barn turned out, really ties the photo together I think. Very nice shot.

Love the picture! I like the painting job on the barn more on yours (Mike's) better than Tim's. But, I like Tim's sky better. What was Tim's lens? What was your lens? Tim's has more fisheye look to it and yours look more natural.

I did the same thing at a cabin (rental at Ponca) back in Janauary with painting and twenty minute star trails. The batteries, combined with the low temps, don't like those long exposures!

I was using the 24-105 on the 5D2 and Tim had the 14-24 on his D40 :) . It's surely sharper than mine but it was so cold I got in a hurry and didn't get the camera tight on the plate or something and got a little shake. I tried to tell Tim it was star movement but I don't think he believed me.

I like his sky color better too. In any case, Tim was wielding the penlight on both shots.

I think you still got a pretty good image here. I was out both Saturday and Sunday and it was pretty cold and windy here in Texas, so I can understand the less than favorable conditions.

Let's see more!

A most engaging image. Wonderful light on the barn.

Nice job lighting the barn, whomever had the light. And I continue to be amazed that these new sensors can actually capture the Milky Way! Cool shot!

Mike- That shake in your picture.... Was your Image Stabilizer turned off? If it wasn't, that could have been it. Great shot and I hope to see some more.