Lately, I've been wanting to do some night photography experiments but the consistent afternoon storms have created too many clouds and thwarted most of my efforts. So, I decided to try the skies in the early morning. I had some success a couple of weeks ago with this shot of the big dipper over the Mummy Range in Rocky Mountain NP.
This was created from a single exposure. The moon had already gone down when this was taken, so the light on the peaks probably came from Front Range light pollution (I had to take out quite a reddish-orange cast on the mountains in PS). Before sharpening this for the Web, I added a little orton blur effect to the sky creating some halos to lessen the effects of the forming star trails from the long exposure. Additionally, I dodged the stars in the big dipper slightly. I also ran it through the PS noise reduction filter but there still is probably enough noise to prevent this from ever printing very large. I'm happy with the Web-sized version though.
Taken at about 4:15 AM on May 31st. Nikon D300, Sigma 17-35mm lens, 1 minute exposure at F/2.8, ISO 800.
Very nice Josh. I am not surprised by the light pollution along the front range as I have spent some nights at scout camps to the north and south of Denver. It never really gets dark at night.
The only nit I have is the dipper enhancements don't look consistent with the rotation. Very minor i realize.
Thanks for comments so far. Yea, Steve, the changes to the stars in the dipper making them not fit with the rotation actually is bugging me too. I'll have to make some edits to that. Thanks again!
Great image Josh. Very creative and good job post processing it as well! Kind of a bummer about the horrible light pollution.
I can't wait to get out camping and do some night shots as well!
Posted by Guy Schmickle on June 13, 2009 at 10:34 AM
Cool shot. That's amazing that the light pollution would light up those peaks that much (even on a one minute exposure). Thanks for sharing your pp technique.
Discussion
10 repliesThis was created from a single exposure. The moon had already gone down when this was taken, so the light on the peaks probably came from Front Range light pollution (I had to take out quite a reddish-orange cast on the mountains in PS). Before sharpening this for the Web, I added a little orton blur effect to the sky creating some halos to lessen the effects of the forming star trails from the long exposure. Additionally, I dodged the stars in the big dipper slightly. I also ran it through the PS noise reduction filter but there still is probably enough noise to prevent this from ever printing very large. I'm happy with the Web-sized version though.
Taken at about 4:15 AM on May 31st. Nikon D300, Sigma 17-35mm lens, 1 minute exposure at F/2.8, ISO 800.
Nice Work.
Jim
Very nice Josh. I am not surprised by the light pollution along the front range as I have spent some nights at scout camps to the north and south of Denver. It never really gets dark at night.
The only nit I have is the dipper enhancements don't look consistent with the rotation. Very minor i realize.
I can't wait to get out camping and do some night shots as well!