Desert Workshops (Just for Fun)

On Friday night, René Pirolt, CAZ, Grant Collier and I held an evening photography workshop just outside of Page, Az.
No one else showed up, but we didn't care.
A good time was had by all. These images are nothing great, but my first real attempt at capturing the stars. More practice is definitely needed, but it was a real fun way to spend an evening!

Canon 5DII w/ Sigma 15mm f2.8 Fisheye lens (the only fast lens I own)
30 sec. @ f2.8 ISO 6400

Ambient light courtesy of the town of Page.

Canon 5DII w/Sigma Fisheye lens again
100 2 min. exposures (3 hrs., 20 min. total) @ f2.8 ISO 200

First time I used the 'small RAW' feature of my camera. Processed in ACR and exported at 8 bit. Both moves were meant to keep processing times to a minimum. It was real fast to do this thanks to the new feature in CS5 that allows one to apply the 'Lighten' layer blend mode to 100 layers at the click of a mouse.
I popped off a flash at the hoodoo during one exposure. Didn't bother to clone out the airplane lights 'cause I knew this one was just for fun. Also had high clouds interupting the flow of things.

On Sunday morning, Grant and I held a slot canyon workshop just outside of Page.
No one else showed up, but we didn't care.
Besides, I can't imagine anyone willing to pay to walk through cold, waist deep foul water and ankle deep mud as we did.

Grant enjoying life while holding on for dear life.

...and yours truly wet, tired and filthy dirty basking in the glow. Had to wear shades to keep from blinding myself.

Just a bunch of snapshots I thought y'all would enjoy.

Very cool! Not sure about the noise in #1, but I'm loving #2. I can't imagine trying to clone out the airplane lights - ugh!

Gorgeous light in the last one - but what's with the model? Shoulda given us a warning or something!

These are FUN! Technically speaking, could you just eliminate the single stat trail photo with the airplane lights? I realize you'd have a 2-minute gap in the trails, but I'll bet it would be less noticeable. Not that it matters, it's a fun and cool shot either way.

Cool! Some nice 'experiments'. That trails shot is pretty trippy--i agree with Todd it would be worth eliminating the plane. That shot of Grant is priceless!

Cool, John.....I really would have liked to have attended that workshop!!
Joe Rogers

Looks like a helluva fun trip!! Being more of a fan of static star shots, I really like that first one...and those shots of you and Grant are great!

Looks like fun was had by all. I like the glow in your self portrait and the star trails!

The first one is great!!! Joe.

Oh yeah, looks like Grant's having fun. I'm sure he's got insurance on his stuff. I'd never get away with that and have my my equipment survive.

Neat shots John!

Very enjoyable set. The star trails in #2 looks very good. Thanks for sharing the steps in your process. The image of Grant is quite a hoot. Looks like all had fun.

Great stuff John, I think #2 would look really cool once you get that airplane out of it.

What direction are you pointing on the first shot? I'm guessing northeast as I pretty sure I see the Andromeda Galaxy. If so, any reason you guys didn't point in the center of the Milly Way. You would have got some great color out there in that darkness.

Looks like you guys had a blast! I wish the first didn't ahve so much noise, but I have heard that is the challenge when shooting these night shots. Never tried yet myself, but I like the comp and everything else on it. I aghree with a few others about tremoving the plane, would make the seond one a home run for me!
BTW, one advantage of shooting wildlife, is sometimes (not all the time) I can park it and wait for the subject to come to me and NOT have to walk through ankle deep mud

Man, that is what dreams are made of. Except some of the company probably makes of nightmares!
Those are some fine star shots, John!

100 2 minute exposures?! That's impressive, John. Looks like you had a fun workshop.

The upside of John's workshops is that they are completely free. The downside is that you have to risk life, limb, and camera by climbing down into slot canyons filled with mud and freezing water. Then, while covered from head to toe in mud, leaving you with no traction whatsoever, you have to try to climb back out of the canyon. I actually only just now made it out of the canyon, hence my slow reply to this thread. John said he would go for help, but apparently he's been spending his time organizing his shots!

I'm liking the first shot. You might darken up the foreground some to reduce the noise there. Even if the foreground were a silhouette, I think it would look good. Also, since you were pointing north (where the stars move slower) and had such a wide lens, I think you could have gotten away with an exposure closer to 60 seconds w/out the star movement being too noticeable.

To answer Brian's question, that is the Milky Way on the right. It's facing north, though, and the Milky Way is more spectacular when facing south. Facing south was less of an option here, as there was a hill blocking the view. I'll post some shots eventually showing the Milky Way facing south.

Thanks Grant for the update. I was about 99% sure that was the Andromeda Galaxy which yup puts your shot at the very edge of the Milky Way. And Grants correct, the best view is a south view. Look for Sagittarius which is pretty much the dead center of the Milky Way.

Thanks for sharing.