My first night shots

Not exactly how I planned it but the power went out about 2am this morning. My alarm makes noise when it loses power which is what woke me up. Couldn't get back to sleep so I headed for RMNP about 2 hours earlier than I had planned. What to do, what to do...Drove up Trail Ridge a little ways past Forest Canyon overlook to shoot some star shots. First time the conditions have been optimum for me to do this and I learned a lot. First, my 40d won't cut it. Waaaay too much noise at 1600 iso. I probably need a faster lens too. Might have been better for the Milky Way if I'd been there earlier before moonrise but then I wouldn't have gotten the illumination on the peaks across the canyon.

Anyway, I'll post a couple and hope for some c & c cause this is something I really want to learn. Grant Collier, I'm coming for you! (Yeah, right)

#2

Oops, I forgot to clone out the snowplow pole. Here's a repost

You captured a fine field of stars, Bill. That's halfway to a compelling starscape. Now you need a nice foreground. #1 comes closest. A faster lens is probably what you need, but many folks are combining two exposures...one for the foreground and one for the skies which seems to produce some of the better ones I've seen recently.

I have to agree with John Bill. I think you did a grab job exposing the stars, with a good exposure on the FG, these would be terrific.

I agree for the most part with the others--although if you can get a good foreground, i think keeping it on the dark side (as in #1--at least the top portion) is more natural and effective overall.

Thanks for the input, guys. I think we're all in agreement here. I'm on the hunt for interesting foreground subjects and it's time to toss the little flash back in the bag for exposing foreground objects. Also looking for a fast prime lens, either a 24 or 28mm for a night shot lens. We'll see what the future holds.

John and Stan covered it all. But, nice first efforts, Bill.