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Ancient Light



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See my blog post about this trip at a-mills.smugmug.com.

See my blog post about this trip at a-mills.smugmug.com.
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cameraNIKON D800E

settings Aperture f/2.8 ISO 5000 Shutter 13/1 Focal Length 240/10 

upload_dateSep, 2015

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2717

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Awards

Contest Finalist in Stars Photo Contest
Peer Award
billmartin_2615 Charles_w_scott davidjprosser Karl-Heinz ileanaandreagmezgavinoser NancyFlemingPhotography JuanGiraldo +97
Superb Composition
MicktheGreek Loekie cohooper deedeecaroll66 Tudorof FatalFrames11 davenegrelli +25
Absolute Masterpiece
vstaffen jessicaduprat patrykcorg theakckritz pietnel jchen31273 countryside +15
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DanielasPhotography jleosadauskas RevMarc_0713 arundahiya LiaMarie MadisonW davemerlinhiggins +11
Magnificent Capture
StanVG JayneBug Imagico anthonymannion Latitude4236David shaundasmithroberts valeriequintana +4
All Star
kelleyhurwitzahr Albert-Serra-Photography eugenekutuzoff haichauta laurieleigh_0232 jimismpf estercastillo08
Superior Skill
HJosey PabloAboal JimmieRatliff lunavee Bart
Outstanding Creativity
jkcomfort Alizka_13 wels Arvidz LucyCMorr

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4 Comments |
catherinethompson PRO+
 
catherinethompson April 09, 2016
Stunning Shot.
barbaramillesrobinson PRO+
 
barbaramillesrobinson May 18, 2016
Fascinating capture. Voted Simple Landscapes. Good Luck to you!
anthonymannion PRO+
 
anthonymannion March 12, 2017
astounding work
davemerlinhiggins
 
davemerlinhiggins March 30, 2017
Lovely galaxy shot

Submitted to Photo Contests

Tags

#National PArk #astrophotography #long exposure #milky way #night sky #shenandoah #sky #stars #tree
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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, USA. Living in the Washington, D.C. area, I had always assumed that I would have to travel to a different part of the country to get a good view of the Milky Way. Fortunately, a photographer friend scouted ahead and discovered that the sky was dark enough here, just a couple of hours from home. We timed it for a clear night with no moon and the right position of the Milky Way in the sky.

Time

We got to the park as the sun was setting, which gave us enough time to do some quick scouting before it was completely dark. We had pre-checked the position of the Milky Way so we knew we were facing the right direction, but to my amazement that wasn't even necessary - you could see the band of the galaxy clearly in the sky. This made composition much easier.

Lighting

I had tried various attempts at light painting, but ultimately found that I preferred the silhouette of the great tree against the dark sky. Settings-wise, you want about as wide an aperture as you can and as high an ISO as you can manage with acceptable image quality so you get the most detail in the sky. If you try light painting or flash to fill in the foreground, pay close attention to the color balance of your light compared to the sky. It's easy to get a very strange (and unrealistic) look if the light temperature doesn't match.

Equipment

This was shot with a Nikon D800E, 24-70mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens on a Gitzo 1542T tripod. I used the timer release to make sure the camera was very still when shooting, and the widest focal length and aperture possible on the lens. The wider your focal length, the a longer shutter duration you can have before the stars start to blur. The longer you can leave your shutter open, the more light you can get in and the more detail that gives you in the sky. The wide (f/2.8 in this case) aperture is a trade off. You want your stars sharp, but that means your foreground elements may be a bit soft. Fortunately, I was far enough away from the tree with a wide enough lens that it is sharp enough in relation to the sky. Finally, pay attention to foreground elements that can move when doing long exposures. Even a slight breeze when shooting 20 second exposures will result in blurred foreground elements. If that's the circumstance you're dealing with, find creative ways to integrate that movement into your image.

Inspiration

Seeing deep into space helps keep perspective on the problems we face here, and encourages a bigger, longer term view on things. Looking up at a dark sky at night is the one time it's easy to remember that we're just a small rock flying through space; just a tiny spec in the cosmos. This scene appealed to me because it's timeless, like the view of the sky itself. This old tree with a field of stars behind it could have been a thousand years ago. In fact, the light we're seeing now left those stars centuries ago, so we are literally seeing the past when we look up.

Editing

The summer haze gave a yellow tone to the sky, which I reduced in post for a more true-color view. I left the light pollution along the horizon as a reminder of our presence in the scene, and for contrast with the foreground. I sharpened and reduced noise throughout the image and raised the shadows along the trunk to bring some detail back into the tree.

In my camera bag

The equipment used for this shot is representative of my usual gear. I carry a Nikon D800E and my 24-70mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens stays on there about 95% of the time. Depending where I'm going, I may also bring along a 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 Nikkor for versatility. Sometimes I'll carry other specialized lenses if I expect to be shooting macro (105mm f/2.8 Nikkor), city/urban/street scenes (24mm f/2.8 Nikkor prime), wildlife (150-600mm f/5-6.3 Sigma Sport), or events (70-200mm f/2.8 Nikkor). I usually carry a Gitzo 1542T tripod with Really Right Stuff BH-30 Ballhead which is an amazing, lightweight combination for travel. For bigger things, I have a much heavier Really Right Stuff TVC-34L with BH-55 ballhead and Wimberly Sidekick for the big lens. For support gear, I always have a rocket blower and lens cleaning kit, spare cards, spare batteries, various hex wrenches for the tripods and plates, remote release, rain cover, and so on. In addition to the obvious things, I highly recommend carrying a small flashlight and/or headlamp. You never know when your shoot will go long and you'll end up hiking back in the dark, or even for working indoors in low light. I also carry a small water bottle, snack bar, and small first aid kit in my camera bag (and a larger one + small survival kit in my pack if I'm out hiking). Even just simple, easy to carry things like some water and snack, or a band-aid and some aspirin can make the difference between a miserable experience and a successful shot.

Feedback

There are many sources of detailed guides to shooting the night sky, so I’m not going to try to recreate those here, but here are a few quick tips: – Use a program like Stellarium to find out when you’ll have the Milky Way visible where you’ll be, and what the sun and moon cycles will be like to get good, dark skies. – Scout ahead of time – having a clear view of the night sky is easy enough in most places, but if you want any other compositional elements (and just for safety) it’s good to scout out the area before it gets dark. – Use a headlamp with a red filter to help you work in the dark. The red filter will help protect your night vision and the headlamp means you’ll have your hands free. – You will, of course, need a good tripod and a wide aperture, wide angle lens for best results. That said, you can do some creative things with other lenses, so if you don’t have the “right” one, give it a go anyway. – Finally, focus on a light in the far distance (or focus on something far away if it’s still light out) and lock your focus in place by turning off autofocus and taping your focus ring in place with gaffer’s tape. (I failed to do the latter part and it cost me a lot of shots when I apparently bumped the focus just slightly at some point.) Just racking the lens to infinity usually doesn’t quite get you where you need to be on most lenses. One last recommendation: Make sure to put the camera aside for a couple of minutes and appreciate what you’re seeing. At night, the curtain of the sky gets pulled back and lets you see the galaxy we live in. Realizing what you’re really looking at is a truly amazing experience once that sinks in. It’s hard to imagine a more inspiring vista than over 200 billion stars spread out over 120,000 light years of space. What a view.

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