cadenauman

Starry Nights

Stars above our campsite-island in Canada for a fishing trip!

Stars above our campsite-island in Canada for a fishing trip!
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Canon EOS REBEL T3i

settings

Aperture f/4.5 ISO 1600 Shutter 60/1 Focal Length 12/1

upload_date

Jul, 2015

Views

241

Likes

+11

Awards

Action Award

Legendary Award

Top Shot Award

Staff Winter Selection 2015

Superb Composition

+10

Absolute Masterpiece

Outstanding Creativity

Top Choice

Peer Award

Top Ranks

Top 30 rank week 1

Top 30 rank

Top 30 rank week 1

Top 30 rank

Top 30 rank week 1

Top 30 rank

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Behind The Lens

Location

Every two years, the guys in my family take a trip to Boundary Waters in Canada for a fishing/camping adventure. This photo is of the island we camped on from our most recent trip out there.

Time

Around 12-2 am, my cousins and I were experimenting with night sky photography and camp fire photography when we decided that we should try and get the stars above the island we were camping on.

Lighting

After the first few tries, we realized that the shot would look so much better if we could light up the island in the shot. So I had my cousin take my head lamp and shine it all over the island as much as he could while I took my long exposure shot, thus making the shot you see above, starlit sky and illuminated island together.

Equipment

I shot this photo with my Canon T3i using my Sigma 12-24mm wide angle lens. I had my camera on my Manfrotto tripod while using a wireless shutter release to reduce any shake from pressing the shutter directly. Then we used our headlamps to illuminate the island.

Inspiration

I had never really dabbled with night sky photography before this. While sleeping under the stars, I knew being out in the middle of nowhere with zero light pollution, that this was the time to try it out.

Editing

I had to do some minor color correction to work with getting the colors of the sky without blowing out the lamp light colors too much. After that it was just some minor tweaks and brights and shadows to pull out as much detail as I could without making the photo look too over edited.

In my camera bag

I like to always have everything I need when out and about with my camera bag. The contents of which include; Canon T3i, Canon 50mm f1.4, Sigma 12-24mm, Canon 18-55mm, Canon Speedlite 600ex-rt, a soft box adapter for my flash, wireless shutter remote, extra batteries and memory cards, and of course my trusty tripod! If I had the money, I would like to add a better standard zoom lens and a telephoto lens, but that is all I have as of right now.

Feedback

One of the best tips I could give, is to be persistent. I had to take upwards of 100 shots just to get this one gem, and I am still not completely satisfied with it. When working with such light and doing long exposures, it's all about trial and error. Try 1 second shutter, see how it looks, go slower or faster until you're able to get the shot you're looking for. Another very helpful tip, is to remember composition, you're not going to want to take a picture of just the night sky, look for something to add to your foreground (in this case it was the island). Trees or buildings are great foreground objects to focus on, while also having a dazzling background of stars and color!

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cadenauman

cadenauman

Starry Nights

Stars above our campsite-island in Canada for a fishing trip!

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow cadenauman

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