A Cloud of stars
Sep, 2015Views
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Action Award
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Top Shot Award 21
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Behind The Lens
Location
I love this photograph of my dad and brother while on the Washington coast just out side the Hoh Rainforest looking over the pacific ocean while i was on an expedition down that coast. I august the stars are incredibly clear so ii took the opportunity to perfect my nightscapes.Time
I took this at 2am when there was least ambient light and the stars where lowest in the sky and before the sun started to come up. it took me a while to find a places where the galaxy was low enough to the horizon to get a reflection in a large enough tide pool and where my models could stand just below and to the left of the milky way.Lighting
being in such a remote area was great for lighting because there simply wasn't any apart from the stars. This means I could use a fairly high iso with out getting any horrible orange ambient light from houses or towns. his meant that the couloirs in the sky could be realistically shown in the photograph which can be tricky if there are too many uncontrollable external light.Equipment
This was shot on a Canono 5D with a 17-35mm F/2.8 and a manfrotto tripod with a Cable release to trigger the shutter.Inspiration
after seeing many star photographs that are incredible Wanted to prove to myself that i might be able to compete with many amazing photographers when planning this trip this trip I took into account this photograph i wanted to create in our route to maximise my chances of success.Editing
I had to reduce some digital noise in the photograph and restore some sharpness. Bringing up some of the highlights had to be done to create a larger contrast between the dark sky and the milky way. This also meant that more detail came out in the galaxy. I couldn't do too much post processing in order to retain the the origonal colours in the sky.In my camera bag
I quite often go on expeditions or go travelling in order to capture many of my photographs. This means prioritising gear ignored to be efficient in the field but not held back by equipment that I didn't bring. I usually only take one body unless I'm shooting an event for a sec lens (because you don't need a back up body these day). I shoot with a Nikon D7100 which i love and i think is a great camera to take anywhere even though its not FX format (which is handy for landscapes) the DX format means i get more out of my longer lenses. I try not to take more then three lenses with me because it can get heavy and depending on where you are you don't want to have every single on of your lenses stolen or damaged at the same time because they were all in the same bag. My favourite lenses that i take almost every where are a Nikkor 17-35mm F/2.8 and a Nikkor 50mm F/1.8 this covers all landscapes and portraits that I might want to take during the trip. I know for a fact I will be shooting wildlife then ill take my Sigma 150-500mm, but only if I'm sure I will use it because its too much hassle otherwise. I also have a 14mm F/2.8 and 10mm F/2.8 and those I use for Starscapes and a few other specific shots. I will also only take a tripod if I'm sure I will be needing if, many substitutes can be found on the road (bean bags are great). I usually carry a few ND filters mainly a 10 stop and 6 stop for long exposures in the day, and i might carry one or two graduated ND filters but that can easily be achieved in post processing if you are tight on space, weight or money. an essential that i always carry is lots of memory cards to fit what ever camera body I may be using and with those atlas two more spare batteries for the body. One thing I have found very useful to take on long trips (a few weeks or months) is taking a small hard drive and a card reader, you might not take your laptop so photographs can easily build up on cards preventing you to shoot as much as you might want. This means that if you find a computer or laptop that you can use you will be able to clear you cards and move your photographs onto the hard drive you can shoot more and the photographs are stored in a safe place where they won't be damaged.Feedback
if you are unsure about what to do easiest way to learn is trial and error, and at some point you will achieve what you set out to achieve.
