"Dance of the Goblins"
A vibrant night sky over Goblin Valley.
A vibrant night sky over Goblin Valley.
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Jan, 2016Views
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Awards
Featured
Spring Selection Award
Contest Finalist in Stars Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Color Games Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Exploring The Wilderness Photo Contest
Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Love it
Outstanding Creativity
Magnificent Capture
All Star
Superior Skill
Genius
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Behind The Lens
Location
Goblin Valley State park in southern UtahTime
It was roughly 2 am, sometime between midnight and 2. I was up most of the night trying to get full panos of the milkyway while I could.Lighting
Foreground was a separate exposure, if I recall correctly like two minutes or something using a time lapse remote. I processed it separately hoping to save more detail. Made it look a little funny and had to merge the pano kinda funny but it came out unique.Equipment
Cannon Rebel EOS T5i with Tokina 11-16 mm lens and a Velbon tripod. I don't know the brand of the Time lapse remote.Inspiration
I love goblin valley and I really wanted to get a vibrant night sky that seemed to emphasize the unknown wonder of the park at night most people don't see. Almost as if the second everyone leaves the park the goblins come to life and move around.Editing
Oh yes. Unfortunately astro photography requires extremely high ISO levels and my cameras image sensor simply does not handle those high ISO settings well without rendering and insane amount of noise in my images. I have to do several layers of pure noise reduction, then this image in particular was processed twice. I merged the whole pano once for the foreground so I could brighten it and reduce noise and once for the sky so that I could do the same. Then there was a lot of highlight and color adjustment in the sky which is very evident.In my camera bag
I usually just carry a back pack I got from REA I believe. Inside I carry ten camera batteries, my time lapse remote, and a cleaning kit for my lens.Feedback
It's very frustrating and processing has been a struggle for me. I look back on this image and cringe a little. I would really suggest learning to stack, and learning to watch to make sure your images are not under exposed like a lot of my potential best images are. Using the like histogram on your display at night helps you prevent getting images you cant use later. It's almost always a good rule of thumb to do at least three different exposure levels and take at least five of the same image (but that can be time consuming and hard when doing a pano)
