Way over the Saguaro
Amid the volcanic craters of the bioshere reserve known as El Pinacate in northern Mexico I found beautiful clear skies and the magnificent Saguaro cacti. A fe...
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Amid the volcanic craters of the bioshere reserve known as El Pinacate in northern Mexico I found beautiful clear skies and the magnificent Saguaro cacti. A few distant towns cast a warm glow to the horizon as the Milky Way arches over the sky.
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Jan, 2016Views
2362
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Awards
Contest Finalist in The Night Sky And The Stars Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in A Milky Way Photo Contest
PRO Aluminum Tripod
Contest Finalist in The Milky Way Photo Contest
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Superior Skill
Magnificent Capture
Outstanding Creativity
All Star
Emotions
Impressed
Top Ranks
Top 10 rankTop 20 rank week 1
Top 10 rank
Top 20 rankTop 20 rank week 1
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
In the state on Sonora, Mexico. This specific area is known as Los Pinacates. It has many volcanic craters and is the sight where NASA trained prior to moon missions.Time
About 3am in the morning.Lighting
Natural light.Equipment
This was shot with a Nikon D600 and a Rokinon 14mm lens mounted on a Dolica tripod.Inspiration
I always wanted to visit this area. I vacation a lot in Mexico at the nearby town of Puerto Penasco. This was my first trip to Los Pinacates and I had intended to just shoot the volcanic craters. Being large holes in the ground that was near impossible. I was surprised to see a large amount of saguaro and organ pipe cacti in the area, and decided to shoot those instead.Editing
In order to capture the entire Milky Way I had to shoot a panorama. This is a total of 6 shots stitched together in Photoshop. I then did some noise reduction, and added a bit of curves adjustment.In my camera bag
Nikon D750, Nikon D610, Nikon D7100, an array of Nikon lenses including the Rokinon 14mm, Nikkor 70-200 VR, Nikkor 28-300 VR, Nikkor 50mm 1.4, Nikkor 85mm 1.8, Tokina 16-28mm 2.8, several extra batteries, tripods, and more.Feedback
Patience. Shooting stars is not like most other things. First, the equipment must be higher end. Only cameras that can handle high ISOs, since one needs to shoot at a minimum 3200 ISO. Better, faster, wide angle lenses are also needed. A 2.8 or larger aperture is always best. There are many videos that one can watch about how to take star photos, but taking a workshop from someone who knows is so much faster. Preparation beforehand is also key. Weather, moon phase, and cloud cover can all have a huge impact.
