Dante's Backdoor View Panorama
A Galaxy Panorama from Dante's View in Death Valley National Park. This is the back side view opposite of Badwater Basin facing South East. Shot back in ...
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A Galaxy Panorama from Dante's View in Death Valley National Park. This is the back side view opposite of Badwater Basin facing South East. Shot back in May 2016. This is a 2 row panorama.
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Nov, 2016Views
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chrispegman
December 07, 2016
thanks for entering this superb image into my Human + Cosmos challenge
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo is a 2 row panorama shot at Dante's View in Death Valley National Park. I call it the "Dante's Back Door View", because it faces the opposite direction of the main view.Time
The foreground was shot during the late blue hour with a 8 shot panorama. The night sky was shot 2 hours later. I used a 11 shot panorama for the night sky. It was shot in early May 2016.Lighting
The lighting is pretty straight forward, just natural light. On that day the forecast called for clear sky and early moon set. The moon was crescent without much illumination. So just after sunset the moon followed over the Panament mountains. While the moon's illumination diminished over the West, the East was already dark and full of stars. Looking on the horizon over "Dante's Backdoor" I could make out the Milky Way Galaxy appearing over the horizon. The Galaxy and stars provided enough illumination for 20 second shutter at ISO 2200, f/2.8.Equipment
For this panorama I used a Nikon D7100 on a tripod with Nodal Rail, and L Bracket. For lenses a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 lens.Inspiration
In the past, I've seen many amazing photos of the galaxy on the horizon over amazing landscapes from all over the world. I had always wanted to capture that type of shot with the entire Galaxy over the horizon. But, in the desert summer months are very very hot, and that's when the Galaxy is often near the horizon at night. Nevertheless, after planning for this shoot, all the elements were optimal, the weather was great, no clouds, the moon was crescent and scheduled to set early, and the galaxy was scheduled to come up after moon set. When I first saw the galaxy on the horizon, I was amazed that even with the haze and light, I could see it's shape going from the South East to North East. Most times, I see only the core part of the galaxy going overhead. It was very exciting to see the galaxy all in one direction, and brighter than I've ever seen it before.Editing
For all my galaxy and night photography, I do minimal processing as possible. Reason is, exposure is the most critical part of night photography. So, I try to get the optimal exposure and camera setting when I'm out shooting. I only do small adjustments to exposure, and white balance. With Galaxy and stars, I work the contrast and clarity to achieve exposure and highlight changes. And for shadow detail, I don't make any adjustments. Most of my galaxy processing/editing is focused on chromatic aberration and noise reduction. I also use a Lightroom brush to enhance the Galaxy, but I try to keep it realistic without too much galaxy enhancement. After I get all the panorama images processed in Lightroom, I run them through Microsoft Image Composite Editor for auto stitching, and cropping. Once it's stitched, I bring it back into Lightroom for minor touch up and archiving. Then, I take the 2 panoramas, and layer the foreground over the sky in Corel Paintshop. Because both images were identical, it was easy to align them for layering. No exposure adjustments or blending was needed. Once that's complete, I bring it back into Lightroom for archiving.In my camera bag
When I go to Death Valley, I pack everything. Because I also shoot time lapse and 4K video, I had my basic kit, 2 DSLRs, 3 lens, 2 tripods, interval-o-meter, night gear like flashlights, headlamps, compass. Also, video gear and survival stuff like proper attire, food, water, etc...Feedback
As one who shoots landscapes a lot, shooting the Galaxy is one of the most challenging and rewarding photo experiences one can have. If you shoot the Galaxy, you know what I'm talking about. It took me over a year of shooting the galaxy to realize that timing is everything. And planning for weather, sunset, moon set, as well as the direction and rise time of the galaxy is key to getting this shot. For us in the Northern hemisphere the horizon galaxy comes around about 2 to 3 months out of the year. Also, the cloud and moon conditions narrow that down to about 5 to 8 days each of those 2 to 3 months. And it all depends on what area of the world you're at. Thus, if you want to capture the galaxy while it's rising, you'll need to do some studying of the weather patterns and celestial patterns in the area you live. If, you've never shot the stars you'll need to push your camera gear to the limits to understand your camera's long exposure with high ISO limitations. Once you know your camera and lens limitations, you'll know just how much exposure you can shoot without problems with noise. Also, you'll need to find a very dark location to shoot. YouTube has a lot of tutorials on how to shoot galaxy. It's how I learned the basics. For me, Galaxy photography in Death Valley is very exciting and challenging. Not often do we get to see the galaxy of our solar system, and share the image and experience with others. Anyway, thank you all who voted and supported this photo in the photo challenge. It's truly an honor.
