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The milky way over moonlit badlands in Southern Utah.

The milky way over moonlit badlands in Southern Utah.
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cameraCanon EOS 6D

settings Aperture f/2.8 ISO 3200 Shutter 72/1 Focal Length 16/1 

upload_dateApr, 2016

Views

1870

Likes

Awards

Contest Finalist in Nature And The Night Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Day Or Night Photo Contest
Winner in Best night landscape photography Photo Challenge
Peer Award
Rippy88 Ulysees Vorster gman176 davidjprosser PhotosByJEM Tudorof +141
Absolute Masterpiece
MichaelMorse patrykcorg crystalcannon pietnel debbieseely hsgriffinphoto Anonymous-One +28
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Superb Composition
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Magnificent Capture
PhotoExplorer aliciajacobs DougStringhamPhoto shema BuckPhotography Olgz KenBrakefield +5
Outstanding Creativity
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All Star
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Superior Skill
bsube paulmidas williamtanos SeanAllenPhoto yvonnechristinebannister wasa jeffsmith_8256
Genius
MD_Schloer

Top Ranks

Nature And The Night Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Nature And The Night Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 2
Nature And The Night Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Mountains And The Night Photo ContestTop 20 rank
Mountains And The Night Photo ContestTop 20 rank week 2
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Mountains And The Night Photo ContestTop 20 rank week 1
Starry Starry Night Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Starry Starry Night Photo ContestTop 20 rank week 1
Far Far Away Photo ContestTop 10 rank
My Best Shot Photo Contest Vol 1Top 30 rank
Far Far Away Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
My Best Shot Photo Contest Vol 1Top 20 rank week 2
Landscapes With Textures Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Landscapes With Textures Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 2
Day Or Night Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Landscapes With Textures Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Day Or Night Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 2
Day Or Night Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Desert Vistas Photo ContestTop 20 rank
Desert Vistas Photo ContestTop 20 rank week 1
Image Of The Month Photo Contest Vol 9Top 20 rank
Image Of The Month Photo Contest Vol 9Top 20 rank week 2
Image Of The Month Photo Contest Vol 9Top 20 rank week 1

Categories

2 Comments |
LajosE
 
LajosE June 08, 2016
I congratulate you for winning the challenge, perfect work!
conniehumphreys_3889
 
conniehumphreys_3889 February 11, 2018
Beautiful photo..love it

Submitted to Photo Contests

Tags

#utah #badlands #desert #milky way #stars #night #long exposure #sky #night sky
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Behind The Lens

Location

In a remote area of badlands near Hanksville, UT.

Time

3AM

Lighting

The moonlight was shining almost directly behind me and I found these really cool crack formations behind a big butte. I really liked how half of my shot was in the shadow of the moon and the subject was being illuminated by the light. This lighting really added to the depth of the image. The difficult thing however was that the moon was rising quickly and for this image I had to shoot 6 shots for focus stacking at 120 seconds each. Just as I was about to finish the last shot the light had changed and I was no longer standing in the shadow, so several times I had to move and try again until I shot the scene quick enough.

Equipment

Canon 6D, Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 L, Manfrotto Tripod, shutter release remote.

Inspiration

I really love these badlands and hadnt seen any night photos before. This area offers so many unique lines and textures to find unique comps and I knew it would look awesome with a night sky.

Editing

I blended 2 exposures for the dynamic range and 6 shots focus stacked for increased DOF and sharpness since I was shooting at f/2.8. I did some dodging and burning, added orton, and stacked the milky way with 6 shots for noise reduction and increased details.

In my camera bag

Canon 6D, Sony a7s, Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 L, Canon 24-105mm f/4 IS L, Canon 50mm, MeFoto Roadtrip tripod, lots of spare batteries, lens cloth, and SD cards.

Feedback

In order to get clean foregrounds with milky way images you will probably have to use the exposure blending technique. Shoot the sky at whatever you need to for it to be bright and vibrant without getting any motion blur on the stars, and then shoot the foreground at a tad lower ISO. Don't go any longer than 120 seconds or else you will bring in a lot of noise, so adjust your ISO just so that 120" will be bright enough. In Photoshop you can blend the images together to have a clean, evenly exposed image which will be much more stunning than a silhouetted landscape with the milky way.

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