For more than a year now I've barely had any time to go out and shoot (mostly due to running PF!), but last week I decided to take a "moonscape" photo class, and this inspired me to go out and try some star trails and other night shots. So I did

I started out by taking this 8-second snap to see how the light coming from the city would affect my star trails. Even though it was more of a test shot, I still really liked the way it turned out:


Here's my first star trail shot. Unfortunately, the only way to get the nice foreground was to live with the fact that it was really bright.


While the camera was busy running noise reduction, I turned around and saw a bunch of light emerging from behind the mountains. As soon as the NR completed, I started shooting away:


For a while I thought the light was coming from some town, but then I realized it was the moon (duh!):


I couldn't get any more star trails because of the moon, but I think the outing was well worth it! I plan on getting the first and last shots printed once adorama pix re-opens next week. Looking forward to some comments in the mean time

[rbefly]

Hi Adam,
Good photos all around, but I like # 3 best, to me it works very well as a stand-alone scenic, as opposed to part of the series. Perhaps a small bit of PP temperature control to make the sky slightly more 'midnight' blue? I realize this wouldn't be as accurate to real life, but might enhance the overall look. I especially like the shadow detail on the horizon near the moonrise. Not quite a silhouette, just opened up enough. Perfect!
How about info on the camera, lens, f/stop, etc? No EXIF and my right-clicker doesn't bring any up.
Ron

[imtheguy]

Hurah! Adam finally gets off the computer and has some fun outside. Congrats on making the time to learn and have fun.

[crewl1]

Nice work Adam. Good to see you getting out other than to do a review.

[tuco]

#2 looks like about a 15min exposure. Is that a composite of shorter exposures or one long one?

[Adam]

Hi Adam,
Good photos all around, but I like # 3 best, to me it works very well as a stand-alone scenic, as opposed to part of the series. Perhaps a small bit of PP temperature control to make the sky slightly more 'midnight' blue? I realize this wouldn't be as accurate to real life, but might enhance the overall look. I especially like the shadow detail on the horizon near the moonrise. Not quite a silhouette, just opened up enough. Perfect!
How about info on the camera, lens, f/stop, etc? No EXIF and my right-clicker doesn't bring any up.
Ron

It's one long exposure of about 12-13 minutes. I lit up the trees with a flashlight, which is why you can see the color I haven't had too much luck with composites yet, but they're fun and I definitely plan on trying again later.

Hi Adam, Good photos all around, but I like # 3 best, to me it works very well as a stand-alone scenic, as opposed to part of the series. Perhaps a small bit of PP temperature control to make the sky slightly more 'midnight' blue? I realize this wouldn't be as accurate to real life, but might enhance the overall look. I especially like the shadow detail on the horizon near the moonrise. Not quite a silhouette, just opened up enough. Perfect! How about info on the camera, lens, f/stop, etc? No EXIF and my right-clicker doesn't bring any up. Ron

I spent a while developing the raw file, and I ended up giving it +0.25 EV, +65 vibrance and +20 clarity. I set the WB to fluorescent, which I thought looked best. Unfortunately, further adjustments to the WB also affect the size of the moonlight, but I just tried playing with the blue channel saturation and that seemed to work well in getting a midnight blue. I still prefer the last shot composition-wise, and if you look closely, there was a bit of wind in #3 that resulted in a slight blur on the right tree. When viewed in full screen, #4 really jumps right out IMO.

Here's the exif for all 4:

#1: 741s F2.5 ISO 100
#2: 8s F1.6 ISO 320
#3: 5s F1.6 ISO 400
#4: 8.4s F2.5 ISO 800

D800 + 35mm F1.4: a lens that's been collecting dust until I discovered how good it was wide-open at night Next time I am also taking my K-50 out also so that one camera can shoot while the other one is de-noising. Waiting for 10 minutes+ in between exposures is ultra boring!

[daacon]

Pretty cool it's the kind of photography I would like to get good at. I like #1 and #3.

[bdery]

Actually I like your test shot best. The star trail shot is well executed, but the foreground lacks something strong to contrast with it. The thrid one is excellent, I like the well-defined halo.

Great work!

[LaurenOE]

Cool.

[Antonio Andrade]

For more than a year now I've barely had any time to go out and shoot (mostly due to running PF!), but last week I decided to take a "moonscape" photo class, and this inspired me to go out and try some star trails and other night shots. So I did

I started out by taking this 8-second snap to see how the light coming from the city would affect my star trails. Even though it was more of a test shot, I still really liked the way it turned out:
Attachment 188713

Here's my first star trail shot. Unfortunately, the only way to get the nice foreground was to live with the fact that it was really bright.
Attachment 188710

While the camera was busy running noise reduction, I turned around and saw a bunch of light emerging from behind the mountains. As soon as the NR completed, I started shooting away:
Attachment 188711

For a while I thought the light was coming from some town, but then I realized it was the moon (duh!):
Attachment 188712

I couldn't get any more star trails because of the moon, but I think the outing was well worth it! I plan on getting the first and last shots printed once adorama pix re-opens next week. Looking forward to some comments in the mean time

If you turn off the noise reduction so you can shoot with minimal interval time. I put it off to create star trails without have to wait.
Regards

[gifthorse]

It's nice to some of your work, Adam.
#1 is a little too yellow. What the camera records and the mind/eye sees isn't the same, particularly at night. The brain for some reason interprets the night sky as blueish. You can set the camera WB to fluorescent to add some blue to the images.
#2 Nice!
#3 Well done!
#4 This is my favorite. I like how the Moon illuminates the mountains in the background, separating them from the foreground.
Overall. I'd be mighty proud of the images. As Antonio mentioned, you can turn off NR and eliminate the wait times. You can do noise reduction in post processing. Look up "Dark frame subtraction" on Youtube for instructions. Anytime you change either ISO or exposure time, you'll need to take a "dark frame". Just put the lens cap on the camera and take a shot at the exposure length and ISO you want to use. You won't need a dark frame if you change the aperture while shooting but you need a dark frame for each different ISO/exposure length. Next Thursday (the 28th/29th) is the Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower. Hint. Hint. And on night of August 11th/the morning of August 12th, the Perseids meteor shower peaks.

[Adam]

It's nice to some of your work, Adam.
#1 is a little too yellow. What the camera records and the mind/eye sees isn't the same, particularly at night. The brain for some reason interprets the night sky as blueish. You can set the camera WB to fluorescent to add some blue to the images.
#2 Nice!
#3 Well done!
#4 This is my favorite. I like how the Moon illuminates the mountains in the background, separating them from the foreground.
Overall. I'd be mighty proud of the images. As Antonio mentioned, you can turn off NR and eliminate the wait times. You can do noise reduction in post processing. Look up "Dark frame subtraction" on Youtube for instructions. Anytime you change either ISO or exposure time, you'll need to take a "dark frame". Just put the lens cap on the camera and take a shot at the exposure length and ISO you want to use. You won't need a dark frame if you change the aperture while shooting but you need a dark frame for each different ISO/exposure length. Next Thursday (the 28th/29th) is the Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower. Hint. Hint. And on night of August 11th/the morning of August 12th, the Perseids meteor shower peaks.

Thanks for the comments! In the first photo, you're actually seeing the city lights behind the mountain. I'll mess around with the raw file

I love the last shot too. I had it printed, but unfortunately it doesn't look very good on a wall unless it's backlit Perhaps brightening it further would help.

[NancyK]

For more than a year now I've barely had any time to go out and shoot (mostly due to running PF!), but last week I decided to take a "moonscape" photo class, and this inspired me to go out and try some star trails and other night shots. So I did

I started out by taking this 8-second snap to see how the light coming from the city would affect my star trails. Even though it was more of a test shot, I still really liked the way it turned out:
Attachment 188713

Here's my first star trail shot. Unfortunately, the only way to get the nice foreground was to live with the fact that it was really bright.
Attachment 188710

While the camera was busy running noise reduction, I turned around and saw a bunch of light emerging from behind the mountains. As soon as the NR completed, I started shooting away:
Attachment 188711

For a while I thought the light was coming from some town, but then I realized it was the moon (duh!):
Attachment 188712

I couldn't get any more star trails because of the moon, but I think the outing was well worth it! I plan on getting the first and last shots printed once adorama pix re-opens next week. Looking forward to some comments in the mean time

Nice job. My favorite is the second...the one with the star trails. Love the beautiful softness of the sky. I haven't tried this yet, but I hope to soon.

[eaglem]

Very well done, no complaints about any of these shots.