Joshua Tree- Sunsets and Star Trails

shniks

Hey all,


I got back from a couple of nights camping at Joshua Tree. It was a lot of fun and I got some decent shots. These shots are in stark contrast to what I had taken the last time around (posted somewhere on this forum). I had basically gone to take some star trails. Here's a funny story- the first evening I drove through the park and was like, yeah, I will come at night and shoot away. BIG MISTAKE... I did not note the exact spots where I needed to be. It was so dark at night, that I could not see a thing and did not know what the background etc might look like. Anyway, the following morning I got up and then noted down details of where I wanted to set up my camera etc. I thus fared much better that evening and got a few decent shots. There was some light glow from the city (I thought that Joshua Tree would have pristine skies- apparently not). Posted below are a couple of sunset shots and three star trails. I haven't processed the other ones as yet and will post them if I find something interesting.




Sunset
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Star Trails
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Cheers,

DaddyO

set of images. You got some very nice foreground and backgrounds
in your star trail photos. Agreed, city "light domes" are annoying big time
for a pristine star trail shot.

kdog

Excellent star trails. thumb The city light-glow works well here, me thinks.

Awais Yaqub

Great work !

agallia

Most interesting! The first "sunset" photo really appeals to me...excellent colors.

shniks

kdog wrote:

Excellent star trails. thumb The city light-glow works well here, me thinks.

Initially I wasn't very happy when I got to that spot. But seeing the results, I too feel the light-glow has worked out well.



Cheers,

shniks

agallia wrote:

Most interesting! The first "sunset" photo really appeals to me...excellent colors.

Thanks Awais, Al and DaddyO for the comments. This star trails thing is really addictive... :ivar




Cheers,

roentarre

The colour really rocks

I like the viewing

nikmolson

those are some awsome shots, can i ask, how long do the exposures need to be to get these kind of shots? i know if would be different in different situations, but generaly

shniks

nikmolson wrote:

those are some awsome shots, can i ask, how long do the exposures need to be to get these kind of shots? i know if would be different in different situations, but generaly

Hi Nik- thanks for the comments. I assume you are inquiring about the star trails. These shots were taken at ISO 200 with a shutter speed of between 18 and 22 minutes and an aperture between F4.5 to F6.3 (the one with the tree in the foreground was taken at a shutter speed of 18 mins and F4.5). On a dark night (with no light glow from the cities to the north, as is visible in my shots), you could start with a shutter speed of around 20 to 25 minutes and an aperture of around F2.8 and then go from there. Don't forget to leave the AF switched off and then focus at infinity manually (I normally mark where infinity is on my lens barrel by focusing on a distant object during the daytime- if I simply align the infinity marks on my lens, the pics are not in focus for objects at infinity).


Hope this helps- the best way to learn this is by practicing... you can have a lot of fun with this technique and get creative over time (e.g. you can paint objects in the foreground with a flash while the exposure is ongoing)...


Cheers,

Tee Why

Think I like the first two the most.
Nice shots.

nikmolson

shniks wrote:

Hi Nik- thanks for the comments. I assume you are inquiring about the star trails. These shots were taken at ISO 200 with a shutter speed of between 18 and 22 minutes and an aperture between F4.5 to F6.3 (the one with the tree in the foreground was taken at a shutter speed of 18 mins and F4.5). On a dark night (with no light glow from the cities to the north, as is visible in my shots), you could start with a shutter speed of around 20 to 25 minutes and an aperture of around F2.8 and then go from there. Don't forget to leave the AF switched off and then focus at infinity manually (I normally mark where infinity is on my lens barrel by focusing on a distant object during the daytime- if I simply align the infinity marks on my lens, the pics are not in focus for objects at infinity).


Cheers,

oh wow i thought it would have taken much longer to get that much movement in the stars, so is infinity just focusing on the farthest possible object? thanks! and again, great shots!

coscorrosa

Ha, I've been there before (out at night, can't see a damn thing, don't know if anything is in focus or if the composition is decent). Sometimes I'll take a few test shots wide open at ISO 6400 to see what I've got, but the time I have something in focus with a decent composition, the sun has already risen and I can see

Those are some sweet star trail shots!

shniks

coscorrosa wrote:

Ha, I've been there before (out at night, can't see a damn thing, don't know if anything is in focus or if the composition is decent). Sometimes I'll take a few test shots wide open at ISO 6400 to see what I've got, but the time I have something in focus with a decent composition, the sun has already risen and I can see

Those are some sweet star trail shots!

Lol Ron- I hear you.... The first night I was like ... OMG... I can't see anything and did not know where to stop.

BTW your shot of Mt. Rainier is AMAZING... Jeez man- you have some awesome shots in your gallery.


Cheers,

kdog

shniks wrote:

(I normally mark where infinity is on my lens barrel by focusing on a distant object during the daytime...)

Hey, that's cheating! :pissed




(translation == why didn't I ever think of that? )

shniks

nikmolson wrote:

oh wow i thought it would have taken much longer to get that much movement in the stars, so is infinity just focusing on the farthest possible object? thanks! and again, great shots!

Yeah pretty much Nik... Just focus on something near the horizon and you should be good to go. Also once you focus in the daylight, check the lens barrel to see where the infinity sign is... that way you can set it to that point and shoot at say ISO 2000 or so with the aperture fully open for 2 or 3 minutes. Once you have that shot, zoom in on the camera's LCD and check to see if the shot looks in focus. Quick and dirty way to see if it is in focus, else you can adjust...


Cheers,

coscorrosa

shniks wrote:

Lol Ron- I hear you.... The first night I was like ... OMG... I can't see anything and did not know where to stop.

BTW your shot of Mt. Rainier is AMAZING... Jeez man- you have some awesome shots in your gallery.


Cheers,

Thanks! Those reflection shots of Rainier are about 2 hours from my apartment, several times this summer I woke up at 2-3AM, drove out for dawn/sunrise, and then drove back into work at 9-10 AM. Crazy. Can't wait to do it again next year

schmoo

Another focus trick I was taught was to set your lens manually to infinity, but back it down just a hair. Especially for landscape shots, this usually is more than sufficient.

Fantastic shots!!

Preacherman

Lovely shots.

I have noticed..that as I scroll down the star trails - they seem to revolve!!!

dogwood

That last photo is awesome!

shniks

kdog wrote:

Hey, that's cheating! :pissed




(translation == why didn't I ever think of that? )

Heh... sometimes cheating is the way to go! And what is that old saying? Sticks 'n stones....:D



Cheers,

shniks

schmoo wrote:

Another focus trick I was taught was to set your lens manually to infinity, but back it down just a hair. Especially for landscape shots, this usually is more than sufficient.

Fantastic shots!!

Thanks Schmoo, John and Pete for your comments...


Schmoo- yeah that is exactly what I ended up doing. Turn it manually to infinity and then back it a just a tad down...:D


Cheers,