Arizona Superstition Mountains

Shay Stephens

A three minute exposure taken during twilight. I had one and two hour exposures, but in the Arizona heat, they are too full of noise to be of any use. Pity really, the longer star trails look awesome.

There is a little bit of motion blur in the cactus due to the wind.

f/2.8 - 182 seconds - ISO 100 - 29mm focal length

Andy

looks like a painting - love the subtle pastely pinks in the sky, and the earth tones from green in the foreground...

Nikolai

Awesome colors, Shay!
I need to learn how to work those long exposures..
Of course, the longest I can get out of my 828 is 30 sec:-(
"...need ... better ... camera...":):

ehughes

That's awesome Shay

Angelo

Suuuuuuhweeeeeeeeeeet! is all I can think to say. awesome shot.

wxwax

Really nice shot and palette. And knowing what not to change in post.

4labs

Really nice Shay. Would love to see the noisey ones too just to see what the sky looked like..

coldclimb

Angelo wrote:

Suuuuuuhweeeeeeeeeeet! is all I can think to say. awesome shot.

I agree! Not much else to say other than Suuuuuuhweeeeeeeeeeet! thumb

MuskyDude

That's beautiful Shay. A wonderous, and wonderfull shot.



AJ

Phil U.

Oh man, good stuff. I love the colors.

DeanMcM

Cool Shay!

Shay Stephens wrote:

A three minute exposure taken during twilight. I had one and two hour exposures, but in the Arizona heat, they are too full of noise to be of any use. Pity really, the longer star trails look awesome.

There is a little bit of motion blur in the cactus due to the wind.

f/2.8 - 182 seconds - ISO 100 - 29mm focal length

Very nice Shay! nice colors. When I find the right spot, I have to give long exposure a try.

ian408

I like the differing color in the sky, the star trails and the fact it looks like
daylight

Very nice shot.

Ian

USAIR

Shay
Cool shot
Love the star trails and color is great
It does look like a painting

Thanks
Fred

CalfeeRider

Shay Stephens wrote:

A three minute exposure taken during twilight. I had one and two hour exposures, but in the Arizona heat, they are too full of noise to be of any use. Pity really, the longer star trails look awesome.

There is a little bit of motion blur in the cactus due to the wind.

f/2.8 - 182 seconds - ISO 100 - 29mm focal length

Very Cool Shot!!!! The colors are gorgeous! Got to be something about the AZ air, but I've seen some of the most interesting/spectacular sunsets when I've been in Tucson. Post some more will ya?

Nir

Beautiful Shay!

gpgold

Shay Stephens wrote:

A three minute exposure taken during twilight. I had one and two hour exposures, but in the Arizona heat, they are too full of noise to be of any use. Pity really, the longer star trails look awesome.

There is a little bit of motion blur in the cactus due to the wind.

f/2.8 - 182 seconds - ISO 100 - 29mm focal length

Shay - You have the magic! Very beautiful. I read the comment about the 828 (which I also use) and wonder, is this something that can be done by stacking images?

regards,

Gary

Shay Stephens

Thanks everyone, glad you liked it.

Gary, the 828 could have taken the same exact shot with one exception. The 30 second exposure also has a 30 second dark frame taken, so the star trails would have gaps in them. You could draw in the gaps to complete the trails, but I don't recommend that. If I were shooting this scene with the 828, I would have shot it a few minutes earlier to get the shot in one 30 second exposure.

This is a 100% crop of the three minute exposure:


This was basically my test shot to verify that the exposure was correct. Once I saw the results, I stopped down the aperture and lengthened the shutter speed to compensate, and then patiently waited two hours in eager anticipation for this:



I was so disappointed, you can only imagine. It was quite late by this time, and so I reconfigured for a one hour exposure and got this:


Battered and bruised, thrown down and dejected, I went back to the hotel feeling mighty low. After deciding to forget about the star trails and process the test shot, I got some of my joy back. I definitely want to try again on a colder night though, I still want some freakin' long star trails

CatOne

Very, very nice.

I have a soft spot for long exposures, because they tend to reveal things that look different than you'd see with the naked eye. Well done.

lenscape

Nice color shay. I gotta try it.