Milky Way over Mt. Rainier

dseidman

I took this shot after spending the evening hiking in Mount Rainier National Park. Just before going to sleep, I wanted to get a photo of the Milky Way, which had become very visible after the moon set. I only took two or three shots but at least this one turned out.
By the way, if you look closely you can see some climbers starting their early-morning ascent.

dlplumer

This is absolutely fantastic.

dseidman

Thanks for your comments (here and in my gallery)!

Sorry about not posting the EXIF data along with my images. The main reason I didn't do this is because a lot of my images are blends of two exposures and the exposure values would be misleading. I don't mind at all sharing with other photographers how my photos were made. Feel free to ask on any picture you'd like to know about.

For this night image, I had to push my camera's settings to their limits. It was very dark out so the only way to expose for the scene was to use ISO 3200 and open the lens all the way up to f/4. I was shooting at 12mm and the longest exposure I could get at that focal length before star trails would begin to show was 30 seconds. The image was a bit noisy out of the camera but I managed to clean most of it up in post processing.

R.Jay

Stunning +++

Cheers, Richard.

Snowgirl

Absolutely brilliant!

dseidman

Thanks to both of you!

Elaine

Fantastic! Wow! Amazing! clap

eL eSs Vee

Absolutely incredible! A true work of art! Beautiful!

fmeehan

Amazing shot! Congratulations.

scole

Great shot, Dan. This is a shot I've had on my list for this coming summer. Thanks for sharing your logic & technique about it..

coscorrosa

That's great!!!

I had a shot similar to that (not as good) of Mt. Shuksan right before dawn, unfortunately it was backlit and a little too bright. I like star trails shots but it's cool seeing them still like this too (someday, ISO 3200 won't be so noisy and make these types of shots more common).

I'm always amazed by how many stars there are near Rainier on a clear night.

zweiblumen

Wow. I'm at a loss for what to say, or where to begin on what I like so much about it.

I love the composition and glow behind the ridge. Just amazing.

dseidman

Thanks everyone for taking a look! I really appreciate your comments.

coscorrosa wrote:

That's great!!!

I had a shot similar to that (not as good) of Mt. Shuksan right before dawn, unfortunately it was backlit and a little too bright. I like star trails shots but it's cool seeing them still like this too (someday, ISO 3200 won't be so noisy and make these types of shots more common).

I'm always amazed by how many stars there are near Rainier on a clear night.

I like star trail shots as well but still haven't given it a try. I think these shots will become much more common in the near future as well. This image was taken a few years ago with a 20D and things have already advanced quite a bit since then. The 5D MkII is pretty much my dream camera right now. I see that you've got one. How are you liking it?

dseidman

zweiblumen wrote:

Wow. I'm at a loss for what to say, or where to begin on what I like so much about it.

I love the composition and glow behind the ridge. Just amazing.

Thank you! You should really check out Mount Rainier sometime if you haven't already. It's such a beautiful place.

dlplumer

dseidman wrote:

Thanks for your comments (here and in my gallery)!

Sorry about not posting the EXIF data along with my images. The main reason I didn't do this is because a lot of my images are blends of two exposures and the exposure values would be misleading. I don't mind at all sharing with other photographers how my photos were made. Feel free to ask on any picture you'd like to know about.

For this night image, I had to push my camera's settings to their limits. It was very dark out so the only way to expose for the scene was to use ISO 3200 and open the lens all the way up to f/4. I was shooting at 12mm and the longest exposure I could get at that focal length before star trails would begin to show was 30 seconds. The image was a bit noisy out of the camera but I managed to clean most of it up in post processing.

Thanks so much Dan
Dan

coscorrosa

dseidman wrote:

Thanks everyone for taking a look! I really appreciate your comments.



I like star trail shots as well but still haven't given it a try. I think these shots will become much more common in the near future as well. This image was taken a few years ago with a 20D and things have already advanced quite a bit since then. The 5D MkII is pretty much my dream camera right now. I see that you've got one. How are you liking it?

I'm loving it, I just wish it was a little bigger, might need to get that battery grip. As far as IQ, it's very nice. The shots I've taken at higher ISOs (wildlife, primarily) look good without a huge amount of noise (certainly acceptable by my standards). The reason I got it was for the FF sensor, I like being able to shoot at 16mm effective.

The 20D was my first camera 3.5 years ago, it was probably more camera than I need now but that doesn't stop me from upgrading anyway

Allan FG

Amazing shot

steelephotography.com

fantastic image...
As a photographer, I strive to creatively capture unique moments. You have certainly done it with this image. I have never seen an image like this.

Quick question, what is the light at the top? Is there a camp up there?

DS

Awais Yaqub

Wow Amazing ! clap

dseidman

Thanks for all the comments that keep coming!

steelephotography.com wrote:

As a photographer, I strive to creatively capture unique moments. You have certainly done it with this image. I have never seen an image like this.

Quick question, what is the light at the top? Is there a camp up there?

DS

I believe it was Venus. I'm telling you, I got really lucky with the placement of everything in this image. From having Milky Way positioned in the sky that allowed for Mt. Rainier to be part of the composition, to the planet that looks like it is sitting on the summit, to the climbers on the glacier. Oh and another lucky thing here was that the moon had just set minutes before taking this photo, allowing the Milky Way to appear much more prominently. I swear none of this was planned.

Tharhawk

Way to push your camera and still get a wonderful shot. I love it! BTW, was venus next to the moon in the seattle area a few weekends ago? If so, it was really bright!

Corehead

Now THAT'S large-format poster material!!!

Steve-o

Yooper

This is a beautiful shot. congratulations.

gnooj

One word..... Wow!

pathfinder

Very nice indeed!

Eia

It's almost too much to take in...

schmoo

with just about every comment so far in this thread. Amazing and fantastic work! And you are so modest about it

dseidman

Tharhawk wrote:

Way to push your camera and still get a wonderful shot. I love it! BTW, was venus next to the moon in the seattle area a few weekends ago? If so, it was really bright!

I have no idea. I'm not so good with planets and stars in the sky. Also, I must admit that I haven't really been outside much for the past few weeks. :cry

dseidman

Corehead wrote:

Now THAT'S large-format poster material!!!

Steve-o

I wish! I got a 12x18" print of it a while back and the noise was much more pronounced. I took this shot not too long after I got my first dSLR so I didn't really know what I was doing. Now I know about image stacking techniques so I'll have to retry this one of these days.

dseidman

Thanks for all the friendly comments you guys keep leaving!

schmoo wrote:

with just about every comment so far in this thread. Amazing and fantastic work! And you are so modest about it

Thank you, thank you.

cj99si

I love this! It looks like theres an avalanche going on I really want to try something like this. Again great image.