#82--Round Midnight

ghinsonghinson Registered Users Posts: 933 Major grins
edited August 5, 2011 in The Dgrin Challenges
Right now my entry might be the star trails pic. Doing that, in the proper timeframe, was my first thought for this challenge. Made me think of the title, "Round Midnight."
1.
i-X8gJFRJ-L.jpg

But I got more of the crystal clear moonless and meteor-filled sky tonight:

2.
i-wzWH4FG-L.jpg

3.
i-WqNJzPg-L.jpg

4.
i-NsnSVKh-L.jpg

5.
i-dWhBkHj-L.jpg

C&C appreciated...
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Comments

  • kdotaylorkdotaylor Registered Users Posts: 1,280 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2011
    Wow, the more photos you share, the more I want to move to Nantucket! I just love #4 and #2, in that order. All are really lovely.
    Kate
    www.katetaylor.smugmug.com
    "You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." Mark Twain
  • ghinsonghinson Registered Users Posts: 933 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2011
    You should. It's beautiful here. Actually, #4 is a good example of why. The dusk-like colors you see on the horizon have nothing to do with the sun. That is looking north towards the Cape, which is 30 miles away. The light is the ambient light, or light pollution, coming from that more populated area. We have very little light pollution (over our heads) and can see so many more stars on a clear night than most people can! Very lucky.
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  • CHANDLERJACHANDLERJA Registered Users Posts: 400 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2011
    I really like #4 and #5!!! Fantastic shots!
    Jeromy
    http://snaptx.smugmug.com/
    Light is everything in life and photography.
  • ghinsonghinson Registered Users Posts: 933 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2011
    Gonna add 1 more...

    6.
    i-6L6KZfq-L.jpg
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  • The Curious CamelThe Curious Camel Registered Users Posts: 943 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2011
    Wow, these are all so beautiful.
    I like them all but favorite is 2 beause of the reflections on the water as well as the awesome light of the sky.

    Peace, gail
    www.curiouscamel.net
  • PedalGirlPedalGirl Registered Users Posts: 794 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2011
    #4 is my favorite.... but all are awesome. Your photos make me jealous! :)
    Pho-tog-ra-pher (n) 1. One who practices photography 2. one obsessed with capturing life with their camera. 3. One who eats, sleeps and breathes photographs. 4. One who sees the world in 4x6.
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  • bbjonesbbjones Registered Users Posts: 234 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2011
    Awesome star pics. I'm headed to Tahoe next week, and I'd love to copy your settings. Can you link to EXIFs on those?

    Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, you know. [:)]
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  • dlscott56dlscott56 Registered Users Posts: 1,324 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2011
    They all look gorgeous to me Greg. And all fit the theme. I guess if I had to pick an order it would be something like 1, 2, 5, 4, 6, 3.
    Dave

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  • JAGJAG Super Moderators Posts: 9,088 moderator
    edited July 28, 2011
    blown away by the awesomeness of these shots! Greg, how do you get the 'cloud' in the stars? I mean I know that is an occurance in space right? But I never see it with the naked eye so I am wondering how it can be picked up with the lens? What kind of lens did you use? Is that cloud thingy only seen in the eastern/northern hemisphere?
    ~JAG (Joyce) - My site: JAG Creations JAG Creations be a fan.
  • ghinsonghinson Registered Users Posts: 933 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2011
    That cloud is our Milky Way galaxy. On a clear night here, it arches from one horizon to the other! You need a place with very little ambient light. Drive out to the country. Away from city lights. Then what I do is use as wide a lens as I have, set wide open, and shoot 25 sec exposures at whatever ISO is necessary to capture the light. In this case, 3200. If you take a longer exposure than that you start to to capture motion in the stars.
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  • GretaPicsGretaPics Registered Users Posts: 373 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2011
    Truly awesome shots and very inspirational. Nantucket just gets higher on my list of places to visit thanks to your beautiful photos. Pretty hard to choose faves but 2, 4 & 6 catch my interest visually and pique my emotions or curiosity as to subject and/or technique. GP
    www.GretaPics.com
  • ic4uic4u Registered Users Posts: 1,455 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2011
    Funny, after seeing these, on top of all of the other amazing photos from the past you've posted, I decided today to start looking for a vacation rental in Nantucket! I can't even pick a favorite, they're all so goodclap.gif
    Karin


    "Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt and live like it's heaven on Earth." — Mark Twain
  • powderpowder Registered Users Posts: 84 Big grins
    edited July 28, 2011
    ..and these make me feel like "well, I should just sit this one out."rolleyes1.gifvery nicely done.
  • billseyebillseye Registered Users Posts: 847 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2011
    clap.gifclapclap.gifclap
    Terrific shots, Greg! And unanimous accolades. I really like them all, but 4 is the standout for me. I love the off center tree and the gradient colors in the sky!
    Bill Banning

    Check out billseye photos on SmugMug
  • sapphire73sapphire73 Registered Users, Super Moderators Posts: 1,970 moderator
    edited July 28, 2011
    These are amazing shots, and I feel lucky to be seeing them here as I'm not in Nantucket! I also appreciate your generosity in sharing the settings that you've used. I visited Mauna Kea on the Big Island recently and made a few feeble attempts to capture what I was seeing in the skies (on a partly cloudy night) but didn't have a clue what settings might be best or time to research or experiment before this impromptu trip. Sometimes, we (I) just need to be content with the snapshots in the mind and be grateful to photographers like you who do capture the amazing beauty above (and around) us.

    Many thanks,
    Gretchen

    P.S. My favorite is #4 with #3 a close second but they are all great.

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  • FrochFroch Registered Users Posts: 571 Major grins
    edited July 29, 2011
    Just beautiful Greg
  • DaddyODaddyO Registered Users Posts: 4,466 Major grins
    edited July 29, 2011
    Images 1- 4 are quite nice highly well done results. thumb.gif I was thinking of moving down this road myself. But have yet to shoot at a location I have in mind. It be nice to even get near the zone your showing here. :D
    I should mention I really like your selections for foreground interest as especially shown in image 1. Sweet
    Michael
  • JAGJAG Super Moderators Posts: 9,088 moderator
    edited July 29, 2011
    ghinson wrote: »
    That cloud is our Milky Way galaxy. On a clear night here, it arches from one horizon to the other! You need a place with very little ambient light. Drive out to the country. Away from city lights. Then what I do is use as wide a lens as I have, set wide open, and shoot 25 sec exposures at whatever ISO is necessary to capture the light. In this case, 3200. If you take a longer exposure than that you start to to capture motion in the stars.

    Thanks Greg for your response. I am still very curious about this so I hope you do not mind me asking a few more questions.

    I have spent many of times sleeping under the stars away from civilization yet I have never seen the milkyway this way with the naked eye. Can you really see it just looking at the sky with no lens? Or is there a filter involved? Is it something that is brought out in post processing? Or HDR? I have lots of opportunity to shoot a starry sky in winter and maybe late fall. But the temps and weather might not be very nice at that time. In the summer we see no stars at all.

    ps...I like 2 and 4 (in that order) but 5 and 6 have their own fun quality that makes them more action oriented. With #6 being favored more than 5.
    ~JAG (Joyce) - My site: JAG Creations JAG Creations be a fan.
  • ghinsonghinson Registered Users Posts: 933 Major grins
    edited July 29, 2011
    On nights like we have had thew last two nights you can indeed see the Milky Way here without the need for lens, filter, telescope, etc. It looks like a cloud of stars that stretches across from horizon to horizon. I was about to say that the main reason you haven't is likely because of city-related light pollution, when I remembered you live in AK. Now, not sure what the size of Wasilla is, but it may be big enough to where the city and street lights make it impossible to see the stars, let alone the Milky Way. But I would think you could drive in any directions for 20-30 minutes and be far enough away from the lights to see it. Now, I am not enough of an astronomy buff to know off the top of my head whether or not you can see the milky way at your lattitude. Maybe that's the problem in the first place. If you have an iPad, there is a fabulous application called Star Walk that shows you in realtime what is in the sky overhead. I use it all the time out on photoshoots at night, even for predicting the location of an about to rise full moon.

    Lastly I'll add that what you see in these pics is a little more pronounced than what you see with the naked eye. In the pic above that is over water, up at the top, and to the right of the milky way, there is a small spiral galaxy that you can make out. That is Andromeda!!! I cannot see that with my eye. By shooting with the above settings the camera pics up a little more starlight than my eyes can see and just emphasizes all that is up there!!!

    Only problem with these settings is you need a camera that doesn't mind shooting at ISO 3200-6400. My older cameras would've generated more noise than stars. The new one can handle it!
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  • kdotaylorkdotaylor Registered Users Posts: 1,280 Major grins
    edited July 29, 2011
    If you want to read some interesting star and space pages, check out the first chapter of Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. He did an incredible job of explaining the sheer size of the universe in a very readable manner. So awe-inspiring!
    Kate
    www.katetaylor.smugmug.com
    "You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." Mark Twain
  • JAGJAG Super Moderators Posts: 9,088 moderator
    edited July 30, 2011
    Thanks Greg. I might have seen it when I was in the caribbean and we were in the middle of the Carribean Ocean (last Janurary). It was about midnight and I was out on our balcony of our stateroom on a cruiseship. I wasn't sure if it was a cloud or what (my vision isn't as good as it use to be) but I tried to take pics of it but even with a tripod, the movement of the ship just messed it all up. I will have to see if I could get out this late fall and get some shots out in the open away from the city lights. Thanks again for the info.
    ~JAG (Joyce) - My site: JAG Creations JAG Creations be a fan.
  • powderpowder Registered Users Posts: 84 Big grins
    edited July 30, 2011
    I'm a big fan of the first one. I was reading about how to accomplish these types of shots...did you do the stacking thing? or the LOOOONG exposure? (if you don't mind me asking.) I'm very wowed.
  • ghinsonghinson Registered Users Posts: 933 Major grins
    edited July 30, 2011
    powder wrote: »
    I'm a big fan of the first one. I was reading about how to accomplish these types of shots...did you do the stacking thing? or the LOOOONG exposure?

    I usually do the stacking with the PS action; this is much more forgivable than a single exposure. But this one is a single exposure. I thought it would be cool to do it from 30 min before to 30 min after Midnight. So, "Round Midnight."

    I think the star trails are cool, but they are a sort of one-trick pony. You've seen one, you've seen them all and, what really matters is the composition of the rest of the photo. What you're trailing around.

    I had originally set out to one of our lighthouses. It is perfectly aligned in a south-to-north fashion, and I was going to hike up the opposite dunes and align Polaris with the Lighthouse light and see if I couldn't get a full circular trail seeming to come from the Lighthouse.

    Not sure that I could've pulled it off; not sure how much the starlight would be destroyed by the lighthouse light, or if I could control that with stacking the right exposures.

    But, that shot will have to wait. As I drove out there close to midnight, I learned that the point was closed due to a rare bird nesting in a bad spot (which is probably what made the stupid bird rare in the first place!), so maybe I'll try that later.
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  • lkbartlkbart Registered Users Posts: 1,912 Major grins
    edited July 30, 2011
    I was hoping to see some nice star shots when I read what the new challenge was - these are fabulous Greg! My preference is #2 - the beautiful colors, the reflective water, catching Andromeda - very awesome!
    ~Lillian~
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  • anonymouscubananonymouscuban Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 4,586 Major grins
    edited July 30, 2011
    Why are you shooting these at such high ISO?
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  • ghinsonghinson Registered Users Posts: 933 Major grins
    edited July 30, 2011
    At a lower ISO you have to increase the exposure time to get the light. But with an exposure higher than 25-30 sec, you start to get star motion artifact and it is not as sharp.
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  • anonymouscubananonymouscuban Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 4,586 Major grins
    edited July 30, 2011
    ghinson wrote: »
    At a lower ISO you have to increase the exposure time to get the light. But with an exposure higher than 25-30 sec, you start to get star motion artifact and it is not as sharp.

    Got you. You were referring to the other shots, not the star trail shot when you mention the high ISO values. I assume you used low ISO and BULB for the star trails.
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  • ghinsonghinson Registered Users Posts: 933 Major grins
    edited July 30, 2011
    anonymouscuban wrote: »
    Got you. You were referring to the other shots, not the star trail shot when you mention the high ISO values. I assume you used low ISO and BULB for the star trails.


    Oh yes. yes. Exactly.
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  • sherstonesherstone Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 2,356 Major grins
    edited August 4, 2011
    ghinson wrote: »
    Gonna add 1 more...

    6.
    i-6L6KZfq-L.jpg

    OMG I am in love with this shot!
    Sean
  • ghinsonghinson Registered Users Posts: 933 Major grins
    edited August 5, 2011
    Thanks Sean. I love taking the nighttime stuff. I think you should change the rules for this challenge and let us enter multiple entries. (Then change it back for the next one.) :)
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