Big Sur by starlight

dereksurfs

I spent Black Friday heading to the coast while everyone else was heading to the malls. Usually I don't see many on the road at 4:30 AM. These are time lapse images. The first for the sky in complete darkness and the second ~ 45 minutes later for the foreground in predawn light. Although dark there was some light noise from the city to the right.








And here is the view looking down after sunrise:

kdog

Excellent work, Derek. Very creative and the stars are amazing.

ian408

I like that time between the last bit of darkness and dawn. It's truly special if you can get away from the city lights (which in your case are probably Monterey Peninsula?). Nice pictures.

joe-bob

The night shats are awesome.

Doug Solis

Nice work, I like them all

dereksurfs

ian408 wrote: »

I like that time between the last bit of darkness and dawn. It's truly special if you can get away from the city lights (which in your case are probably Monterey Peninsula?). Nice pictures.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Ian, predawn is a very special time indeed, especially this time of the year in Big Sur. These shots were taken at Garrapata which is just south of Carmel and Point Lobos.

CRobH

Very cool! Great shots!

UmmmHowsThat

Great shots! How did you capture the stars so clearly? I wish my night sky possessed that many twinkles.

TreyHoff

Way to go! Beautiful.

dereksurfs

Thanks guys for the input!

Bryan, Big Sur gets some great dark skies which is what you need to capture the bright stars. Basically get as far away from big cities and light pollution as you can. Check out this map of light pollution and dark skies to give you an idea of where to look: http://www.jshine.net/astronomy/dark_sky/

Generally mountains, deserts, plains and coasts far from the big city are good locations.

A-1 Boss

This might be a stupid question but- Are these 1 shot or multiple shots stacked? I am fascinated with this type of photography. Do you mind sharing what kind of exposure used?

dereksurfs

A-1 Boss wrote: »

This might be a stupid question but- Are these 1 shot or multiple shots stacked? I am fascinated with this type of photography. Do you mind sharing what kind of exposure used?

This is a time lapse blend of two exposures from the same tripod locked position. For the stars my formula is almost always the same 25-30 seconds, wide open f4 @ 17mm from a full frame 5DII. It needs to be pitch black out with no moon for the best stars. It was taken ~ 1.5 hours before sunrise.

For the foreground you really have more creative flexibility in terms of exposure. Hence the difference look beween #1 & #2. In the first I wanted to show more wave action. So I shot at 1 sec, f4.5, ISO 2000. The second one is longer at 10 sec, f5.6, ISO 2500. Note that the changing light is one of the biggest factors. So its best to shoot a variety of pre-dawn images then see which blends best with the stars. Usually ~ 30 minutes before sunrise is a good time.

Derek

davidryan

Fantastic! Well done!