andrewpmorse
Sound Asleep
Pretty hard to sleep when views like this only come out at night! And this was certainly a late night. I knew the moon would be up on this night until fairly late, and I also knew that the milky way wouldn't be in position until just before the moon set. I was, however, wrong on exactly what time that was going to happen, resulting in me standing around quite a while until conditions were right. In fact, by the time I was finished taking the photo, I could literally hear the lake freezing. What a surreal experience.
This photo was taken using a Canon 5D mark IV and a Rokinon 14mm f/2.8. Putting this together was somewhat complicated - 10 exposures in total. One low sensitivity exposure (ISO 1250) to illuminate the tent, one higher sensitivity shot (ISO 6400) to illuminate just around the tent, then 8 more 20 second exposures at high ISO (8000) to capture as much noise-free detail in the milky way as possible (median stacked in Photoshop). A bit of a pain to do it this way, but the noise is super low because of the technique, and lets you focus stack as well - pin sharp stars, pin sharp foreground. Timing was key - tent/foreground images happened when the moon was on the horizon to give a bit more ambient light, while star images were a few minutes later to reduce the moonlight from washing it out. Processed and compiled in Camera Raw and Photoshop.
Full disclosure - I did not camp as pictured here: that would have been dangerous and inappropriate. I actually set up the tent for the photo and then took it down and camped in a more appropriate location.
Sound Asleep
Pretty hard to sleep when views like this only come out at night! And this was certainly a late night. I knew the moon would be up on this night until fairly late, and I also knew that the milky way wouldn't be in position until just before the moon set. I was, however, wrong on exactly what time that was going to happen, resulting in me standing around quite a while until conditions were right. In fact, by the time I was finished taking the photo, I could literally hear the lake freezing. What a surreal experience.
This photo was taken using a Canon 5D mark IV and a Rokinon 14mm f/2.8. Putting this together was somewhat complicated - 10 exposures in total. One low sensitivity exposure (ISO 1250) to illuminate the tent, one higher sensitivity shot (ISO 6400) to illuminate just around the tent, then 8 more 20 second exposures at high ISO (8000) to capture as much noise-free detail in the milky way as possible (median stacked in Photoshop). A bit of a pain to do it this way, but the noise is super low because of the technique, and lets you focus stack as well - pin sharp stars, pin sharp foreground. Timing was key - tent/foreground images happened when the moon was on the horizon to give a bit more ambient light, while star images were a few minutes later to reduce the moonlight from washing it out. Processed and compiled in Camera Raw and Photoshop.
Full disclosure - I did not camp as pictured here: that would have been dangerous and inappropriate. I actually set up the tent for the photo and then took it down and camped in a more appropriate location.