Morning milk in Death Valley
Milky"Morning Milk"
Here is how this image came to be..........First drive to Death Valley National Park from Colorado in 2 days......Spend an afternoon in 97 degree heat scouting vast areas for compositions that line up nicely with the milky way..... Take numerous scouting photos for reference later, that won't matter one hill of beans because it's crazy dark when you get back to your spot anyway.......Set an alarm for 12:30am..........wake up at 11:00pm because you're waiting for your alarm to go off at 12:30am.........Get out of bed with your 2 hours of sleep and get dressed, grab your camera gear and head to your milky way composition.....Turn your headlamp on and hit yourself in the face with it......say a naughty word just like when you were photographing freezing soap bubbles.......Start your short hike to your composition spot....... Head down a nasty hill with little pebbles that make you slip and slide ( more nasty words).......Try not to walk off a cliff......stop and set up 2 tripods for 2 cameras.... one vertical composition and one horizontal...... Stare out into the vast darkness wondering where the heck you're supposed to aim your lens......say more inappropriate words as you now need to find 2 compositions in complete darkness.....set your ISO to 10,000 and shoot blindly for 10 seconds so you can at least make out an image on your LCD......Adjust the composition over and over until you think you have it.......then decide you DON'T have it and continue........repeat this with your other camera and other composition....Start panicking because the milky way is rising exactly where you want it and your NOT READY!!!!....(insert nasty word here)......Finally get your comps and begin shooting.......meanwhile you're standing on a sloped slippery hill and under NO circumstance can you bump your tripod..... Stress level rises.......but you're having FUN!!! Shoot various milky way positions until the sun begins to illuminate your landscape...Now....shift your actual focus on both cameras to begin shooting your foreground that's now appearing in real life.....pray that you like it...... Finish capturing your blue hour/sunrise foregrounds and go eat breakfast. Repeat this process 3 more time on your trip!!!!
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 14-24mmF2.8 lens at 14mm
Sky: 15 images stacked with starry landscape stacker, ISO 10,000, F2.8, 10 seconds
Foreground: ISO 64, F11, 1/60 sec.
Hand blended using Lightroom and Photoshop. way meets the sunrise in Death Valley National Park, CA.
Morning milk in Death Valley
Milky"Morning Milk"
Here is how this image came to be..........First drive to Death Valley National Park from Colorado in 2 days......Spend an afternoon in 97 degree heat scouting vast areas for compositions that line up nicely with the milky way..... Take numerous scouting photos for reference later, that won't matter one hill of beans because it's crazy dark when you get back to your spot anyway.......Set an alarm for 12:30am..........wake up at 11:00pm because you're waiting for your alarm to go off at 12:30am.........Get out of bed with your 2 hours of sleep and get dressed, grab your camera gear and head to your milky way composition.....Turn your headlamp on and hit yourself in the face with it......say a naughty word just like when you were photographing freezing soap bubbles.......Start your short hike to your composition spot....... Head down a nasty hill with little pebbles that make you slip and slide ( more nasty words).......Try not to walk off a cliff......stop and set up 2 tripods for 2 cameras.... one vertical composition and one horizontal...... Stare out into the vast darkness wondering where the heck you're supposed to aim your lens......say more inappropriate words as you now need to find 2 compositions in complete darkness.....set your ISO to 10,000 and shoot blindly for 10 seconds so you can at least make out an image on your LCD......Adjust the composition over and over until you think you have it.......then decide you DON'T have it and continue........repeat this with your other camera and other composition....Start panicking because the milky way is rising exactly where you want it and your NOT READY!!!!....(insert nasty word here)......Finally get your comps and begin shooting.......meanwhile you're standing on a sloped slippery hill and under NO circumstance can you bump your tripod..... Stress level rises.......but you're having FUN!!! Shoot various milky way positions until the sun begins to illuminate your landscape...Now....shift your actual focus on both cameras to begin shooting your foreground that's now appearing in real life.....pray that you like it...... Finish capturing your blue hour/sunrise foregrounds and go eat breakfast. Repeat this process 3 more time on your trip!!!!
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 14-24mmF2.8 lens at 14mm
Sky: 15 images stacked with starry landscape stacker, ISO 10,000, F2.8, 10 seconds
Foreground: ISO 64, F11, 1/60 sec.
Hand blended using Lightroom and Photoshop. way meets the sunrise in Death Valley National Park, CA.