Milky Way, Part 2

Gallery: LandscapePosted December 9, 2010582 views18 comments

I posted a MW shot in Man & Nature the other day (had a road at the bottom) that I had taken in NE Arizona last week. This image tonight is from the same evening, just later that night as I was driving south out of Flagstaff. Talk about a low-light-pollution city, I honestly think this sky was brighter 5 miles south of Flagstaff than out in the desert. Less dust possibly.

I sort of goofed, it was so dark I didn't notice that I had moved the zoom ring up to 21mm when setting up the tripod, so I lost the 16mm bigness I had wanted. But maybe the comp of the sky works where it is at 21mm. Funny, the lens distortion almost makes the trees look like they're pointing inward to the light show. It looks a like a galaxy is visible in the center, M31 maybe?

Anyway, C&C surely welcomed as I try to get a handle on these types of images.

Technical:
5D Mark II, 16-35mm 2.8
30 seconds, ISO 3200, 21mm, f2.8
No noise reduction, I left it a bit grainy to not suppress stars, but I hit the contrast kind of hard with Curves, especially on the bright end. Maybe I need to tone down blue a bit in the stars.

Comments

18 comments

Comment posted by Dean Sauskojus on December 9, 2010 at 2:43 AM

Paul, love all those stars and the bit of detail in the trees. Color looks good to me and it looks like you may have picked up a meteor or something else in the upper middle of the image. Nice work.

Registered on September 29, 2009, 137 Posts, 2659 Comments

Comment posted by Andreas Resch on December 9, 2010 at 4:32 AM

That's some great sky - I was lucky to see a similar one in October but didn't think that capturing it can be that successful.

Registered on November 14, 2007, 322 Posts, 6101 Comments

Comment posted by Raymond D Smith on December 9, 2010 at 9:20 AM

I have really enjoy these type's of shots lately. I know it must be tough but I would maybe pull down on the darks a touch that might make the stars even brighter. I am sure it's hard to decide how bright or dark to go with these night shots. The meteor is totally cool catch. Cheers

Registered on January 22, 2009, 12 Posts, 479 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Stough on December 9, 2010 at 9:21 AM

A nice composition with the galaxy flowing upward from the forest. I do think the sky contrast is a little hard and that will tend to suppress the nebulosity of the milky way, although its really hard to tell with night shots at this size. The color balance looks good to my eye but thats pretty subjective anyway. All in all though I like this a lot.

Registered on November 20, 2010, 26 Posts, 273 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Goldwasser on December 9, 2010 at 9:22 AM

I think the sky and especially the Milky way look great here. I might like to see a comp that gives the viewer a little more subject matter aside from that spectacular night sky - but that's just personal preference.

Registered on May 10, 2009, 127 Posts, 970 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on December 9, 2010 at 11:31 AM

I like this so much more without the road! Really amazing and stunning in every way...

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on December 9, 2010 at 11:36 AM

I think this is wonderful as it. I think the lens distortion really worked well.

Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Zemmin on December 9, 2010 at 11:57 AM

This is wonderful. I like the trees for perspective and the sky is fantastic. Well done!

Registered on November 4, 2010, 8 Posts, 170 Comments

Comment posted by Paul DeCesare on December 9, 2010 at 12:15 PM

I appreciate the comments and helpful feedback. I think we're just barely getting the hang of how to do the post processing on these astro-portraits. I saw one fella who actually shot at ISO 100 and then used Stacks in After Effects to churn out his image, and I liked what he got a whole lot more than what I did here. He's a video guy which is why he used After Effects, but I'm almost certain that Photoshop Extended has the Stacks feature, so I'll be investigating that.

I'm looking forward to getting the Nikon 14-24mm to replace my 16-35mm, I think the image quality will greatly increase, and that 7% increase in field of view will be HUGE being that my subject is a baziilion miles away.

Registered on August 31, 2007, 29 Posts, 202 Comments

Comment posted by Darren Huski on December 9, 2010 at 12:18 PM

Seems a little too many blue stars?

Wish you had gone wider too as I think you need both more sky and trees.

Registered on August 17, 2008, 61 Posts, 340 Comments

Comment posted by Paul DeCesare on December 9, 2010 at 12:28 PM

Ugh, I KNOW, when I got back into the car and saw I was at 21mm I wanted to kick myself, it's not that easy to frame in the viewfinder so I just figured what I saw was my widest focal length. I didn't reshoot because it was pushing midnight and I needed to get home, but I will certainly be running back up there when I can swing the 14-24mm.

You're right Darren, there are more blue artifacts than I'm comfortable with. I need to check the raw file and see what I truly have to work with... I just need to think outside the box a bit in my post processing approach (and get that Nikon 14-24mm, lol!!)

Registered on August 31, 2007, 29 Posts, 202 Comments

Comment posted by Luis Argerich on December 9, 2010 at 3:09 PM

Hi Paul,
I really like night landscapes this seems to be a nice dark sky in a nice forest.
I'm having a headache trying to recognize the area of the sky you photographed, I see the MW and I see a galaxy, but I'm not familiar with the Northern Hemisphere sky to recognize the constellations.
I see some deformations in the stars near the edges and the change of color in the sky before and after the milky way is also strange.
I'm not sure if I can't recognize the sky because of the photo or because of my lack of familiarity, sorry.

Registered on December 22, 2009, 91 Posts, 1349 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Gomez on December 9, 2010 at 5:48 PM

Geez! I can't wait to get a 5D II so that I can pull this off. It's amazing how many stars there are out there. Great job, Paul!

Registered on March 3, 2007, 206 Posts, 1853 Comments

Comment posted by Paul DeCesare on December 9, 2010 at 7:03 PM

Rick: I'm thinking the full frame sensor is the key for minute light-gathering with an acceptable noise floor. The 5D2 does that well, and the Nikon D3s may even be less noisy (see Richard Peters' article on his MW shots). I wish I had my old 5D to try this with, the huge 8.2 micron photocells on that sensor might work best of all!

Luis: I was literally on the shoulder of the highway, on I-17 southbound, seven miles south of Flagstaff, Arizona, aiming at the hills and trees in a northwest direction if that helps. In fact, a passing car is what probably illuminated the evergreens (uh oh, does that disqualify the ESS status?

). Flagstaff therefor would have been off to my right at about the 2:00 position. The reddish hue on the right side of the MW is most likely desert dust in the air illuminated by the city. As for the "deformations in the stars near the edges", welllll... that is exactly why I've been complaining the last two nights about my Canon 16-35mm and the common edge distortion in Canon wide angle zooms, and why I want to upgrade to the Nikon 14-24mm with the V3 adapter!

Registered on August 31, 2007, 29 Posts, 202 Comments

Comment posted by Paul DeCesare on December 9, 2010 at 7:11 PM

However, I'd better revisit this in RAW, because I'm wondering if there are points of NOISE that appear as stars that aren't really there. Again, now that we can shoot at ISO 3200 and 6400, I believe the post processing workflow for these types of shots sill has a lot to be discovered. I'm workin' on it!

Registered on August 31, 2007, 29 Posts, 202 Comments

Comment posted by Paul DeCesare on December 9, 2010 at 7:33 PM

I found the site for the fella who uses Stacks for Post processing, here. He shot these at ISO 100 I think, then did the Stacks thing. The images look great, I need to try this. BTW, he shot these with a 5D Mark II and a 24mm/1.4 lens.

Registered on August 31, 2007, 29 Posts, 202 Comments

Comment posted by Paul DeCesare on December 10, 2010 at 12:10 PM

Rich, preferably made of solid chocolate.

Registered on August 31, 2007, 29 Posts, 202 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on December 17, 2010 at 5:48 AM

God does good work hey Paul

You've done an excellent job of showing this star packed sky with nebulae.
I like the shifting color/light gradient I see from top to bottom..would like to see this large..
Well done

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments