Gateway to the Stars

JimFox

JimFox

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With the rare snowfall in Joshua Tree as described in my previous post I had found the clouds opening up and allowing the stars to shine through. This classic composition kind of felt like it was a gateway to the stars for me. While I never mind sharing a location with someone, it was pretty nice that for as popular as this composition is, there was no one else awake at 3am but me. Due to the weather conditions, there were mostly open campsites as most people didn't want to have to deal with the stormy conditions to travel there I guess. Anyway, it was nice in that I didn't have to deal with footprints in the snow. The snow at this point was only about 2 or 3 inches deep, so with the rock surface any step would be clearly seen. So I could control where I was going to shoot and where I was going to step so I could keep footprints out of other compositions.

Again, this was a super bright out. Not only did the opening of the clouds reveal stars, but it also let the practically full moon shine through. So it was almost as bright as day out there, especially with the snow reflecting the light. This was at 6 secs at f1.8 and at ISO 400 and is a single shot.

All comments are welcome,

Jim

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Darcy Grizzle

Darcy Grizzle

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I love when you all share your settings, especially being amateur. It gives us a starting point for our shots when & if we go out night shooting. Wonderful image Jim and I love that little tree & the rock
 
Ben Egbert

Ben Egbert

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Gorgeous Jim. Not all night shots need a Milky way and I prefer the brighter foreground afforded by the full moon.
 
Kyle Jones

Kyle Jones

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Another nice capture of some special conditions! I am wondering, though, why you stuck with f/1.8. I'd think you could protect yourself from potential depth of field issues and potentially add some sharpness by going to something like f/4 with that much light. Not a critique, just curious...
 
AlanLichty

AlanLichty

Moderator
Very interesting light with contributions from the reflecting snow and the clouds. I like the hints of stars with more emphasis on the ground features but that does leave me with the same question as Kyle - why the f/1.8 with the ground being the primary subject?
 
JimFox

JimFox

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Darcy Grizzle said:
I love when you all share your settings, especially being amateur. It gives us a starting point for our shots when & if we go out night shooting. Wonderful image Jim and I love that little tree & the rock
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Thanks so much Darcy, I am glad you liked his.

Keep in mind that when it comes to the settings that unless you go and buy the Sigma 14mm f1.8, in most of the cases you would be shooting with a f2.8 or even a f4 lens. So that means longer shutter speeds and a higher ISO.
 
JimFox

JimFox

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Staff member
Ben Egbert said:
Gorgeous Jim. Not all night shots need a Milky way and I prefer the brighter foreground afforded by the full moon.
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Thanks Ben! I don't normally shoot my night shots this bright, but that is the what the full moon dictated, so I went with it. :)

And I agree, myself included we really have gotten hooked on Milky Way shots to the degree that we almost seem to forget that just plain old regular stars are cool too!
 
JimFox

JimFox

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Staff member
Kyle Jones said:
Another nice capture of some special conditions! I am wondering, though, why you stuck with f/1.8. I'd think you could protect yourself from potential depth of field issues and potentially add some sharpness by going to something like f/4 with that much light. Not a critique, just curious...
Click to expand...
AlanLichty said:
Very interesting light with contributions from the reflecting snow and the clouds. I like the hints of stars with more emphasis on the ground features but that does leave me with the same question as Kyle - why the f/1.8 with the ground being the primary subject?
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Thanks you guys!

And there is no reason to have shot this at f1.8 other then I guess because I could and am used to that. :rolleyes: I wanted to keep the lower ISO since at ISO 400, so there would be no noise at all in the images. But my exposures ranged from 6 secs to 8 or 10 secs depending on the clouds, so I certainly could have and should have cranked it up to f2.8 or maybe even gotten close to f5.6 and still kept the shutter speed less then 25 or 30 secs.

One thing I was conscious of was the moving clouds, and I knew the longer he shutter speed the more they clouds would move. Sometimes when they are smaller clouds like this when the clouds start to move too much it feels like a smear in the sky and I don't like that look. So that was in the back of my mind as I was watching and shooting.

But with that said, I should gone at least to f2.8 at least and probably higher. Except for my mistake about my focusing being a bit too much towards infinity as I mentioned in the other one, this lens is so dead on sharp at f1.8 I do take a bit of pride in that sharpness. And in this case though, that pride was bad in that I should have closed the f stop down some. Even though this does look great at f1.8, there is no reason not to have gone a little smaller because the lens does sharpen up even more the closer it gets to f8. Also, I think I am so used to shooting with a less bright moon, to where f1.8 is needed because of the lack of light that to close it down more is something I don't think about much anymore, but I should have.

Alan, as to the ground layer. At 14mm and f1.8 according to the hyperfocal chart if I focus on something 12 feet away, everything from 6 feet to infinity is in focus. I have tested that to be true. So at f1.8 my foreground is sharp, very sharp in fact, so that's why I am totally comfortable with staying at f1.8. What the f1.8 can't deal with is an operator error like I had made. Fortunately, it wasn't too bad and I could recover that in processing. :)

So good reminder Kyle and Alan, there is no need for me to shoot at f1.8 just because I can. Next time I will (hopefully) adjust it to f2.8 or more when I am shooting under a full moon. :)
 
Dean

Dean

Well-Known Member
This looks great Jim, I love moon light and this works really well with the light reflecting off the snow.
regards,
Dean
 
Jim Dockery

Jim Dockery

Well-Known Member
Nicely done, to many people it may look fake, but those of us who've wandered the desert & mountains by moonlight know it can be easy to get around without lights.
 
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