Rocky Mountain Way (+2)

[Kyle Jones]

With clear skies, calm winds, and no snow on the roads I decided to visit Lake McDonald last night (or I guess early this morning) for a few shots. In addition to the mountains, stars and like I appear to have gotten some aurora glow as well. Here is my wide (14mm but slightly cropped) rendition, which best shows the line of stars across the sky. I am still working on some more shots.

Edit: I've added two more versions, zooming more into the scene. For those that are interested, the original 14mm shot was taken with the Rokinon SP 14/2.4, the 24mm shot was the Samyang 24/1.4, and the 35mm shot was the Tamron SP 35/1.4. This was my first time using the Tamron for night photography and I believe it is fantastic. I shot it wide open with a 10s exposure and the stars are sharp with no visible coma.

Any thoughts are welcome.

1) Wide (14mm) shot that I'd originally envisioned with the full stretch of the stars across the scene

2) 24mm version that still shows some of the MW

3) 35mm version the focuses on the mountains and aurora (which I hadn't really planned on seeing)

 

[AlanLichty]

Great place for watching aurora - I love the greenish tint behind the mountains and the reflections.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Wonderful night shot. Love the stars the aurora and the reflection

 

[Jim Dockery]

Beautiful.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Lovely image Kyle.

 

[Bart Carrig]

Very nice image Kyle. Beautifully processed.

bart

 

[Alisa]

Beautiful!!

 

[Kyle Jones]

I added a couple of extra images (rather than start a new thread). I'm interested in how each one strikes people.

@Ben Egbert these were all taken with different lenses that I've recommended in the past. The 14/2.4 is the one you bought (I believe) for the first image. The last one was with the Tamron 35/1.4 and I'm really happy with how it performed - as long as the field of view works.

 

[Ben Egbert]

That Rokeon 14 looks pretty good. I have only had a chance to use mine on one occasion and it performed well. Not much night sky opportunity for me yet

 

[JimFox]

Very cool Kyle! These are great, and that you got an aurora too is just so much icing on the cake!

With doing the timelapses, I have been thinking about a fast 35mm for at night. So I am glad to hear how the Tamron performed for you.

 

[JimFox]

Congrats on the Daily Featured Photo Kyle!

@Kyle Jones

 

[AlanLichty]

The additional images are even better than the first - especially #2 as that is my favorite composition of the group.

 

[Jeffrey]

Nice time of day. I do like the second one. Good work.

 

[Kyle Jones]

That Rokeon 14 looks pretty good. I have only had a chance to use mine on one occasion and it performed well. Not much night sky opportunity for me yet

I'm sure that you'll have some soon.

Very cool Kyle! These are great, and that you got an aurora too is just so much icing on the cake!

With doing the timelapses, I have been thinking about a fast 35mm for at night. So I am glad to hear how the Tamron performed for you.

I can highly recommend it. This was my first night time use for it and I have no complaints at all. I'm looking forward to using it when the core is more visible.

Congrats on the Daily Featured Photo Kyle!

@Kyle Jones

Thank you very much Jim!

The additional images are even better than the first - especially #2 as that is my favorite composition of the group.

Thank you Alan - just the kind of think I was looking for!

Nice time of day. I do like the second one. Good work.

Thanks a lot Jeffrey!

 

[Ben Egbert]

What were your settings for the 14 mm image and I assume it was with the R5

 

[Kyle Jones]

What were your settings for the 14 mm image and I assume it was with the R5

I shot at ISO 3200, f/2.8 and 25s. Yes this was the R5 and I had wanted to mention that as this was my first night shot with it. At this point I think it is the best night/high ISO camera I've used. As part of my testing with a new camera, I took images at ISO 1600, 3200, and 6400 with all other settings the same and then pushed the files in Lightroom to give them the same exposure. I do this because for still stars my aperture and shutter speed are essentially fixed so the only real variable I have is the ISO.

Looking at the final files, the ISO 3200 shot seemed slightly cleaner than the others, so I'll be using that going forward. All looked pretty good though. It also had no problem taking long exposures (I took a 5 minute exposure at ISO 1600 and f/4) unlike my Panasonic S1R which breaks down on long exposures for some weird reason.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Thanks Kyle I had done some at iso 1600 but the sky was not really dark

 

[Douglas Sherman]

With clear skies, calm winds, and no snow on the roads I decided to visit Lake McDonald last night (or I guess early this morning) for a few shots. In addition to the mountains, stars and like I appear to have gotten some aurora glow as well. Here is my wide (14mm but slightly cropped) rendition, which best shows the line of stars across the sky. I am still working on some more shots.

Edit: I've added two more versions, zooming more into the scene. For those that are interested, the original 14mm shot was taken with the Rokinon SP 14/2.4, the 24mm shot was the Samyang 24/1.4, and the 35mm shot was the Tamron SP 35/1.4. This was my first time using the Tamron for night photography and I believe it is fantastic. I shot it wide open with a 10s exposure and the stars are sharp with no visible coma.

Any thoughts are welcome.

1) Wide (14mm) shot that I'd originally envisioned with the full stretch of the stars across the scene
View attachment 37573

2) 24mm version that still shows some of the MW
View attachment 37574

3) 35mm version the focuses on the mountains and aurora (which I hadn't really planned on seeing)
View attachment 37575

Beautiful work, Kyle nd congratulations on the Daily Features Post.

 

[Bart Carrig]

I was so happy with the first image, but the edits give it even more bump, yet remain natural to the eye. #2 is very fine; but I'm going with #3 as the fave. Congratulations on DFP. The blues and green here are so complementary to each other. Night images usually fit into their niche, but this one really stands with any landscape collection.

bart