The Beacon Lights the Way

[JimFox]

Manley Beacon is that iconic peak that is most often seen from Zabriskie Point. When thinking about shooting the Milky Way in Death Valley a week or so ago I was looking for something different as I have shot the Milky Way from Badwater and the Race Track a bunch of times, so as I was thinking about East facing elements I thought about what if I shot Manley Beach from behind it since shooting it from Zabriskie Point has you facing West instead of East.

I scouted it out during the day and found that you can come up behind Manley Beacon from a trail that leaves from Golden Canyon. Golden Canyon is a wide slot type of canyon, very wide but it has a slot canyon feel in how deep it is with the sheer walls for part of it. Anyway, hiking a mile up it brings you to the backside of Manley Beacon. I plotted the Milky Way out when I scouted it, and it looked like the MW would arch perfectly over the Beacon. So all that was left was hiking back in there a little after Midnight.

It was dark in the canyon and a flashlight was needed to see, but it opened up towards the end and the moon which was still up lighted the way. The moon was over 50% full, I think maybe closer to 60% so it was getting close to where it would be too bright in a few days to shoot the Milky Way, but as it was, it was still really nice. I started up shooting with the moonlight lighting up the ground before it set. But it was still too bright causing the ground to be too bright and the Milky Way was still pretty washed out.

This shot here is a 3 shot horizontal pano just as the very last of the light was on Manley Beacon. By the time I shot the 3 shots for this, the light was gone off of the Beacon. I really liked how Manley Beacon turned into a Beacon with the last light touching it. I have some later shots where the Milky Way is a little better defined, but the Beacon effect is gone. I will probably still process a couple from there, but I wanted to start with this one as I really liked the look of the Beacon.

This was shot with the Nikon D850 and the Sigma 14mm f1.8. It was taken at ISO 1600, 25 secs and f1.8.

All comments are welcome,

Jim

 

[AlanLichty]

Definitely a view of the Manley Beacon I have not seen before - nice work in scouting out how to pull this off and getting this result.

 

[JimFox]

Definitely a view of the Manley Beacon I have not seen before - nice work in scouting out how to pull this off and getting this result.

Thanks! Yeah it was kind of cool to have thought about it perhaps working out, and then looking at the trails and thinking this might just work, and then scouting it out and seeing that everything could line up really nice.

It was 102 degrees out when I was scouting it in the late evening, it made for a nice bit of trail running as sunset was fast approaching and I wanted to get in and back out before it got too dark. When I went back in around midnight I think it was still in the high 80's so it made for some comfortable shooting.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Wow Jim, that's what I call going the extra mile. Very neat image, one of your all time best MW shots. The ground is just bright enough and the brightness increasing with elevation make it look so natural. The sky is dark enough with almost no light pollution and the MW is well defined.

 

[JimFox]

Wow Jim, that's what I call going the extra mile. Very neat image, one of your all time best MW shots. The ground is just bright enough and the brightness increasing with elevation make it look so natural. The sky is dark enough with almost no light pollution and the MW is well defined.

Ha ha about going the extra mile.

Thanks Ben! I am glad you liked this, it did turn out really nice. I only had a small window to work in between the bright moon setting and the sun then rising. Maybe an hour or so, but I liked how it turned out. I keep trying to get to my non Milky Way shots from that trip, but I keep getting drawn back to these. I did shoot some photos that don't include the Milky Way, I swear!

 

[Mike Lewis]

And yes, this just proves my recent post in the recipe contest - You are now officially just killing it when it comes to Milky Way images. Each one potentially more amazing than the last. I would love to get anything even approaching this. I guess perhaps the first step, is to break down and buy that Sigma lens. I have been waiting in case I go with a Canon mirrorless body soon to see if Sigma comes out with an RF version of the lens. Of course, my 5DSr is not terribly great for night shooting either. But ignoring the gear, I still don’t feel I quite have everything figured out to know how to set up and take a shot like this and get these kind of results. You probably don’t want to give away the farm on all your techniques, but honestly you could write an article with lots of great detail on how to set these type of shots up and people would eat it up. I know I would.

But back to the business at hand, this is just lovely. The Beacon with just the right touch of lighting on it is great, and seems to pointing to the brighter part of the Milky Way. The sky exposure and colors are very natural. The whole thing looks natural while at the same time being mesmerizing. It has the look of a view that could have been seen thousands or millions of years ago, before civilized man was around to capture it with a camera.

Wowser.

ML

 

[Jeffrey]

You are truly devoted, Jim. It paid off very well. This is really something!

 

[Leslie Hunter]

This is great!

 

[egrimm]

Very nice Jim. Maybe your best Milky Way image!

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Nice one Jim. Been enjoying your MW shots of late.

 

[JimFox]

And yes, this just proves my recent post in the recipe contest - You are now officially just killing it when it comes to Milky Way images. Each one potentially more amazing than the last. I would love to get anything even approaching this. I guess perhaps the first step, is to break down and buy that Sigma lens. I have been waiting in case I go with a Canon mirrorless body soon to see if Sigma comes out with an RF version of the lens. Of course, my 5DSr is not terribly great for night shooting either. But ignoring the gear, I still don’t feel I quite have everything figured out to know how to set up and take a shot like this and get these kind of results. You probably don’t want to give away the farm on all your techniques, but honestly you could write an article with lots of great detail on how to set these type of shots up and people would eat it up. I know I would.

But back to the business at hand, this is just lovely. The Beacon with just the right touch of lighting on it is great, and seems to pointing to the brighter part of the Milky Way. The sky exposure and colors are very natural. The whole thing looks natural while at the same time being mesmerizing. It has the look of a view that could have been seen thousands or millions of years ago, before civilized man was around to capture it with a camera.

Wowser.

ML

Hey Mike,

The Sigma 14mm f1.8 isn't mandatory but it sure really helps. And most of the better MW shooters that I know are all using this lens now. Gaining a whole stop of light when it's dark out is huge.

You could always buy a Nikon D850 and the Sigma 14mm f1.8 and only use it as a dedicated Milky Way setup...

I am not sure that Sigma will come out with more then the 3 main mounts for this one. It is a bit of a specialty lens. I haven't looked into whether they are going to release it for other mountains after I got mine.

I don't have any secrets, I freely share any and all tips. Even to casual strangers I am standing beside while photographing, if they have questions I will help out as much as possible, or if I see them struggling I will lend a hand. Many a person has gotten a free workshop because they were standing next to me photographing.

I have 2 Tutorials I wrote a long time ago in the Article section. One on photographing the Milky Way and one on photographing Stars. They were written before I had the Sigma 14mm. I read over them a bit ago though, and the basic statements I make will still apply. But after reading them I think I might need to update them since it's been almost 2 years ago that I wrote them.

One thing the articles didn't get into much was how to process them. Though I thought I had written processing suggestions down somewhere. But again, no real secrets just basic processing.

 

[Dean]

Jim,
This is a beauty. I agree with Mike on the very natural look and just the right amount of light for detail in MB as well as there rest of the FG.
Great job on scouting this out.. It’s always great when the effort pays off like this. One of the better MW shots I have seen. Beautiful image !
Regards,
Dean

 

[MonikaC]

Thanks! Yeah it was kind of cool to have thought about it perhaps working out, and then looking at the trails and thinking this might just work, and then scouting it out and seeing that everything could line up really nice.

It was 102 degrees out when I was scouting it in the late evening, it made for a nice bit of trail running as sunset was fast approaching and I wanted to get in and back out before it got too dark. When I went back in around midnight I think it was still in the high 80's so it made for some comfortable shooting.

That's some pretty "manly" scouting, Jim!

How much overlap do you allow with that lens?

 

[Bob]

Jim,
All I can say is perfect. Love it. I use the Sigma 20mm 1.4 and really like it.
Bob

 

[Douglas Sherman]

I don't do Milky Way images because so many of them have become so trite. But yours are out of this world and getting better all of the time, Jim.

You should award yourself the "Daily Featured Post" for this one.

 

[JimFox]

Jim,
This is a beauty. I agree with Mike on the very natural look and just the right amount of light for detail in MB as well as there rest of the FG.
Great job on scouting this out.. It’s always great when the effort pays off like this. One of the better MW shots I have seen. Beautiful image !
Regards,
Dean

Thanks so much Dean! It’s really nice when it works out like this. The scouting helps make it feel like an adventure of exploring into the unknown.

 

[JimFox]

That's some pretty "manly" scouting, Jim!

How much overlap do you allow with that lens?

Ha ha, thanks Monika!

Probably about 1/3 overlap. I try to make sure there is a significant object (like Manley Beacon) that is in each frame. I think it makes it easy for Photoshop to stitch.

 

[Alisa]

Wow! I love this!! Stunning!

 

[David S]

Wow, this is pretty great ! One of the best astros I've ever seen. I love how you can see the gradient of black to blue sky from space, but also the fading light on the tip of the mountain.