Jred wrote:
Jim - not only did you nail the comp - but the colors are great!

What lens did you use?

John

Thanks so much John. Yeah, the colors are pretty much all natural, no saturation needed. The lens I used was a 14mm Samyang f2.8. It's turning into my Star shooting lens, I am really liking what I get out of it.

Jim

CarlG wrote:
This is perfect in every way!! (well, except for one thing - it's not mine!)


Ha ha... thanks Carl! Well, get on out there and get your own. I left a few stars up in the sky for you to shoot too...

Jim

great shot Jim,

meteors will be fine, similar to that of how satalites or planes leave trails.
my suggestion would be of course the 14mm and start and 1hrs exp. then leave a dark frame to the very last image you take. then work the dark frame subtraction in the workflow.

simon

cool shot :-)

Amazing image Jim.
The detail capture and composition is stunning. I love the Bristle Cone area and your work reveals it in such a unique way.

Final point... I am just beginning to experiment with night photography and have been challenged to say the least. Your descriptions about the pre and post processing techniques are quite useful... so thanks!

bruce

Great shot. Have been meaning to try out stacking here soon. Only critique might be that the blue is a little too saturated.... but maybe it came out like that.

Nice shot Jim.

Very cool Jim! Nicely done with the stacking. Guess I'll have to try it sometime.

Really shot.

Hi Jim,

This is wonderful and positively surreal. The super bright star patterns and the strongly lit surface features create a very intense image. All you need is some dripping watches...

Phil

Great shot, Jim.
I was thinking that I might try similar shots when in the area next month, but camping will be a bit of a problem.
I'll have to review the situation when I get to Lone Pine.
Graham

Hey Jim. I agree with all above posts. You've done a great job with this one!

Greg

OwlsEyes wrote:
Amazing image Jim.
The detail capture and composition is stunning. I love the Bristle Cone area and your work reveals it in such a unique way.

Final point... I am just beginning to experiment with night photography and have been challenged to say the least. Your descriptions about the pre and post processing techniques are quite useful... so thanks!

bruce

Hey Bruce,

Thanks so much! I appreciate that. As to your going and taking star shots if you have any questions be sure to ask. It's really pretty simple once you get it figured out. It's just the "unknown" can be a bit intimidating, but it's pretty easy and fun!

Jim

moonpeep wrote:
Great shot. Have been meaning to try out stacking here soon. Only critique might be that the blue is a little too saturated.... but maybe it came out like that.

I appreciate that. I didn't add any saturation. The colors in the sky came from just bringing the contrast up in the shot.

Jim

philtax wrote:
Hi Jim,

This is wonderful and positively surreal. The super bright star patterns and the strongly lit surface features create a very intense image. All you need is some dripping watches...

Phil

Ha ha... yeah dripping watches would have been just the touch!

Thanks!

Jim

Timmeh wrote:
I really want to try star trails now. Are you putting together a show for star trails? You have quite a selection at this point. The trees leaning towards the North Star is a really great touch!

Tim

Hey Tim, now thats' a cool idea... I do think I have a pretty interesting selection. I might just have to do that!

Jim

alatoo60 wrote:
Very cool. Because of vignetting, the star trails look like an inward spiral that is about to suck in the trees

Thanks so much Sasha! Yeah, when I set up these compositions, I take a gander as to where North is, but still it's always a cool surprise to see the finished product to see if the North balances out well with the other objects in the scene. This one I sure liked how it worked with that tree.

Jim

Grahamc wrote:
Great shot, Jim.
I was thinking that I might try similar shots when in the area next month, but camping will be a bit of a problem.
I'll have to review the situation when I get to Lone Pine.
Graham

Hi Graham,

Well you can do it, it's just you will have to give up the sunrise then for the following morning. Shoot the stars till 11pm or Midnight, and then head back down to your motel. You will get in late, but you can sleep in you got it made. The only issue I would say is to be careful driving. I have gotten flats both of the last two times I went up there. I heard they had graded the road and so it pulled up a bunch of sharp rocks. So that might be the one thing to consider, as I am not sure you would want to be changing a tire out on a dirty rocky road at 1am.

Jim

Very nice Jim. You are unleashing the camera potential, combined with your expertise!

Nikon should give you a free D800E now!

Very cool, Jim. Nice processing.

The stacking programs definitely are useful. After stacking a few manually in photoshop, I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want to try the stacking programs. I've used Startrails and Starstax. I don;t have enough time with them to know which I prefer, but the price was right

Eric