Headed to Big Sur this morning pre-dawn hoping to catch some stars before sunrise. Inspired by other recent night shots I have seen by other photographers I thought I'd give a moonless night another go.

This is fun stuff. But I am definately still experimenting with the darkest nights. It had just rained and the stars were really bright. And I saw several shooting stars while taking these.

Anyway this was a composite of two images. The first was 1 hour before sunrise - 30 secs, f4, ISO 2500. The second 45 minutes later - 30 secs, f4.5, ISO 100, 5DII, 17-40L. This type of shot really is pushing the limits of the 17-40L. This time it seemed to do better than others. But I did have to push the exposure up a stop during raw conversion. So there was definately noise to deal with. But for this lens I am pretty happy with the results especially wide open.

That's pretty cool, Derek! Great star fields....Pleides, Hyades, Orion and Canis Major easily recognizable.... and good work on the blend....looks quite natural.

Barry

Fantastic image.

all of what barry said, though perhaps tone down the purple a little in the sky.

simon

Lovely scene.
Great Work.

Wow!
Just amazing.
Well done Derek.
David

Very nice and the blend works for me.
Boy, does this make you feel small (in a good way).
Have thought about doing something like this.
Thanks for posting
Dan

Beautiful shot, one Ive always dreamt of making one day.

If you don't mind my asking, what made you go for such a high ISO?

Stunning image Derek - I keep hoping I can capture a scene like someday but so far I have yet to be anywhere near the right time and place to make it happen.

Nice work.

Alan

Thanks guys,

I am still experimenting with these darkest of nights. But I think this is progress in the right direction. Using the staggered foreground frame was an idea I got from Floris on NPN. Anyway I will probably use dark frame subtraction next go out to help minimize noise.

XFBO, the reason I used ISO 2500 was out of necessity. Dark skies are the goal which means it is really dark out - so dark that you can't even see things a few feet in front of you when walking. When it gets that dark you need to brightest, widest lens you have - for me that is the 17-40L/f4. At 17mm, f4, ISO 2500, 30 seconds this image was still at least 1 stop underexposed. So shooting at ISO 3600 may have been better. But obviously the higher ISO you go the more noise. So it is a trade off. If I wanted star trails I could just shoot for 10 minutes+ at lower ISOs. But I am going for non-trail shots.

Derek

TY for that explanation, I guess I should had realized that a longer exposure would lead to blurred/streaked stars. Another duh moment.

This is fantastic! Hope to see more of Big Sur soon.

Derek,
Thats a fantastic, wonderfully amazing image.
Very well done.

--a bit purple, but just fantastic.

Thanks for going to all that work, & sharing the results.


Keep it up,
Bob

Beautiful image really digging everything about this capture and very nice work on the blend

Ray Still

Absolutely incredible. Planning my trip.

Fascinating! I love the light on the water. Very mysterious.
Ute

Great com, Derek. I have never seen such a combination before.

Thanks for the comments everyone. And I appreciate the feedback on the sky too. Now that you mention it it does seem to have a bit too much purple. So I'll work on that after work tonight. Night sky color balanace is really tricky to get right, even after the fact during RAW conversion. I may have to set the color manually next time.

I am really looking forward to trying this again when we get some more clear nights. it seems like each time I go and experiment I learn a little more.

Derek

Wow Derek! This is a winner! I love the STARRY sky and the interesting foreground.

love it!