This is the White Dome Geyser in Yellowstone. It's right next to the Great Fountain Geyser. Once the moon came up and lit up the area I stopped shooting at the Great Fountain and went to leave. The road goes by White Dome Geyser and the large bright moon was really lighting it up, so even though it was around 2am or so, I decided to stop and shoot.
Now this one is cool because it can errupt every 12 to 24 mins. I shot it for almost an hour worth of shots, doing 30 second long shots with the remote release locked in. In the end, I took 25 minutes of shots and stacked them in Startrails, a free PC program that stacks very nicely. I chose a period where White Dome was just errupting and then at the end where it was just finishing towards the end of the 25mins. When I stacked the whole almost an hour worth of star shots, the geyser actually just blended away with the stacking, only a wisp of steam left. With this one, the only images used are the stacked ones, I didn't add a composite of the geyser afterwards. Now I did use a layer mask so that I could adjust the ground separately from the sky and stars. With the moon sooo bright, I actually had to pull back on the exposure from the ground layer quite a bit, otherwise it was actually lit like it was bright daylight, not like it was a night shot.
NIcely done Jim. I like the fact that you pulled back the foregound to make it blend better. I took some star trails in JTNP at Arch Rock on the night of the Super Moon, and it too turned out like it was taken in bright day light. You did a nice job of blending.
Sure looks like you made the right decision to stop and shoot. I like the result. It keeps me staring. What I can't decide on is whether the foreground exposure is enough or not. Guess I'll keep staring
In the mean time, how about a rendition with a darker ground exposure for comparison?
Awesome shot, Jim! I really love how you captured the geyser erupting in addition to the star trails in the sky. You brought the elements together very nicely.
Really cool shot Jim. I always enjoy viewing night astro stuff, but I rarely get a chance to do it myself. Just curious what are you doing while you wait? Or do you have another camera setup to shoot other things?
Jim, this is an outstanding image.
Great visualization, great execution, perfect processing
By the way, I am getting a strong feeling that you may be a complete wild man
Roaming through our National Parks ALL night creating these fantastic images.
Never sleeping, only eating the poor animals that have the misfortune to wander across your path at 3am while all other humans in the park are safe and warm in their sleeping bags
Jim Bau wrote:
NIcely done Jim. I like the fact that you pulled back the foregound to make it blend better. I took some star trails in JTNP at Arch Rock on the night of the Super Moon, and it too turned out like it was taken in bright day light. You did a nice job of blending.
Thanks so much Jim. Yeah, it's amazing how the moon can so easily make a scene actually look like it's daytime instead of nighttime!
Sure looks like you made the right decision to stop and shoot. I like the result. It keeps me staring. What I can't decide on is whether the foreground exposure is enough or not. Guess I'll keep staring
In the mean time, how about a rendition with a darker ground exposure for comparison?
Matt
Hey Matt,
Thanks so much! I appreciate the thoughts. Certainly I could make the foreground a bit darker. Since it was lit up with the moon so brightly though, I did want to try and stay true to the amount of light was there. I might play with darking the light a bit more after I have let this one sit and settle in my brain for a while... sometimes we just need to sit back and digest the shot as you suggest...
Wow. amazing shot Jim. I should try my hand on star stacking. I like the composition of the foreground lines, really pulls you into the geyser. I think what really makes this shot is the venting of the geyser. The trails are cool but that wisps of water makes it shine.
Fine job on the PP. Get some big wall space ready.