This image has been 10 years in the making. I have been attempting it periodically since 2005 but weather conditions and a stubborn Marine Layer prevented success. Then I saw Dustin Wong get out there and get it done and I was re inspired to target it. Over 3 days of attempts, including sleeping out on a high cliff for most of the nights, I finally got what I was after. A 11mm (the new Canon 11-24mm - A7R) Vertical just as the Milky Way touched the tip of the massive sea-stack below. Few places I have ever been in my life compare to the sheer grandeur of this location.
A huge shout out to Dustin Wong for inspiration and to friend and photo processing extraordinaire Alex Noriega for help processing this image.
angel manguel wrote:
Beautiful image Mark. Single image? Blend? Any EXIF to post?
Alan
Thanks Alan, I'm on the road right now so I don't have access to the raw file, but it is:
A7R
Canon 11-24@11mm (LOVE this lens!)
f/4
6400 ISO / 400 ISO
25 sec
2 shot blend.
A clean lower ISO shot from twilight was eased into the foreground via a Custom Luminosity Mask to reduce noise there, but keep the same color temp and luminosity.
Nice one here Mark. The brightness of the Milky Way is very well balanced with the rest of the scene. Your last image drummed up tons of discussion about what a landscape photograph "should" look like. I feel this image looks EXACTLY as it should...which is odd considering we can't see much of the MW with our naked eye anyway. Photography is weird... Regardless, it's a very nice image!
Hey Mark, I read this the other day and though of you. Keep rocking the images out! Some of us LOVE your work!
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Very nice Mark. Unless you have stood in the dark over and over again and waited for the new moon and a clear sky you would not appreciate how much work and post processing that goes into a picture like this.
very nice shot. I really like the cool tone in the shot and its a beautiful place. I am wondering what is the light ray in the middle left side above the horizon?
I've lost count of the number of wonderful images of yours I have dropped my jaw over. But this one has to be one of the best, if not "the' best! Very subtly stated but also very effective - no over the top processing that would be tempting to do. LOVE the blue tones!!
This is a wall hanger for sure!! I'll have to save my pennies (quarters) and get one for myself....signed, of course!!
