Great shot and idea for light painting with the phone. I've had trouble with my headlamp overdoing it. I like the framing - the stars fill the "empty" space quite nicely!
JimFox wrote:
Glad you liked it Tuan! Coming fro
You that means a lot since i think you have the best shot from that location that I have seen.
As for being there alone, I thought it was pretty common for there to be more people there, or I just have some unlucky friends that keep going when there are workshops out there and they have to manuveur with 6 or 8 other people. Which wouldn't be fun.
I did have someone come up one time when I was there. I gladly asked him if he wanted to shoot from my spot, he said that's okay, don't worry as he has shot it before. Well come to find out 6 months later as I read a blog by this "famous" photographer who will remain nameless, that as he described the tremendous and dangerous obstacles ( cause we know all the big time photographers have stories of death and daring to validate their photos) well his death defying act was having to deal with another photographer who fiercely held him off with menacing stares and would not share his tripod holes with him. So alas he had to leave empty handed. And of course the comments in his blog were all feeling sympathy for this big time photographer who had to deal with such a horrible person. Of course I was this supposed horrible person. None of his commenters were smart enough to realize that this big shot photographer could easily have set up his tripod next to me. Nope, I was the villian and was told by the brave Internet commentators that I should have picked up my tripod and camera and moved out of the way for this guy.
It's sad the way so many of these popular big time photographers seem to have such fragile egos that they have to embellish every story and create danger and trials when there was nothing... Sad to have seen that.
I think I remember now why I haven't run across too many people when I'm there. It's usually in the summer that I've camped nearby. Maybe that's the biggest reason.
Wow, quite a story about that other photographer. Wished I had that menacing stare of yours to keep the hordes of people away from me.
ckcarr wrote:
Very nice.
That classic view combination of the standing boulder and the lone tree under the stars is perfect.
Thanks Craig for your kind words! It is definitely a great combination, and the SoCal desert is almost always a comfortable environment. Just pull out a lawn chair and hang out enjoying the sights and sounds.
I like this one a lot Jim, I like the color tones and the clarity it has.
Which makes me want to ask a question, I hope you don't mind. When shooting something like this, do you have to take two images, one for the tree/rock and one for the stars? I have some single image shots that just are no good because the stars are just a touch out of focus, and it makes them look too big...just wondering how you handle it.
Travis Rhoads wrote:
I like this one a lot Jim, I like the color tones and the clarity it has.
Which makes me want to ask a question, I hope you don't mind. When shooting something like this, do you have to take two images, one for the tree/rock and one for the stars? I have some single image shots that just are no good because the stars are just a touch out of focus, and it makes them look too big...just wondering how you handle it.
Cheers.
TR
Hey Travis,
I am glad you like this.
As for your question. This was shot with the Nikon 16-35mm, and is just 1 shot getting both the stars and the ground layer in focus. I have the 14-24mm which has an awesome Rep, but the 16-35mm is my workhorse and for whatever reason is very easy to focus and find the optimum focus.
For almost all of my shots, I typically just use Hyperfocal distance. Shooting at night is no different. This is an f4 lens and at 16mm it certainly has less DOF then at f13 where I usually shoot with it during the day. But it's still pretty good. Having something really close in the foreground is definitely a challenge to get it all in focus, there is no denying that. Usually before it gets too dark, even if it's still bright enough to be shooting at f13, I will knock it down to f4 and then get my focus set up. In this case I did focus on the rock if I remember right, which got the immediate foreground (which was only 3 feet from the camera) and the far hills in pretty good focus. The DOF at f4 won't totally stretch that far, so in the Raw there is just a tad bit of softness in both the foreground and in the stars, but it's very very slight. It's noticeable when zooming in at 100% but again, it's just a slight bit soft. So when processing it, it ends up being really easy to use just a slight bit of sharpening to get it all looking nice and sharp.
As for your question. This was shot with the Nikon 16-35mm, and is just 1 shot getting both the stars and the ground layer in focus. I have the 14-24mm which has an awesome Rep, but the 16-35mm is my workhorse and for whatever reason is very easy to focus and find the optimum focus.
For almost all of my shots, I typically just use Hyperfocal distance. Shooting at night is no different. This is an f4 lens and at 16mm it certainly has less DOF then at f13 where I usually shoot with it during the day. But it's still pretty good. Having something really close in the foreground is definitely a challenge to get it all in focus, there is no denying that. Usually before it gets too dark, even if it's still bright enough to be shooting at f13, I will knock it down to f4 and then get my focus set up. In this case I did focus on the rock if I remember right, which got the immediate foreground (which was only 3 feet from the camera) and the far hills in pretty good focus. The DOF at f4 won't totally stretch that far, so in the Raw there is just a tad bit of softness in both the foreground and in the stars, but it's very very slight. It's noticeable when zooming in at 100% but again, it's just a slight bit soft. So when processing it, it ends up being really easy to use just a slight bit of sharpening to get it all looking nice and sharp.
Hope that helps answer your question.
Jim
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Thanks for the reply Jim, much appreciated. I think part of my issue was shooting at f/2.0. The Canon 14LII at 2.8 had much less of the issue.
Travis Rhoads wrote:
Thanks for the reply Jim, much appreciated. I think part of my issue was shooting at f/2.0. The Canon 14LII at 2.8 had much less of the issue.
Again, thanks for the reply.
TR
Hey Travis,
Yeah, shooting at f2 would make it harder. For the record, even on my 14-24mm which is f2.8, I will set it at f4 also. Again for a little added DOF, and also when shooting at night I will have both my D800E and my D810 set up. And with shooting at f4 on it, allows me to match exposures on both bodies and just makes it simpler for me.
Max_Pain wrote:
Beautiful image of a beautiful location. I need to get out of Florida one of these days...
I am glad you like this, and yes, you need to make a trip out west!
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Jim Dockery wrote:
Great shot and idea for light painting with the phone. I've had trouble with my headlamp overdoing it. I like the framing - the stars fill the "empty" space quite nicely!
Hi Jim,
Thank you for your kind comments. What's also nice with using an iPhone for light painting is the screen brightness is adjustable. It's not simply a high or low light as one would get from a head lamp. And also since it's not as bright as a head lamp, it's a bit more forgiving. I rarely have issues with hot spots on something because I burned it too bright as can happen easily when using a headlamp.
Jim
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Bart Carrig wrote:
Wonderful image Jim; I"ve never been there, but with this, I feel as though I am. Very nice effect.
This pic is extremely well composed, exposed, and processed. Very pleasing to the eye. A fine art print for sure. One of my favorites from you Jim. Congrats !!!
Don
Great shot. I was there earlier this year, but just couldn't get to this one - I also was hesitant to walk through people's camp sites to get to it, but I suppose that happens all the time. Next time I'm there, I'm going to BE in one of those spots
