Death Valley - Spring Break 2015

[ski3pin]

Got it done, finished up the story. The final installment is here -

Death Valley - Spring 2015 - Part Five

Hope you have fun coming along with us.

 

[billharr]

Fantastic report (as usual).

I think you have another winner for the TCM Calendar.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Part 5,great (the rest also).
The lunar eclipse ,what a shot.
I had heard there was going to be one but we were in the city and not much luck.
Thanks for posting.
The arches,wildflowers and petroglyphs wow.
Back in prehistory times there must have been a lot of people in the area,with so much "art".
What did they survive on?
Great trip.Thanks Skiis and Spiders.
Frank

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Mr. 3Pin, very nice! Very, very nice! Thanks for the journey!

 

[takesiteasy]

Very cool wrap-up. What a great trip! Thanks for writing it up in fine style, and for the photos- top notch.

 

[Ted]

Ski3pinners.

Others have expressed better than I can how great your trip reports are. And this one is certainly a great one. It struck me how often I find myself just saying "Wow" as I read your stories and look at the photos. A truly fantastic trip. Thank you for sharing.

I think you have another winner for the TCM Calendar.

Agreed. That photo is stunning!

 

[PaulT]

Could you give some hints on the exposure? HDR dual exposure? ISO 25000? moon shadows? Time of day?

All that soft warm color and stars too?

Thanks for posting it and ditto on the TCM calendar entry.

Paul

 

[ski3pin]

Glad you all enjoyed the story!

Could you give some hints on the exposure? HDR dual exposure? ISO 25000? moon shadows? Time of day?

All that soft warm color and stars too?

Thanks for posting it and ditto on the TCM calendar entry.

Paul

Paul, the full moon is very bright and makes wonderful shadows in nice clean dry air. The photo was taken at 9:05 pm. The moon was still fairly low angle but I did wait long enough after sunset for the sky to darken so the stars were bright. Used my new wide angle lens that Mr. Sagebrush recommended, big aperture that can pull in lots of light. f/2.8 ISO 200 30 second exposure. I could have doubled the iso to 400 and cut the exposure to 15 seconds and got less star trails or gone to iso 800 and cut that in half. I know, next time I'll try it and look at the results. There are photographers here on WTW much more knowledgeable and skilled than I am with initial capture and then post processing. I'm just having lots of fun.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Glad you all enjoyed the story!



Paul, the full moon is very bright and makes wonderful shadows in nice clean dry air. The photo was taken at 9:05 pm. The moon was still fairly low angle but I did wait long enough after sunset for the sky to darken so the stars were bright. Used my new wide angle lens that Mr. Sagebrush recommended, big aperture that can pull in lots of light. f/2.8 ISO 200 30 second exposure. I could have doubled the iso to 400 and cut the exposure to 15 seconds and got less star trails or gone to iso 800 and cut that in half. I know, next time I'll try it and look at the results. There are photographers here on WTW much more knowledgeable and skilled than I am with initial capture and then post processing. I'm just having lots of fun.

Interesting. I made a guess that you were stopped down (f8), with a much higher ISO to get an image that sharp. I guessed right on the shutter.

A trick to get rid of star trails and yet have detail in the foreground is to make two exposures. Shoot in manual mode, manual focus and vary the ISO. High ISO for the foreground, much lower for the stars, all other settings are unchanged. In Photoshop, open both exposures as photoshop layers, the mask out the areas in each layer that you do not want.

 

[PaulT]

Well, I have some serious learning to do with my D7100. The first thing is to not forget to take the fine manual with me. The best thing to learn was not to acquire a new camera 2 weeks before a trip. Could not find the self timer enabling control in the dark.

Going to 1600 would likely remove any star trails. I recall someone posting a formula on the forum for the exposure time vs focal length. Found this one. Seems similar to what I recall.

Anyway, great photo and thanks for giving me a starting point on exposure. Now that it is not wet every night here in western Oregon, I can get out and experiment with night shots.

Paul

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Paul, you can download the manual in PDF form to have on your phone or a reader. Very handy.

Yes, the rule of 500 (or 400) is the way to get your maximum exposure time without leaving star trails. 400 would be the best, but most people use 500.

Your LCD is your friend for this kind of stuff. You can use live view to focus more accurately, plus check histograms and composition on trial shots.

 

[highz]

Thanks for another grand trip report. Those petroglyphs in the canyon are something else. And yeah, that moonlit photo is a real winner!

 

[Lighthawk]

Thanks for another grand trip report. Those petroglyphs in the canyon are something else. And yeah, that moonlit photo is a real winner!

2 x 2!

Of course I wonder where that canyon is . . . and even have an idea. Great shots, Mr. Ski. Your photography has continued to reach new levels. Getting a fast lens helps, but your skills have also stepped up.

-------------
Wandering Sagebrush said, "Paul, you can download the manual in PDF form to have on your phone or a reader. Very handy."
Totally agree. I have done the same thing. Adapting to multiple camera bodies, learning new cameras, etc. are all challenging. Even more so, when you need to know how to operate your gears in the dark. I've learned to download all my manuals onto dropbox (saved locally as 'favorites').

 

[Basin Deranged]

Stunning petroglyphs! The few small panels I have found off the beaten path always leave me a little animated for a few days after. But nothing like the riches that you have sleuthed out! This rock art is among the rarest of the many treasures of the desert.

Thank you.

 

[PaulT]

Found the Nikon manual viewer app, installed it and now viewing the D7100 manual. Already confirmed that I can read it in the dark.

Thanks for the suggestion.
Paul

 

[ski3pin]

What's the elevation change between the summit of U-Peak and the playa surface on the Racetrack? Looks to be several thousand feet.

Can you imagine the thrill the geomorphologists felt when they witnessed the actual formation of the grooves on the playa recently?



Foy

Foy, elevation at the playa is 3715 and the top of Ubehebe is 5678 (yes we had fun making up goofy rhymes), so just a little under 2000 feet gain. When we were on the racetrack, we talked about how cool it must have been for those to witness the event!

 

[Lighthawk]

This shot stands out

On my laptop monitor, I found if I tip the screen 30 degrees I can see the petros with the stronger contrast.