OT - Yosemite Falls by Night

[BlueCorn]

Took this from the top of Sentinel Dome in Yosemite last night at 10:38PM

 

[Misled]

Very nice, splain please!!!!!!


Nevermind!!!!!


:lol:

 

[BlueCorn]

25 minutes at ISO 400 and f/4 using a Canon 17-40 f/4L

 

[ludnix]

How did you go about setting this up? Did you purposefully frame it so the north star would be in that position? What about the 25 minute exposure? Did you know that was the amount of time that would be ideal or did you have to take multiple shots to figure out what exposure was needed?

 

[Blazer88]

Damn you Doug, I wished I lived closer to Yosemite! Awesome shot and great job nailing the long exposure.

 

[Wolverine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15060763#post15060763 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ludnix
How did you go about setting this up? Did you purposefully frame it so the north star would be in that position? What about the 25 minute exposure? Did you know that was the amount of time that would be ideal or did you have to take multiple shots to figure out what exposure was needed?

I was wondering the same thing. What made you decide on the 25 minutes?

Also, what's the source of all those lights below and to the right of the falls? Is it from the Yosemite Lodge and that area?

 

[Wolverine]

Oh, and great pic, BTW.

 

[IPT]

yeah, Doug - fess up. Going for star trails, did you compose based on the North star to get the circle effect or the location of the falls going for just trails? My guess is the star but I could of course be wrong. May have even waited for this time of year and line up of falls and North star purpously.

 

[xtm]

amazing Doug! Did you have to clean up the long exposure noise in PP or is there no noise at all?

 

[BlueCorn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15061531#post15061531 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by IPT
yeah, Doug - fess up. Going for star trails, did you compose based on the North star to get the circle effect or the location of the falls going for just trails? My guess is the star but I could of course be wrong. May have even waited for this time of year and line up of falls and North star purpously.

Silly Louis. The North star doesn't move with the seasons.


I did purposely shoot wide enough to include it but the composition is a bit of a crap shoot. You really can't see through the viewfinder.

 

[BlueCorn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15061688#post15061688 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xtm
amazing Doug! Did you have to clean up the long exposure noise in PP or is there no noise at all?

I did hit it with Noiseware before posting.

 

[BlueCorn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15061192#post15061192 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Wolverine
I was wondering the same thing. What made you decide on the 25 minutes?

Also, what's the source of all those lights below and to the right of the falls? Is it from the Yosemite Lodge and that area?

It's mostly trial an error from previous shots. At a 25 minute exposure there's another 25 minutes of in camera noise reduction so it takes almost an hour per shot.

 

[Reef Bass]

Wow Doug! Excellent combination of natural beauty and technical accomplishment. Truly inspirational.

Did you do any manipulations (like dodging / burning for example) in the falls area? It seems to be better lit than the surrounding areas. Don't tell me the sunset paused on the falls for 25 minutes! Besides, it appears to be BEHIND the falls and thus not the light source for the falls.

 

[BlueCorn]

Nope. That's all light from within the valley. You can actually see shadows from one section of the falls where it's blocking the light from below.

 

[IPT]

Silly Louis. The North star doesn't move with the seasons.

I gotta laugh, duh... as soon as I read that I remembered how the Big Dipper and what not changes it's orientation as it moves thru the sky. I may be good at taking Northen Light images and even interpreting some of the simple spacweather numbers, but Astrology is not my thing!

Doug - do you have any comparisons of the in camera noise reduction vs not using it? With the aurora I have no choice but not to use it because of the moving subject (and the need to take mulitple images in rapid succession) but it could be useful for Moonlit Mountainscapes. I have no experience with it at all. Is it superior to just using Noise Ninja or other software?

 

[IPT]

double post

 

[BlueCorn]

You could do it manually. Essentially, what the camera does is take an exposure at the same setting as shot but doesn't open the shutter. You can simulate it in PS. Take one shot, then take a shot of the same length/ISO, load them as layers in PS and set the blend mode to "difference." If you take a bunch of shots of the same duration during your shoot you can use the same dark frame with each.

It's not "superior" to dedicated noise reduction software but it takes care of a bunch of it. Any time you have to remove noise in post you loose detail; handling as much as possible in camera is a benefit.