After the Color is Gone

[AlanLichty]

I have been wanting to play around with star photography for a while now but have had very uncooperative skies for a couple of months now. I finally got some clear skies last week at Rialto. This is not my usual subject so I was experimenting with the cookbooks that have been published in the Articles section here as a starting point. In this case I used my flashlight to add a little foreground light on the sea stacks so they weren't just silhouettes. The light in the distance is La Push.

C&C always welcome.

 

[BarryHamilton]

It's full of stars......

 

[Douglas Sherman]

Very nice, especially for a first effort, Alan. I think you are on your way.

 

[Timmeh]

Hey Alan,

Very nice! The northern end of the Milky Way gives it a little bit of focus in the sky, and positioning it to lead up to the sea stack is great. The subtle processing is just how I like it, and the light painting is nice and even. I'd clone out the satellite though. To my eye it's competing too much with the focal point.

Tim

 

[Ben Egbert]

Nicely dome Alan.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Alan,

Very nice work indeed! Shooting the stars is not easy, often it requires a lot of creative flexibility as the sky is never the same way twice. But you handled it really well. It all looks great but for the satellite as Tim mentioned. The only thing with shooting stars today is it's a rare scene where we don't have to clone out a satellite or airplane from messing up the sky.

 

[AlanLichty]

Thanks for the feedback and comments - as I mentioned at the start of this thread I am an almost complete n00b at star shooting.

To be perfectly honest I was excited to actually have the sky in focus for once and wasn't offended by the satellite before posting this. I made a point of getting my camera focused where I wanted it while there was still light late in the sunset and then never touched moon or focus for the remainder of the evening. It wasn't until I was shooting this stack that I realized I had the wrong lens on the camera but I didn't want to change the 24-105mm to my 17-40mm since I might not be able to get it in sharp focus. I have many things to try next time I am out with clear skies.

Here is another version of the same image with the satellite cloned out:

 

[Ben Egbert]

Small but giid improvement.

 

[Alisa]

Very nice! I am excited to get out and shoot the stars again. Love all the stars!

 

[Mike Mancil]

Impressive shot, well done.