Alabama Hills Milky Way

[JimFox]

I captured this on Monday night in the Alabama Hills in the Eastern Sierra by Lone Pine, California.

While I had 3 cameras set up for the timelapses of the night, I kept one camera free that I could run around to various compositions and to do some pano's.

Nikon Z6II
Viltrox 16mm f1.8 (best Milky Way lens for it's price)

ISO 3200
20 secs
f1.8

5 images stitched in Photoshop.

All comments are welcome,

Jim

 

[AlanLichty]

Another good from that locale - just enough light under the arches but not too much.

 

[JimFox]

Another good from that locale - just enough light under the arches but not too much.

Thanks Alan, I am really happy with this one. I can't wait to start processing some timelapses.

That's called Low Level Lighting or LLL. It's a far cry from the guys shining flashlights and blinding the image.

 

[Kyle Jones]

I like this even more than the last one. The composition with the arch over the arch is excellent and I think you have the right amount of lighting in the arch as well. I'd go a little less purple in the sky but that's always a matter of personal preference.

 

[Jeffrey]

Nice imaging Jim. Don't you find that 20 seconds starts to show stars as short dashes?

 

[JimFox]

I like this even more than the last one. The composition with the arch over the arch is excellent and I think you have the right amount of lighting in the arch as well. I'd go a little less purple in the sky but that's always a matter of personal preference.

Thanks so much Kyle, I really like this one a lot.

As to the sky, I know our tastes are very similar so I had that exact same thought as to it being a just a bit too purple for my tastes. But when tried to back off, the blue had too much of a green flavor to it, and when I tried to correct that then the stars started to turn blue. So I did recognize that, and I know I have pointed that out in other peoples photos, but I just couldn't quite get the right balance of colors, so I left it like this.

 

[JimFox]

Nice imaging Jim. Don't you find that 20 seconds starts to show stars as short dashes?

Thanks so much Jeffrey, I am glad you liked this.

No, 20 seconds is not an issue for me. Mainly the slightly longer stars happen in the corners, but that's always been the case. The majority of the stars are sharp pin points. Everyone has their own take on what they are comfortable with, but I have settled on 20 seconds for my 14mm and 16mm lenses. I have a 10mm Laowa that I like a lot, and when I use that I will go with 25 secs, though technically I could probably get away with 30 secs.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Nice image Jim. Just the right amount of light on the arch.

 

[JimFox]

Nice image Jim. Just the right amount of light on the arch.

Thanks Jameel. I think this is turning into one of my favorite images I have made in a while.

 

[Comet Hunter]

Another excellent capture. Perfect location too

 

[BlackRockArt]

I captured this on Monday night in the Alabama Hills in the Eastern Sierra by Lone Pine, California.

While I had 3 cameras set up for the timelapses of the night, I kept one camera free that I could run around to various compositions and to do some pano's.

Nikon Z6II
Viltrox 16mm f1.8 (best Milky Way lens for it's price)

ISO 3200
20 secs
f1.8

5 images stitched in Photoshop.

All comments are welcome,

Jim

View attachment 88271

Jim

Great composition ! Love the season opening milky way arch.

Were there many people when you took the photo?

Oliver

 

[JimFox]

Another excellent capture. Perfect location too

Thanks Ed, this might be one of my favorite panos ever.

 

[JimFox]

Jim

Great composition ! Love the season opening milky way arch.

Were there many people when you took the photo?

Oliver

Thanks Oliver. I was all by myself.

But.... right after a workshop of about 12 people showed up. So for about 45 minutes I had to deal with some stray lights, though they actually were pretty considerate. But mainly, it was super quiet and silent all night.

 

[John Holbrook]

One word—WOW!

 

[JimFox]

One word—WOW!

Thanks John! I was so happy on how this one turned out, especially with it being my first time to this particular arch.