Here are two different versions of the same photographic composition. I used very different shutter speeds on these two photos to show how much of a difference your choice of shutter speed can make in how a photo appears. Both photos were taken with the aid of a 6-stop neutral density filter and a 2-stop reverse graduated neutral density filter. For the photo above, a 15 second exposure was used at f/16 and ISO 200. For the photo below, a .4 second exposure was used at f/8 and ISO 1600. I like both versions and can't decide which one I like more, which is why I am posting both. Plus, it's a good example of how much the choice of shutter speed can affect the look of a photo.
A beautiful spring morning at Hollow Rock in Grand Portage, MN!
Welcome to the first star trail image that I've made in quite a long time. I haven't done one of these in at least a year, probably closer to two. I don't really know why it's been so long, as this type of photograph is a lot of fun to make. It does take a bit more planning and definitely more of a time commitment, so maybe that's why. I actually did screw this one up on my first attempt. I was out of practice, so I guess I have an excuse. The first exposure I did was for 46 minutes at ISO 200 and an aperture of f/8. That exposure came out way too dark. For my second try I did 38 minutes at ISO 200 and f/4.5 which worked a lot better as you can see here.
There are programs you can buy that will allow you to do a series of shorter exposures and combine them later to make a "composite" star trail image. My preference, though, is to try and do it with one single exposure. I used to do this my old Canon 5D Mark II and it worked quite well, but the resulting images were somewhat noisy. Not unusable, but definitely noisy. With the Nikon D750 that I'm now shooting with, the resulting images are amazingly clean. Camera sensor technology sure has come a long way!
The only thing I don't like about this image is the fact that there are a few faint light trails from airplanes crossing the sky. I decided to leave those trails in there, as they are part of the "natural" scene. Plus, they are a mega pain to clean up nicely. The plane trails are part of the story, so to speak. The easiest one to see is in the lower left of the photo. The others are barely there, I didn't even notice them until I was viewing the image at 100% on my 27" iMac screen.
At any rate, I think the resulting image is wonderfully beautiful. Star trails photos represent something that we are unable to see with our naked eye, the passage of time recorded onto a single image and the lines that the star light makes when that light is recorded over a period of time. From the top left to the lower right of the photo you can also see a milky band of light, which is the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Like all the more distinct trails that you see from more prominent stars, the galactic center of the Milky Way moves across our sky and the light gets "spread out" when recorded for a long period of time. I really had a lot of fun making this image. That's my favorite part of photography. It's fun and it gives us a window into the world that lets our imaginations run wild. Enjoy :-)
Monday night I decided to buckle down and finally get outside on a quest to shoot the stars. It had been a while since I had done this and Monday night's conditions were pretty much perfect. It was a clear, moonless night and the temperature was nice and cool, in the single digits. I find cooler nights work best for photographing the Milky Way because the air is crisp and clear; there typically isn't any haze caused by warmth and humidity.
I left the house at midnight and stayed out all night, starting and ending my shooting at Hollow Rock in Grand Portage. This was one of the first images I made, a 30 second exposure of the Milky Way. I sure do love the night sky, and I love photographing it and sharing the resulting images with all of you! I hope you enjoy viewing these photographs as much as I enjoy making them.
I just got in from an entire night spent photographing the night sky and I've gotta say.... WOW what a night! It sure was beautiful. Clear skies have been a rare thing this past winter and last night was one of the clearest nights in a long time. Thankfully the wind was fairly calm as well, since the temperatures were a bit cold for early April. The coldest I saw was 4 degrees and the warmest was 17 degrees when I arrived back home after sunrise.
After shooting the night sky for several hours I was driving home and noticed the sky was starting to look nice with some colorful clouds. I decided to stop at Hollow Rock and see how sunrise would pan out. It turned out to be pretty nice!
I took the opportunity to play around with my ND filters. I used a 6-stop ND filter and a 2-stop reverse graduated ND filter. Stacking the filters and using an ISO of 400 and an aperture of f/11 gave me a 15 second exposure which really smoothed out the movement of the waves along the shoreline. It was a beautiful beginning to the day, and a perfect ending to an awesome night of photography!
While on a hike through the woods the other day we came across this beautiful maple leaf. Fallen in autumn but revealed by snow melting away, it was a beautiful sign of the ending of winter and coming of spring!
High Falls of the Pigeon River at Grand Portage State Park, Minnesota. Most of the river still has a solid layer of ice over it, but High Falls has opened up quite a bit. It shouldn't be long now for the entire river to be flowing freely once again!
