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Canon 5D, 24-70mm f/2.8L
30 sec., f/2.8, 24mm, ISO 1600 (and then pushed 1.3 stops in RAW processing)
This next shot was taken just inside a tree line. I took my first steps towards designing a real landscape/starscape shot. The break in the trees frames the "cloudy" band of the Milky Way. I love the look of leafless trees silhouetted against the starry sky. This is the sort of shot I ultimately want to produce, having components of the land with a sky full of bright stars.
Shot with same settings as above.
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It's difficult to compose shots because of the darkness. Even an f/2.8 lens on a full frame camera does not transmit enough light to see and compose the scene through the viewfinder. Keep in mind this is under a moonless sky.
I also get frustrated because I have to alternate between using a flashlight to move around and manage gear and then getting my eyes to adjust to the dark to compose shots. I've more than once flashed my eyes while fumbling with gear thus having to sit there for a minute or two waiting for the light spots to go away :-)
I also borked up a few shots 'cause I had to flip on the flashlight during an exposure to check and see what was lurking in the dark. I'm not alone out there. Most noises turned out to be birds or raccoons. I definitely do not want to have a close encounter with a large boar in the pitch black.
Regarding composing the shots, I tried shining a flashlight on the trees while looking through the viewfinder, but that only helped to compose the near to mid-positioned landscape elements. Anything far away, and also the sky, was still dark. Plus it was a little difficult to hold the light and reposition the camera sitting on a ballhead. I need three hands.
Trial and error shots still work best. But at several minutes per shot (30 sec. exposure + 30 sec. noise reduction + time to evaluate the LCD and reposition the camera + time for eyes to adjust to the dark), it takes a while to make a few test shots to fine-tune the composition. I suppose I could shut off the long-exposure noise reduction and bump the ISO to 3200 and take 15 seconds shots, but that requires changing settings and diving into the custom menus, and that takes time too even in broad daylight.
Plus I was shooting in the cold, so operating the camera and managing gear with gloves on adds an extra level of frustration and difficulty.
On this last outing, I brought along my fast 50. I really wanted to see what the view was like through an f/1.4 lens, and it's a very nice, noticeable difference over an f/2.8 lens. Composing scenes is just possible through the viewfinder if your eyes adjust to the dark.
However, 50mm is a little too long for what I want to do, and the DOF at f/1.4 to f/2.0 apertures is too shallow to make the fore/mid-ground objects acceptably sharp. Anyway, I had some fun with it.
Here's a shot looking up at the sky only. I was blown away by how bright the photo was and how many more stars appeared as compared to my shots with the f/2.8 lens.
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Canon 5D, 50mm f/1.4
15 sec., f/1.8, ISO 1600
Here's another with the 50. A little bit of reddish/purplish color showed up in the middle of the frame. I hope that's natural, and not some weird noise pattern/amp glow crud from the sensor.
Shot with same settings as above.
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