Thursday, March 26, 2009

Camping Under the Stars

I spent three nights camping in the backcountry of Big Bend National Park last week. The weather was nice and the nights were mostly clear and definitely dark. It was a great trip.




click for larger image


Canon 5D II with 24mm f/1.4L II
f/1.8, 25 sec., ISO 1600


I had a very specific photographic mission this trip. Well, two missions, acutally. One was the night skies, and the other? just stay tuned... :-)


I have just begun the post-processing process, and I'm chewing my way through 16 GB worth of files. I will post more photos from the trip in the coming weeks. I'll also write up a field report describing my techniques and experiences in shooting star scenes like the one above.

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4 comments:

  1. MikeHMarch 29, 2009 at 5:35 AM

    Love the balance of the light in the tent. Is this trial & error or do you have a formula? Is that Pleiades in the upper left? Well done..

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  2. TJMarch 30, 2009 at 2:03 AM

    Thanks, Mike! Yes, I belive that's the Pleiades star cluster. Light painting the tent took a few tries. It's amazing how sensitive ISO 1600 and f/1.8 is. I painted the tent only with my LED headlamp for 1 or 2 seconds. Just a quick up-and-down shine on the back of the tent (and there are some areas of highlight blow-out on the tent!).

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  3. Jeff KohnMarch 31, 2009 at 6:50 AM

    This is great. While star trails can be really neat, I think I like the images in which the stars are captured without trails even better. The tent makes a nice foreground interest.

    I look forward to seeing the rest of your images, you always come back from BBNP with great stuff.

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  4. TJMarch 31, 2009 at 7:17 AM

    Thanks, Jeff! I'm slowly working on them. It's a labor of love. I'll have more out (including more star shots) soon :-)

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