Grand Canyon Voyage, Day 9
About one hour after sunset on the 9th day, I started yet another star trail. I had never done night sky photography before this trip--wasn't really interested when I shot film and the older generation digital cameras weren't going to give the results I wanted. So the dark skies of the Grand Canyon gave me a great, sleeping bag accessible venue to practice.
And practice I did. Not until the third or fourth try did I make anything that pleased me. Not because of the Nikon D700, simply operator error. I worked out a procedure that gave me this result, and it's what I'll start with on Saturday, at our next Photowalk.
- Fresh batteries
- Turn off noise reduction (NR uses as much battery as your shot, and if you run out of power in mid-shot processing, the D700 and probably every other digital camera out there, records nothing.
- ISO Low 1 on the D700, which is equivalent to 100. I used that because ISO 200 collected too much background brightness. Sensitivity on individual cameras varies enough that it needs testing, but high ISOs aren't the place to start.
- f4 aperture. Aperture is the real control in this kind of photography, and 1 stop off widest aperture is generally a very sharp choice.
- compose. I wanted to include something of the rim in my shot. This is at 28mm on a full frame sensor. I wished I had an even wider lens.
- shoot RAW
- use a manual camera release, with a locking mechanism to hold it open.
- wait. I can count on at least 45 minutes on a fresh set of 8 AA batteries at 70 degrees in the D700 battery pack. Maybe longer, but by the time I had this shot, the sliver moon lighting the canyon wall had set and I was almost out of AAs. I'll try a longer exposure on Saturday.
100% pixel crop
The details captured by the D700 is unbelievable.
For RAW processing, I used a temperature of 3400K, tint of -3, exposure +.60 (suggests using a slightly higher ISO, like Low -.7), brightness -20 (to kill background and separate the stars). For a first success, I'm quite happy, and looking forward to Saturday:
PhotowalkingUtah on Saturday, if this infernal rain stops:
Stansbury Park Observatory (Not the Island)
June 13th, 2009 (Saturday)
* Starting Time: 9:00pm
* Ending Time: 11:00pm (you can stay later if desired)
All the details
Comments (5)
Wow, bummed we can't make the starry evening Saturday. But Zachary graduates this weekend and that's party night. Have fun.
Posted by Tom Kelly | June 11, 2009 6:53 PM
Posted on June 11, 2009 18:53
Dear Ann, we need another info about your beatiful shot. Where must we point camera to obtain StarField-circle? Thanks!
Bye
Posted by Vitth | June 12, 2009 2:46 AM
Posted on June 12, 2009 02:46
Hi Vitth,
The center of the circle is the North Star.
Posted by Ann Torrence | June 12, 2009 7:05 AM
Posted on June 12, 2009 07:05
Did you do any noise reduction on any of these images?
Posted by Stephen Cupp | June 12, 2009 8:12 PM
Posted on June 12, 2009 20:12
Stephen,
No noise reduction, neither in camera nor post-processing. The D700 files are just that clean.
Posted by Ann Torrence | June 12, 2009 9:30 PM
Posted on June 12, 2009 21:30