larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Here are a couple of panoramas from my summer trip to Big Bend National Park.

The Milky Way arch is composed of 10 vertical exposures at 14mm (Nikkor 14-24 f2.8 zoom, D810). Exposures were all ISO 4000, f2.8, 25 seconds. (I will change this to ISO 5000 and try 30 seconds when I have another opportunity in the future.) Color temp is 5500K, which will render light from a white radiating body as white after it has passed through Earth's atmosphere. In camera noise reductions were both turned off to avoid delay between exposures and minimize stitching errors when assembling the images. The view covers approximately 180 degrees, from North at the left to South at the right, and approximately 70 degrees overhead. There is no lighting beyond starlight and glow from environmental infrared. No moon. Minimal PP to correct for lens distortion and exposure fall-off and to reduce noise (yes, there is still some remaining).

An earlier version of Santa Elena Canyon was posted earlier. It is composed of five horizontal exposures at 32mm (Nikkor 24-70 f2.8 zoom, D810). All exposures ISO 200, f13, 1/640 second. This version has been PPd to lighten both sections of the cliff faces to improve separation from the canyon walls and balance aesthetics in the two sections.

Since these are panoramas, please view the downloads. When printed as "contact prints," (one dot per pixel), the originals are each about 16 x 36 inches.

Milky Way Arch

(Download)

Santa Elena Canyon

(Download)

krashdragon

Santa Elena Canyon is one of my favorite places.
But, I'm too old and fat to climb to take the trail to the top.

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

Excellent.

jak86094

Very nice shots. Thanks for sharing.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Wonderful work! Excellent detail and sharpness.

sailorsmom Loc: Souderton, PA

Beautifully done, Larry!

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Thank you very much.

OleMe Loc: Montgomery Co., MD

Larry,

OMG! Am I envious. I was in BB in late September. Your shots or mined to shame: love them.

I could finder only one clear night on our way out. Gotta shot of the Milky Way from a campground near Valentine.

/Roger

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Thanks Roger. Those were quite literally first efforts, both with the night sky and panoramas. I'm still learning, and will continue to do so as long as I pursue this genre. It's a lot of fun, and for someone who lives in the city, just getting out and trying is very rewarding. Once a person learns the basic techniques, they are not particularly daunting, but like Paul likes to say, the more one learns, the more one seems to need to learn.

OleMe Loc: Montgomery Co., MD

Larry,

For fun, look up Santa Elena Canyon on Google Maps and look at some of the aerial photos.

Where was you Milky Way shot taken? What month? Time of night? I'm curious because I've read that the Milky Way drops below the horizon in winter.

I've posted shots from my trip to BB here.

Oops - lotsa typos from auto-correct in my last message.

/Roger
Silver Spring, MD

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

The Milky Way shot was taken at the end of July, 2018, probably around 11:30PM, give or take. There was a parking turnout located literally at Milepost 2 on the road to Castolon just south of where it intersects the main east-west road through the park. The other panorama was taken (hand held) at the Santa Elena Canyon overlook.

The Milky Way moves by about 30 degrees (that's right at 2 hours) each month. The best time for it here is probably May-August or so, and most convenient shooting times (eastern sky) are around late July. There is a "winter Milky Way" that looks toward the outer edge of the galaxy. It passes pretty much through the constellation Orion, but is is very faint, compared to the summer one that looks toward the core of the galaxy, so requires an extremely dark sky in order to do much photography.

OleMe Loc: Montgomery Co., MD

Seems you picked the ideal time. I missed that I'd be there in the rainy season and when the Milky Way is dipping low in the sky. So, I was lucky to get any shot. I purposefully avoided summer because of the heat. Even then, in an RV, we first went to Rio Grande Village. It was hot as hades so we moved to much more pleasant and scenic Chisos Basin, making that our base of operations for touring. Glad we are not trying to go there now as the park is closed due to covid-19 - not even any through / transit traffic.

Good talking to you, virtually. Best regards,

/Roger