Stars over the Chesapeake Bay
Dec 2, 2017 22:04:00 #
Went camping recently to First Landing State Park just a few miles north of Virginia Beach, VA. The way the land is oriented, from the beach you are looking due north, up into the Chesapeake Bay. I went out one night to create this image, made up of 89 shots - 15 second exposures every 5 seconds, settings made in my Canon 7dII, and used my Tokina 11-16 2.8. I think the ISO was at 800. Shots were stacked using StarStax.
The row of lights across the bottom are the lights of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. There's a gap in the lights on the left end, and another gap just right of center which are the two tunnels you go through under the bay. The orange glow above the lights and the white on the left side comes from the very thin layer of clouds that evening. Even with the clouds, I was amazed that the camera picked up the stars so well. Enjoy!
The row of lights across the bottom are the lights of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. There's a gap in the lights on the left end, and another gap just right of center which are the two tunnels you go through under the bay. The orange glow above the lights and the white on the left side comes from the very thin layer of clouds that evening. Even with the clouds, I was amazed that the camera picked up the stars so well. Enjoy!
Dec 2, 2017 23:18:46 #
Dec 3, 2017 01:06:27 #
Nicely done. Star trails are a lot of fun to shoot and StarTrax makes combining into final product very easy. I was so impressed, I sent the Developer $25.
One thing, I would suggest, assuming you use Lightroom, set the light temp to -26 to -38, gives the sky a bluer cast than that bronze/brown you always get. Then in a pixel level editing program like Photoshop, take time with the Healing Brush to eliminate the numerous diagonal airplane tracks. And, finally, try a graduated filter on the left to lower exposure for the sky glow.
One thing, I would suggest, assuming you use Lightroom, set the light temp to -26 to -38, gives the sky a bluer cast than that bronze/brown you always get. Then in a pixel level editing program like Photoshop, take time with the Healing Brush to eliminate the numerous diagonal airplane tracks. And, finally, try a graduated filter on the left to lower exposure for the sky glow.
Dec 3, 2017 06:09:39 #
rgrenaderphoto wrote:
Nicely done. Star trails are a lot of fun to shoo... (show quote)
Thanks for the comments and suggestions! I did use lightroom, went through the settings and even had the bluer cast but went with the more black appearance. Planes? They were ALL OVER the place. If you're not familiar with the area, this is so near the Norfolk International Airport, Oceana Navel Base, all sort of other military/coast guard activity. I had to stop taking the plane out after about 6 planes, man, that's tedious work! But, I learned a lot more about LR by taking out the ones I did. Had not thought about the graduated filter, I'll have to have a look at how to do that. I've heard and read a little about it, but never have used it.
Thanks again!
Dec 3, 2017 12:35:06 #
Dec 4, 2017 20:19:10 #
Dec 4, 2017 20:52:02 #
mrova wrote:
Thanks for the comments and suggestions! I did us... (show quote)
I use the healing brush in Photoshop, much more precise than the spot removal tool in Lightroom. But I understand, it is INCREDIBLY time consuming to retouch everything. But hey, that’s what the gig is all about.
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