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Rhavethstine — Galaxy Hill

Published: 2005-08-03 14:25:31 +0000 UTC; Views: 1329; Favourites: 29; Downloads: 185
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Description I've been having too much fun with my new camera.

I was out chasing lightning the other night and saw that the sky was clear back towards town. The red glow in the saddle of the hills is not a sunset. It's the glow from Flagstaff many miles in the distance, greatly exagerated by the long exposure.

Details:
ISO 1600
F4.0 (or 3.5, can't remember) @ approx. 50 seconds
D70s w/Nikkor 18-70mm
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Comments: 43

A-kija [2008-02-05 16:52:07 +0000 UTC]

Oh, the beautiful Miky Way..
Our beloved home...

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IndigoMidnight [2007-11-23 10:57:41 +0000 UTC]



This beautiful work is being featured here: [link] .

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Rhavethstine In reply to IndigoMidnight [2007-11-29 02:25:37 +0000 UTC]

I can't help but feel inadequate being in with all those amazing astrophotographers. But thankyou. That was very kind of you. I found some very inspiring photos in and via your journal.

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IndigoMidnight In reply to Rhavethstine [2007-11-29 11:21:41 +0000 UTC]

You're most welcome, I'm glad you my collection.

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photolitherland [2007-04-17 22:35:07 +0000 UTC]

how exactly did you capture this? how long was your exposure? Yout stuff never ceases to amaze

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Rhavethstine In reply to photolitherland [2007-04-17 23:40:33 +0000 UTC]

Oh, this was quite awhile ago. I've been meaning to re-shoot it lately with a faster lens, because the slight star trails bother me. You can see the exposure data in the description, but other than that I just used a steady tripod, put the camera into Bulb mode, and used a shutter release cable to open the lens for ~50seconds. As you can see, high ISO and fairly low apertures are required, though I could get much lower in the aperture dept. nowadays than I could then (and as a result probably eliminate some of that high ISO).

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AcousticAlchemy [2005-10-06 02:02:15 +0000 UTC]

This is absolutely amazing...

I wanted to take a star photo so badly in my time i nthe Southwest, but I never was able to go out and do it. Actually, I was, come to think of it, but I never either had the commitment to making a wicked long exposure, or I never got around to it.

Fantastic job though.

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Rhavethstine In reply to AcousticAlchemy [2005-10-10 07:41:04 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, I know how it can be. You don't always have the energy or time to go out and be creative after dark. In this instance, I had plenty of adrenaline racing through me and plenty of incentive to be out there after dark. There was a beautiful lightning storm raging out over the painted desert. Of course, none of the lightning shots turned out all too spectacularly, but this one that I took on a whim over my shoulder did. Go figure.

Thanks for the feedback.

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AcousticAlchemy In reply to Rhavethstine [2005-10-11 21:36:21 +0000 UTC]

Argh.... I have always wanted to shoot lightning as well. Again, the same deal. Most of the lightning I tried to shoot out West was during the day, and none of it came out. Oh well! Next time I suppose.

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scootergirl762 [2005-09-06 01:51:15 +0000 UTC]

no critique here, just admiration - beautiful!

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Jaaku-Monkey [2005-08-27 11:07:16 +0000 UTC]

Wow, that is great, but still it looks like a sunset, and the galaxy is cool nice and crisp ( i live there)! keep it up!

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Rhavethstine In reply to Jaaku-Monkey [2005-08-31 04:21:52 +0000 UTC]

Indeed, you do live in the galaxy, judging by your gallery. It's a quality establishment, I must say. Thanks for stopping by.

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Jaaku-Monkey In reply to Rhavethstine [2005-08-31 12:24:48 +0000 UTC]

Np

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ConcreteDonkey [2005-08-19 15:43:00 +0000 UTC]

Amazing - words can't describe how beautiful that is. Wow. Gotta fav it

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Rhavethstine In reply to ConcreteDonkey [2005-08-20 05:19:38 +0000 UTC]

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tiger1lily [2005-08-17 11:49:30 +0000 UTC]

Cool...maybe the sunset-like glow on the horizon is like noctillucent clouds or something... although any time I have seen them they have been sort of bluish-white. Maybe they are nacreous clouds...

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Rhavethstine In reply to tiger1lily [2005-08-20 05:12:50 +0000 UTC]

Wow, are you into clouds, or something?

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tiger1lily In reply to Rhavethstine [2005-08-25 21:42:18 +0000 UTC]

Well not really but I am interested in astronomy and unusual weather phenomenon

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MilchstrabeSTern [2005-08-15 07:07:40 +0000 UTC]

Hey man, i see that you're in Arizona too I like your lightning and astrohpotography stuff. Arizona is a beautiful place if you get out of the cities.

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Rhavethstine In reply to MilchstrabeSTern [2005-08-16 06:22:00 +0000 UTC]

Thanks for dropping by! Judging by your icon, I'm going to have to go see what's in your gallery one of these days soon. I love those lightning shots.

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DesertBlu [2005-08-14 01:14:42 +0000 UTC]

sooo very pretty!!!

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SilverCoils [2005-08-08 01:26:09 +0000 UTC]

There is so much mood in this, I adore the colors and just everything about it. It's amazing how fast those stars move, huh?

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Rhavethstine In reply to SilverCoils [2005-08-08 05:28:48 +0000 UTC]

It's amazing how fast those stars move, huh?

Yeah, they need to hold still for a minute, dagnit!

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Oriana-X-Myst [2005-08-07 18:23:56 +0000 UTC]

That's gorgeous. I love taking pictures as well. Shots like this are hard to come by. Nice pic!!

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Xove [2005-08-07 17:10:08 +0000 UTC]

yeah your shot is very nice
the composition and the colors are good
but the earth move and we can see it on your shot with the star
but its great shot

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kkart [2005-08-07 15:34:47 +0000 UTC]

This is just utterly amazing, what a capture! Love the sky and the stars....wonderful!

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Revenant-Rosales [2005-08-06 01:45:20 +0000 UTC]

Killimanjaro! Damn fine work!

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cybrghst [2005-08-05 20:48:32 +0000 UTC]

Yummy!

Nice capture James, love the comp, and the city put some wonderful color in the sky to see those stars!

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clarinetJWD [2005-08-05 03:27:21 +0000 UTC]

I'll tell you what, I'm certainly glad you got that camera Great shot.
Though, was your ISO a bit high here? It looks a bit noisier than I've experianced with the D70

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Rhavethstine In reply to clarinetJWD [2005-08-05 03:47:49 +0000 UTC]

Thanks, man. You can see in the image details that it was taken at 1600 ISO. I haven't experimented with other ISOs, but this is about what I'd expect from ISO 1600, film or digital. I think you'd (er... I would) need a much faster lens to compensate for a lower ISO. And I don't have 1000 dollars to spend on a lens, so this will have to do for now.

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clarinetJWD In reply to Rhavethstine [2005-08-06 00:23:45 +0000 UTC]

Very true! I guess you were in a kind of tough spot. TO get the detail, you needed either a fast lens, high ISO, or even longer exposure... All of which have worrisome ramifications. Sorry if I seemed kind of tough on it, I really love the shot

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Rhavethstine In reply to clarinetJWD [2005-08-06 06:42:52 +0000 UTC]

No toughness noted on this end. Your comment actually reminded me that I hadn't set the advanced critique preference on this piece when I submitted it, so I went back and fixed that... I hope such a simple edit doesn't make the deviation appear in everyone's inbox again.

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vetsac [2005-08-04 03:14:35 +0000 UTC]

Very nice piece of work! Even at a mere 50 seconds of exposure time, you can see the movement of the stars in the sky.

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Rhavethstine In reply to vetsac [2005-08-04 05:00:05 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, the movement bugs me. I need to get me a stop watch, because my times are all counted in my head. They're probably way off. But I want a stop watch so I can find the optimal time at which the stars show up well, yet exhibit the least amount of movement.

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jdmorehouse [2005-08-03 19:31:53 +0000 UTC]

This is great. I'm going out this weekend, after a long stretch stuck in town. I think I'll set up *my* new camera for some night shots. Curious: how long was the exposure on this?

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Rhavethstine In reply to jdmorehouse [2005-08-04 02:44:44 +0000 UTC]

Cool, yeah, you should get some good shots outside of town. What did you get again? I can't remember. Was it a 20D?

All the relevant camera settings can be found at the end of the description up above. This shot was somewhere around 50 seconds.

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jdmorehouse In reply to Rhavethstine [2005-08-04 21:57:43 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, it's a 20D. I just bought a remote release, and I'll have to look into how to do time exposures with it. I'll be about 100 miles east of Las Vegas. I'm not sure the night sky will pick up the glow from that far, but the night sky could be good. It's an area with aztec sandstone, the kind you see in a lot of my pictures, but this is a new place to me.

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Rhavethstine In reply to jdmorehouse [2005-08-05 03:45:10 +0000 UTC]

Cool! Looking forward to what you come up with out in that Aztec Sandstone.

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xelf [2005-08-03 15:32:57 +0000 UTC]

Now I see what you mean... still a much subtler glow than you'd get in the humid GA air, but you are right. Very nice photo, though.

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gdpr-499136 [2005-08-03 15:32:45 +0000 UTC]

Beautiful night sky! That looks like a sunset to me

Reminds me of a fun story, I'll try to keep it short. Several years ago my family and I were on our way to Las Vegas. In the evening we decided to stay at a campground even though we weren't far away from our destination. There was a beautiful sunset, but around 10pm we realized that the sunset was still there. Bright sky, orange clouds, everything. I took us quite a while to figure out that Las Vegas was in the same direction as the sunset.

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Rhavethstine In reply to gdpr-499136 [2005-08-04 02:34:43 +0000 UTC]

Lol, that's crazy. I've never been up there, but I can imagine what all those lights would do to the night sky.

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starglo21 [2005-08-03 15:28:37 +0000 UTC]

Wow. I've never seen a star field like that, excellent shootin' Tex.

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collector [2005-08-03 14:49:53 +0000 UTC]

omg this is so beautiful!
amasiiiiiiing lobely...aa beautiful

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