22 - Many, many Islands















Click to see complete image.
Canon 40D, 10- 22mm at 10mm, iso 3200, 30sec at f/3.5 In camera noise reduction.
Always loved astronomy since my first 3 inch refractor telescope at 10 years old, the equipment is much better now. I like this image for the accindental red glow from my red headlamp and the green from the inside lights. The only post processing on this was to skew the house back into something a little more square. This image was taken in Eleuthera, Bahamas very little light and air polution. Another star image can be seen at TJ's Thoughts, he used a Canon 5D and the faster 24-70mm 2.8 lens. TJ has given a detailed account of how to take this type of shot, take a look.

Comments

Thomas J Avery said…
Nice! Glad you tried it on a dark, clear sky. At 16mm (effectively), you could possibly get away with a slightly longer exposure (maybe 45 sec. up to 60 sec.?) without noticeable star trails. My shots were at 24mm (effective, i.e. "full frame" FOV). Did you try any longer exposures?

Your photo is pretty nice - I love the starry sky with the house in the foreground. I like the colored lights - that gives the image a lot of interest. Next time you could play around with that red light and have some fun :-)

Your image could use a bit of black/white point adjustment, IMO. Just create a levels adjustment layer and push the left (black) slider inwards about 20 points, and then push the right (white) slider inwards about 30 - 40 points. See what you think.

Just recently, I tried shooting with a 50mm f/1.4. It's too soft wide open, so I settled on f/1.8 at ISO 1600. I had to shoot at 15sec max to avoid noticeable star trails, but holy cow - the extra brightness really caught the stars!

I don't know if you have a fast prime, but give it a try if you do!
PJ said…
Love using the EF-S 10-22mm lens. f9 seems to be prime sharpness. Do need to correct for CA and vignette at 10mm.

Here's a night time pano I shot using that lens at Rock House Hotel on Harbour Island, Bahamas:

Rock House Patio at Night

60 exposures. Used bracket shot +/-2EV, f9, 5 sec., ISO 400, Canon XT.
Stacey Olson said…
I have a link saved on my pc with instructions for night photography.. I REALLY need to try this, great photo, thanks for sharing
Debra Trean said…
OHH I love this I want to try this toooooo ...some stary night I must give this a try. Wonderful.....and thank TJ for telling us how to do this as well..... I must try this...
TJ, Thanks again for your tech know how, My next try over xmas break will be with the 5Dmk2 and a 20mm 2.8 we'll see what happens.

PJ, loved the "Rock House Patio" do they use that in their advertisement? I love the 10-22mm, but it's going to see less action now that I snagged a 5Dmk2.

Stacy, PnF, Thanks, can't wait to see your night skies.
Unknown said…
Hi Mike

No... Rock House doesn't use it for advertisements, albeit it was pitched to them. Regardless, I enjoyed taking the shot.

5Dmk2? Lucky dog! I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a 50D. Just can't get myself to lug a full frame and all that goes with to some of the places I'm traveling to. Some samples:

Beach photos
Thomas J Avery said…
Cool! Please post the results from your 20mm f/2.8 and let us know how the 5DII performed with regards to noise.

I find that the 5D (orig.) does pretty well at ISO 1600 (apply just a tiny bit of noise reduction - Canon's DPP works very well in producing quality noise reduction: go 2 points on the luminance and 9-10 points on the chroma; also, the CA correction with color blur does wonders for getting rid of the purple/red rings around the stars.).

I'm betting the 5DII can go one or two stops better while producing equivalent noise levels (actually, you can't compare pixel-to-pixel between cameras because one's 12 MP and the new one is 21 MP! Cut the 5DII's files down 50% and then evaluate).

Anyway, with the 5DII, 30 sec. at f/2.8 with ISO 3200 or even 6400 should produce some amazing results!
TJ, I'm going to Eleuthera for 2 weeks on 12/22 and should have some beautiful night skies to work with. Thanks for the DPP tips. I sometimes have internet over there. I will try and post early and would love your tweaks and feed back. As always thank for your help and a very Happy Holidays to you and your growing family... Mike
PJ said…
Hey Mike

Holler if you'd like some info on some of the wifi hotspots I used when I'm down on Eleu. You can reach me through my websites.

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