D700, 24mm f/1.4G, and the milky way

Gorgeous! How come the star reflections in the water are trails, whereas the stars in the sky are points of light?
You're going to want to delete that post when you the lightbulb flicks on and you realize just how silly a question that was :lol:

The only dumb question is a question left unasked.

OK, what am I missing here?
 
Thanks for the replies! it's really amazing to be able to do this, anyone with a Canon or Nikon camera that can shoot a reasonable ISO of 6400 should go rent the 24 1.4 and drive outside of the city, it's just ridiculous.

Compared to using the 24-120VR, this seemed like point and shoot!!

What time of the night was this, you mention "early morning"?
I shot my first picture at about 12:30AM and left at about 3 AM because I had work in the morning. I wanted to catch the sunrise, but i wouldn't be able to make it to work in time :(
Is there a better time of night for this, the reason you went in the early morning, or any time of full darkness will do?
I wouldn't say that one time is better than another, so long as you can see alot of stars, so after the sun has set and you're away from the light pollution. It also helps if it's a new moon or before moonrise/moonset because otherwise it looks like daylight with a couple stars in the sky. Altitude may help as far as atmospheric conditions, but i'm not too sure about that one.
I notice that Portland is fairly close. Did you face the camera to the east to avoid the light pollution from Portland?
No matter what direction you're at, portland is really really bright.

The warm light on the mountain and the glow on the left of it is Portland, if shot to the east, the lighting on the mountain is orange and flat.
when shot to the west, there's a bright orange glow behind the mountain. Portland.
When shot to the south, there's warm light on the right..you guessed it. Portland.

I didn't worry too much about that because I knew it was going to affect the picture, I was more concerned about getting the sky in the frame and finding the milky way to get in there so it's not just flat stars.
Does the time of year affect these shot? Such as winter maybe is better due to less humidity.
i'm not entirely sure, but i'm sure it does. October is a great time of year because snowfall starts and rain is often so there's not alot of junk in the skies.
Amazing shots there!
Second is by far my favourite comp.
Focusing is also pretty good. Any recomendations on focusing at night? My camera doesn't have the greatest low-light metering.
Thanks!

Well I try to use live view for things like this as much as possible, but when it's too dark for that, look at your focus scales on the lens and go to the center of the infinity symbol or just barely before the center of it. That's generally close enough, and it is close enough when you're stopping down or using a wide angle lens and your subject is far away like a mountain or stars.
ISO 6,400. f/1.4. 15 seconds. It's like a fantasy that came to fruition.

ISO Six thousand four hundred...I can barely wrap my head around that!!
No kidding. And the fact that the pictures printed out 9x11 well, is just phenomenal. I was thinking about 3 years ago when I had the D70, i couldn't imagine.. Let alone FILM. Pushed to ISO 6400, f/1.4, and 15 seconds, you'd be lucky to even see anything.
Gorgeous! How come the star reflections in the water are trails, whereas the stars in the sky are points of light?
You're going to want to delete that post when you the lightbulb flicks on and you realize just how silly a question that was :lol:
The blurry stars down below are a result of the water ripples over 15 seconds. About every couple minutes i would here a "ker-plop" from fish jumping out of the water :p
 
Holy Crap!

Don't you love it when you spend all that money and keep feeling so damn good about it. :D

Really wonderful work.
 

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