Galaxy Guardian

[Majeed Badizadegan]

I took this image at Crater Lake this past weekend. I planned to get some sleep, but it didn't end up working out. I was up all night shooting trees and stars and stuff.

The milky way was nice and bright over the blue lake. I made this image by focus stacking and using available natural ambient light. Thanks for looking.


Galaxy Guardian by Majeed Badizadegan, on Flickr

 

[fokker]

Killer composition, I know it's not easy at night when you can barely see through the viewfinder, if at all. Overall I find it a bit blue for my tastes, but that's purely personal preference.

Wondering if you wouldn't mind sharing your technique for shots like this, if it's not a too closely guarded secret?

 

[IzzieK]

Excellent shot as always Majeed...so! when do you sleep? if at all...

 

[pgriz]

Beautiful composition, as usual. The interesting thing to note for me, is that the reflections of stars in the water appear to be brighter than the stars in the upper part of the image. Majeed, did you have a different exposure for the sky compared to the earth/water part? I suspect it is, but it makes the reflections appear to be overly bright compared to their apparent source.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Killer composition, I know it's not easy at night when you can barely see through the viewfinder, if at all. Overall I find it a bit blue for my tastes, but that's purely personal preference.

Wondering if you wouldn't mind sharing your technique for shots like this, if it's not a too closely guarded secret?

Happy to share. The foreground was shot at iso3200, f2.8, for 100+ seconds. The milky way was shot at f2.8, iso6400, 30seconds. Combined carefully in post. There is no light painting, this is entirely ambient light at the scene.

Excellent shot as always Majeed...so! when do you sleep? if at all...

Haha . i tried to get a few minutes here but it wasn't in the cards.

Beautiful composition, as usual. The interesting thing to note for me, is that the reflections of stars in the water appear to be brighter than the stars in the upper part of the image. Majeed, did you have a different exposure for the sky compared to the earth/water part? I suspect it is, but it makes the reflections appear to be overly bright compared to their apparent source.

Answered above, and yes. I wanted a draw for the eye to be the lake itself with the reflections of MW/Stars.

I'm hoping the composition takes the viewer from the tree to the milky way. The milky way should lead down to the lake, and the lake brings you back to the tree.

 

[pgriz]

Yes, the composition works as you intended - that was the "eye" flow for me.

Kinda neat to have modern tools... I used Google-maps to go to the lookout where you must have parked to get that particular view. Even the tree is visible... https://www.google.ca/maps/@42.9641522,-122.1531097,123m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en.

 

[WesternGuy]

Majeed, very nice. I do hope you are caught up on your sleep.

WesternGuy

 

[Rick50]

Just awesome Majeed. Wish I could stay up that late. I don't get near that angle for the MW. I'm in bed by then.

 

[fokker]

Killer composition, I know it's not easy at night when you can barely see through the viewfinder, if at all. Overall I find it a bit blue for my tastes, but that's purely personal preference.

Wondering if you wouldn't mind sharing your technique for shots like this, if it's not a too closely guarded secret?

Happy to share. The foreground was shot at iso3200, f2.8, for 100+ seconds. The milky way was shot at f2.8, iso6400, 30seconds. Combined carefully in post. There is no light painting, this is entirely ambient light at the scene.

.

Thanks for that. Again, a great photo. Now that I notice it (and after you explained your method) I can see the star trails reflection in the water, and it looks a bit 'wrong', for want of a better word, in contrast with the sharp stars in the sky.
What lens are you using here?

 

[Twannie1980]

Amazing and captivating picture! I really like it!

 

[minicoop1985]

Wow. Just... wow. Incredible.