Looking Up

cbarnard7 · Jun 22, 2015

EXIF:
Nikon D610
ƒ/1.8
35.0 mm
30 sec
ISO800

Story:
The mountain I was on was at 11,500ft elev. I forgot my coat and was freezing cold- this made me pretty much forget everything I knew about MW photography. I originally had my 24-85mm 3.5-4.5 lens, but that wasn't fast enough to keep my ISO down (so I thought). I grabbed my DX 35 f/1.8 instead and used it wide-open. I forgot about the 600 rule and just went for 30 seconds- there is a little bit of trailing, but not too much that it bothers me. As always in landscape photography, I thought to myself, "the lower the ISO, the better". I figured if I could shoot at 800 then there would be less noise. While that may be true, I feel you really need at least ISO 1250 to bring out the best details of the MW. Also, the higher ISO means a faster shutter speed which = less trailing (oh, well!). I focused more on the trees than the Milky Way, since I wanted to evoke the feeling of being so small in the world and having to "look up".
For post, I used LR 5 only. I used the adjustment brush to bring out the clarity and color of the Galactic Center. I kept the sky quite dark to highlight the MW. I kept the trees completely silhouetted because they were. I used about 60% luminance and 50% detail to reduce some noise.
All in all, I'm happy with my 2nd attempt at the MW! Next time, I'll be better prepared all-around.

Cheers,
Chris