Roots Deeper Than Bones

This was my first attempt at night photography and shooting the milkyway. This tree is an icon in the area that I’ve recently moved to. It’s by no means an original composition although I’ve never seen this shot at night backed by the milkyway. I’ve watched this tree tenaciously cling to this rocky shore and endure throughout the hash winter weather. It’s very easy for me to draw parallels to my own journey and find comfort and strength in the symbolism. The experience of shooting this scene was a unique combination of emotions. Feeling free and connected with the natural world, excited and slightly frightened. The profound silence (aside from the night critters) ,the solitude and the darkness in the early hours quickly reminded me of how small I am in the grand scheme of things. I think this is something all nature photographers can relate to and that’s where the beauty of this craft really comes from.

Specific Feedback Requested

I am here to learn, so I welcome all feedback.

Technical Details

Canon 6D Mark II
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
ISO 2500
17mm
f/4.0
30.0 sec
Single exposure

2 Likes

Hey Leon,
This is one of those photos that would be really helpful to see your settings for, as it would really help me provide some critique. :slight_smile:

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Wow! I’m so stoked to get feedback from you! I’m a huge fan of your podcast and photography! I’ll have to pull the settings later. This version of the shot was saved from my FB post to my phone. I know I tried a variety of settings to experiment. I’m not sure exactly what they were off hand for this shot. I’m excited to hear your input after I get that info! Cheers Man! \m/

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Hi Leon,

Welcome to NPN! What a fabulous first post! I love that this includes the last of the sunset colors (or pre dawn) on the horizon - the stars and even the Milky Way! And you’ve got a wonderful tree to anchor the night sky image.

Given the star tracking - or lack of… I would guess your settings, the exposure time at least, was no more than 15 seconds! I’m no night sky expert, but of course stars start to streak when you get longer than that.

Love the colors and processing too.

Glad to have you hear and we look forward to your images, comments and participation! Don’t be shy!

Lon

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Welcome to NPN Leon. This is a great first post. I don’t do much night photography either but I love the silhouetted tree against the colorful night sky.

As Lon said we look forward to your images, comments, and participation.

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Thank you so much! I feel welcome already and I’m excited to participate!

Thank you Lon! If I remeber correctly my exsposure time was 30 seconds. It was pitch black. The light on the horizon was only visible in the photo. It’s what I assume is moonlight on the thin layer of clouds above the lake or maybe light pollution from the other side of the shore🤣. I did use a light pollution filter but I’m not sure what difference it made in this area.

Right on Leon, just let me know what your settings were… I can help with the technical side. I used to do night photography almost exclusively but have mostly given it up these days, but I can still help a bit!

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Canon 6D Mark II
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
ISO 2500
17mm
f/4.0
30.0 sec
Single exposure

Hello Leon, welcome to NPN. What a wonderful first post and a great story with it too. For your first attempt at star shooting, you scored nicely. I agree with the others that your technical settings would help with some suggestions.

It doesn’t look like the stars moved too much, but it is a smallish image from FB, so it’s hard to say. If it was a 30 second exposure, then your focal length would have had to be around 16mm…that’s based on the 500 rule.

Typically, a 24mm lens would need a shutter speed of about 20 seconds or less to not show star trails…

These days, it’s better to use a faster shutter speed and higher ISO to freeze the stars, then use noise reduction (Topaz or something similar) to get rid of the noise.

Sorry, I just got on a roll there. Hope you don’t mind.

Your shot is excellent and inspires me to get out there at night to shoot the stars…I do enjoy my sleep though. :slightly_smiling_face:

Looking forward to seeing more of your work, Leon.

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Thank you David! I was so excited to join the community and post that I did it all on the fly from my phone. I didn’t have access to the settings I used until I logged into my Lightroom. I’ve updated the post now but you pretty much nailed it! I did my homework before attempting this shot. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t fumbling around with the settings and technical aspects. I wanted to enjoy the experience and have that moment of seeing the image on the LCD screen that I could not see with my eyes. I’ve heard a lot about Topaz both good and bad. I’m hoping to learn how to get the least amount of noise possible from the get go. I’m sure that at some point that will depend on my gear and it’s limitations.

Great work, Leon. I’m glad you did your homework which resulted in a truly successful image.

Cheers,
David

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Excellent first post Leon. This is very refreshing. Too many MW images are not very believable. This is very believable. The colors look great, the core is subdued which I personally like, the darkness in the foreground is not too light and the glow on the horizon is beautiful. Plus you have have that magnificent tree. Love it.
If you want more of the core visible, it sounds like @Matt_Payne can probably help you way more than I can but I would first suggest that you use more ISO. At least double the 2500 that you used. Also, if you have a faster lens than f/4, something more like an f/2.8 or even faster which will double your light from your f/4 lens, I would use that.
Otherwise, this is really beautiful and serene. Well done Leon.

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Here are a few thoughts, although YMMV due to the fact that you are using a Canon 6D Mark II, and I have never used that camera.

  1. If you can, try to get yourself a lens that can at least go to f/2.8 or even more, with the caveat that not all lenses have usable aperture at the low-end of things.

  2. For my astro work, unless I’m heavily stacking (rare), I will always start at ISO 6400 in a dark sky area with no moon, and at 17mm you can safely expose for about 10-15 seconds before you’ll get noticeable trails. Even at 14mm, you can get good results at 30 seconds and the trails are not that noticeable unless you are perfectionist. There are exotic formulas online for this, but I’ve still found the 500/focal length = exposure time is still a good simple starting point for me. So - at 50mm I usually will expose for 10s (500/50 = 10s). I know this isn’t perfect for most folks, but it’s so easy to remember and it usually works OK as a starting point.

  3. If you are limited by your gear / aperture / sensor, you can always stack, and I recommend Starry Sky Stacker for mac and Sequator for PC. Start w/ 10 exposures, and make sure you expose one with the lens cap on to capture the sensor noise. As a caveat - stacking is really hard to pull off if you don’t have a clean horizon such as in this photo…

  4. I like your foreground choice here, but it could be framed a bit better, IMO, and maybe even include less sky. Try centering the tree a bit more. Actually this scene would work pretty good as a star trail, if I’m being honest.

Hope that helps.

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Very quick edit, raised exposure and changed color balance… brushed in some milky way color although it is too magenta , could easily be changed.
This is very nice first night photo.
I think your sky was too dark blue for the time of day.
30 seconds was too long, your stars are not sharp.
The tree is great. You had no wind.

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Awesome! Solid advice and information. I appreciate it and I will definitely put it into practice. I’m excited to try thoes settings! In fact I’m going to go out tonight and try them. It’s supposed to be a clear night, although in Michigan that can change by the second! I think you are right about the composition. I think less sky would definitely benefit the image. I absolutely love the idea of the star trails. I think that would be super cool and whimsical! This tree is practically in my backyard so I am definitely going to try that. Thanks Matt! \m/

I like the way this looks! I agree the sky was too dark. I think with my slower lense, as Matt suggested, I’m going to have to go with a higher ISO and shorter exsposure. This shot was taken closer to sunrise.