The *Official Photography Thread*

Question for you gents! I already asked about night photography and got some great answers. I am trying to get the tent and the stars in focus with a similar shot as this. Is this possible? I didn't have my remote so I was stuck with 30" shots. If I were to have took a similar shot (tent in focus, stars blurry) for star trails, would that look alright or just like crap?

The owner of the company contacted me and let me know he is thinking about doing a photo contest with a prize (hopefully another tent or a sweet pack!). I want to give it my best shot

 

Still learning my camera and such but snapped this in the backyard. All I really did was exaggerate the red and deep blues. Also made the blacks deeper. A little bit of local contrast added as well. Made the switch from darktable to Lightroom, and really digging the results. Much cleaner and helps keep me organized.

 

I think what I read from some of the guys before is that you take your foreground exposure featuring your subject (tent) and then turn out all the lights and get a super duper long exposure focused on the stars. Then using photoshop or whatever your using, mix the two together. Thinking a layer mask would work well.

 

Ahh, I thought about doing that but wasn't sure it would be that great. I also didn't want to hack up a photo and essentially do a photomanip.

 

Totally, maybe one of the other dudes can give you some advice on getting the stars and tent crisp. Fstops effect this I think, might try a smaller fstop (bigger number)?

 

They affect the focus? Anyone know why? I couldn't go too low since I didn't have the remote to leave it open for long periods but I'll get it a shot next weekend

 

This might help. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture

 

Ok, thanks! Ill just remember to bring my remote next time haha

 

What JB said will work.

I personally think you want the tent/stars as in focus and I think you should take a couple of shots. Maybe 20-30 yards back & put the tent in one of the two lower thirds-this would give you the context of place, the stars, and the tent. If you have a tablet or a phone, you could light the interior of the tent, Cover it (or a flashlight) with a t-shirt or something to limit the amount of light to something you can barely see-20 seconds should give you enough light to make the tent glow.

 

OK, thanks . The tent actually has a stove in it which I can get piping hot using small twigs and pine cones. Then leave the door slightly cracked so the flames illuminate the inside.

 

That will probably be way too much light to make the shot in a single exposure so for sure, two shots.

 

Hmm, if I close the door its just a small orange glow at the base of the tent.

 

As stated gage, do a photo stack.

That said, I have found that the stars in focus is much more important.

Take this image for example

Comets by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I did not focus on the trucks at all. Just the sky. Are the trucks super sharp? Not overly, but you won't notice. The foreground is 4 images with the trucks being light painted and the sky is about 50

You also need to get a wider lens it looks like. At least Id want a wider view.

But you can do focus stacking too. Focus on the tent. Get your foreground set up right and then take the camera off the tripod and reset the focus to the stars. Then get back on the tripod and get the stars.

Also you won't get a dark looking sky with lots of stars without doing 30 second exposures. Doing longer ones will of course make the sky brighter.

This shot is 45 mins long exposure and the sky turns more blue. Granted, I wasn't super far from town, but still.

First Swirl by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

You get more control doing stackin too, like removing plane streaks

 

Guess I ought to look up stacking and light painting haha

 

I see gaps in the trails. What causes that?

 

No idea. It's odd cause it shouldn't have them since it's one long exposure.

Otherwise when you do stacking the stars look like they have rough edges. You have to use a blur to streak them together.

 

Maybe a dark spy sattelite went through the trails

 

Off topic, sorry I'm no help! Is that a Kifaru Tipi tent?

 

Babytaco would be the one to answer that... Looks pretty sweet whatever it is! Cool that it has a little stove.

 

Oops, my bad! Selected the wrong quote...

They are pretty neat with that wood stove, gets nice and toasty!