NikonGear'23
Images => Nature, Flora, Fauna & Landscapes => Topic started by: Peter Connan on May 01, 2017, 20:51:36
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Welwitschia Mirabilis
This plant is believed to be one of the longest-living plants in the world, believed to reach ages of 1500-2000years.
It consist of just two leaves. These leaves split due to wind and thus it looks as if they have more than two.
The bright spot on the left is a bolt of far-off lightning.
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Really nice Peter. Where did you
take make this?
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An interesting approach to plant photography I'd say.
However, despite the obvious merits I feel you haven't quite succeeded. The foreground is pretty darkish yet doesn't blend well into the overall scene. The plant itself is not well defined so one basically ends up with a starry heavens and the Milky Way capture.
Perhaps a re-edit can help?
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Thanks Elsa. This was directly south of Brandberg, on the "road" to the Messum Crater.
Bjorn, thanks for the comment. I basically agree, but the type of editing required is beyond my current skil level. The problem is that with the light level present in this type of shot, firstly the lens is wide open and thus the plant is not in focus, which becomes obvious as you brighten it, and secondly the ISO was very high, thus noise robs even more detail.
I have heard of a stacking technique that can help, but have not managed it yet.
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Sounds like there are (not unexpectedly ...) a lot of technical challenges for this kind of night shooting.
My only suggestion at this stage is making two exposures, one with perhaps some fill-in flash to brighten the foreground and also allow better control over depth of field by stopping down, and a second in which you forego the foreground entirely and focus (sic) on the starry heavens only. Then later combine the two later. It will require some dexterity in the editing stage of course, but should be doable as the contrast between those parts of the composition is so huge.
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Bjorn, that is a method i have used succesfully for star trails.
The problem with doing it with a shot like this is that you have movement in the stars, so one has to completely remove the stars from the foreground shot. And i for one don't know how to do that.
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Quiver tree.
This is a type of succulent tree aloe, endemic to the north-western parts of South Africa and most of western Namibia.
It is well adapted to gather and retain the litfle moisture it gets from rain, dew or mist.
The name is derived from the San or Bushman people having made their quivers by hollowing out the branches.
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Bjorn, that is a method i have used succesfully for star trails.
The problem with doing it with a shot like this is that you have movement in the stars, so one has to completely remove the stars from the foreground shot. And i for one don't know how to do that.
Read up on masking ...
Your Quiver tree shot managed the balance of foreground to background better, by the way.
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Will do thanks Bjorn.
The quiver tree was much easier because it was bigger, thus further away.
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Don't underestimate the use of a powerful LED torch for fill-in (in case you didn't use that approach).
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Wonderful night shots Peter
I agree #2 works better
about a focus stack ... I'm not sure I would attempt it, or perhaps I would after the shots of the sky because I struggle greatly getting the right focus for the stars
Since this a shot from the south hemisphere I'm unfamiliar with the shape of the milky way and the blob of stars to the right , thanks for sharing your images
On shot #1 I'm amazed to see traces of light pollution even in such a remote location
Personally I love night shots, perhaps because the camera reveals things that my eyesight does not
EDIT : Being curious about how wide a lens I checked the EXIF ... I saw F2.8 ISO 400 30 seconds ! That is one dark location ! but didn't see the focal length
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Thanks gentlemen.
Bjorn, i do use an LED torch, reflected from the palm of my hand. Used directly i find it far too harsh.
Armando.
I think the only light pollution in shot no.1 was a thunder-storm on the horizon. It was quite large but very far away. This was the darkest location i have ever been to, literally nothing south for a hundred miles.
The group of stars on the right in shot no.2 is the core of the milky way. It is still a little bit early in the year down here.
Equipment was D750 and Tamron 15-30mm f2.8 at 15mm. The rest of the EXIF you have already reported. Just a note on the ISO: it is not really that dark.
I have discovered that due to the nearly complete ISO invariance of the D750, i can actually get better results by shooting at a lower ISO and then lifting exposure. By doing this selectively i have less noise in areas that are dark anyway.
Also, due to the great lcd of the D750, it is quite easy to zoom in on one of the brighter stars and focus accurately. This to me is one of the greatest advantages of this camera.
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Peter, I would agree with others. #2 is fantastic. I also like the concept for #1 and hope you will succeed in it!
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Easy as pie to combine 2 images. Do you use photoshop?
This image is seriously not going to be a challenge to combine
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Thanks for the explanation Peter
The D800 display as it has been mentioned multiple times, is ugly , perhaps a good reason to upgrade
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Thanks guys.
Elsa, so far I only use LR.
Here is a hopefully somewhat better attempt, and a completely different take on the same plant:
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Peter one can even work the same photo - if you dont have double exposures - but that depends as well on how MUCH you want the plant to be lit.
Personally, I like the landscape with black at the bottom and stars up top. But many prefer to have something of interest in the fore ground
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I like Elsa's edit, brings out both the special nature of the plant and the context of the galaxy, about as great a contrast as there can be.
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Thank you Elsa. Will send you a mail later.