Desert plants

[Peter Connan]

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.

[elsa hoffmann]

Really nice Peter. Where did you take make this?

[Bjørn Rørslett]

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?

[Peter Connan]

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.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

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.

[Peter Connan]

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.

[Peter Connan]

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.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

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.

[Peter Connan]

Will do thanks Bjorn.

The quiver tree was much easier because it was bigger, thus further away.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Don't underestimate the use of a powerful LED torch for fill-in (in case you didn't use that approach).

[armando_m]

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

[Peter Connan]

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.

[Akira]

Peter, I would agree with others.  #2 is fantastic.  I also like the concept for #1 and hope you will succeed in it!

[elsa hoffmann]

Easy as pie to combine 2 images. Do you use photoshop?
This image is seriously not going to be a challenge to combine

[armando_m]

Thanks for the explanation Peter

The D800 display as it has been mentioned multiple times, is ugly , perhaps a good reason to upgrade