Dave Morrow: Night Sky Photography On the Edge of Reality

"Sometimes Things Get Complicated" ~ a panorama composed of 11 images ~ Photo by Dave Morrow

 Night Photography is a completely new field to Dave Morrow. Looking at his portfolio, It's hard to believe that he took his first shots of the Milky Way only two months ago!

Editor's Note: This feature is an update on a post I did about Dave back in October 2012.

"I have always been a huge fan of the subject," says Dave. He looked at thousands of pictures of the night sky, which made him want to create something completely different from everyone else.

"Night Tremors" ~ Ruby Beach on the Olympic Peninsula ~ Photo by Dave Morrow

 Two months ago, Dave was headed to the North Cascades to shoot Picture Lake and overheard someone talking about the meteor showers that night. After shooting the sunset he laid out and waited for the stars. His first shot was a bit dark, and the ISO was to low, but after messing around for about 10 minutes he managed to get something he really liked.

"When I got home from my first shoot and upload the picture onto my computer, I had no clue how to process this beast of an image," reports Morrow.  He decided to experiment and see what happened. As he moved different sliders around in Lightroom, some great colors start to come out in the image, so he decide to run with it, and the rest is history.

"When Worlds Collide" ~ Photo by Dave Morrow

Free Tutorial: Dave's star photography has been so well received on the Internet, he has produced a free tutorial and a set of inexpensive Lightroom presets to help others interesting in this type of night photography:

• Free Star Photography Tutorial (includes a 70-page eBook download)
• Dave's Star Photography Lightroom Presets (48 Lightroom presets for $10.00)

Challenges: Dave's biggest challenge in this new style of star photography is trying to come up with some cool stuff in the foreground to keep his shots interesting. "Finding new compositions that keep people coming back for more is a huge challenge that will continue to grow as I take more shots," remarks Dave.

"Shoot Me to the Stars" ~ Mt. Rainier from Sunrise Point ~ Photo by Dave Morrow

Favorite Equipment and Tools: Morrow's favorite piece of photographic equipment is his Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G lens. "Shooting super wide angles at fast apertures is key to star photography, and this thing handles it like a beast," whips Dave.

Number two has got to be the Nikon D800 which he feels seems to have a star photography “sweet spot” of ISO 5000. "I have never seen a camera handle ISO 5000 like this one does," reports Dave.

Number three would be his Really Right Stuff Tripod. Extending to 72 inches tall is a huge advantage when shooting the night sky for hours, due to the fact that he can look up at his camera without slouching over. The rest of his gear can be found here on his website.

And because the moon is a Milky Way photographer's worst enemy, Dave uses The Photographer's Ephemeris to know when the moons rises and sets (and how bright/big it will be on any given night), as well as the times of the sunrise and sunsets. He also uses a free light pollution map (by Blue Marble). Other tools are mentioned in his online tutorial. (Editor's Note: If you live in the continental United States, another great light pollution map is the Dark Sky Finder mention in our 12 September 2012 blog post.)

On the Edge of Reality: "Escaping people, and at times reality has always been something I enjoy now and then. In order to get good dark skies for stars photography you must do both of these things," says Dave. Adding somewhat philosophically, "So it works out well!"

More of Dave Morrow's photography can be found at his website. Dave also has a Free Learn Photography eCourse.

 

Canon’s New Camera shoots at ISO 4,000,000

Canon’s $30K ME20F-SH camera has a full-frame CMOS sensor and employs the EF mount system. 

The Canon ME20F-SH. Yesterday, Canon announced a two-megapixel camera (for 1920×1080 HD video at 60p, 24p, and 30p) with an ISO equivalency of 4 million. The camera has a price tag of $30 grand, and you’ll need to wait until December to buy it. Canon claims it’ll capture accurate colors with little to no noise in low light, or down to 0.0005 lux (for reference, that’s similar to a night with partial cloud cover and no moonlight). Nighttime surveillance and security, cinematic production, reality television, and nature/wildlife documentaries are just some of the ME20F-SH's many possible usage applications.

The camera's 35mm-sized full-frame CMOS sensor has pixels which are more than 5.5 times the surface area of the pixels on the CMOS sensors featured in top-of-the-line DSLRs like the 1D X. The modular body employs the same EF mount (Cinema Lock type) as Canon's SLR cameras and Cinema EOS System-series of professional digital cameras, allowing users to make use of the Company's extensive lineup of interchangeable EF lenses.

Canon’s ME20F-SH did not suddenly come forth out of the blue. We announced it’s prototype back in 2013. Here’s a video of results from the 2013 camera and video results from the new sensor.

The big question for still photographers, is whether some of this low-light capability will filter down to Canon’s DSLR cameras. It may already have. Rumor has it that the upcoming Canon EOS 5D Mark IV may have an ISO range of 100-204800 ISO compared to the Mark III’s current range of 100-25600 ISO — a four-stop gain. Although the Nikon D4s and the Sony A7s are already touting ISOs of 409600, it will be interesting to see how low the noise/sharpness is at these ISOs when all three cameras are compared together. “NightScape” style photographers who currently use the Sony A7s tell me that they typically shoot at ISO 12800 and are not bothered by the noise. Their real joy comes from being able to do live view composition and focus (at ISO 409600) — the camera can literally see in the dark!

Yan Larsen - Alone Under the Stars

"Night-Night" - McWay Fall at Big Sur, CA ~ © Yan Larsen (click to enlarge)
Nikon D800E • Nikon 14-24mm Len • Sky exposure @ 3:30 AM:
F/2.8, 30", ISO 3200 • Foreground @ 4:30 AM: F/2.8, 180", ISO 200

When Yan Larsen was a child, she was amazed by the stars and the endless sky.  She wished she could share this with others. The latest DSLR cameras, techniques, and software has made this sharing possible. Yan started to seriously try night photography only recently, after she saw some of her friends’ night shots of the Milky Way.

"I never tire of night photography, especially the Milky Way," says Yan.  "Photographing the night sky makes me feel like a wizard. The universe is so huge, beautiful and mysterious. I am amazed by the details that modern camera can do, that I cannot see it with naked eyes. Being alone under the stars, my mind often flows into the spaces."

Yan's first Milky Way attempt, with
only a little foreground planning.

Challenges: One of her biggest challenges is finding a location with an attractive foreground, clear atmosphere, and little light pollution. "When shooting night photography, it is very easy to shoot just stars with only a black foreground, and lose sight of what could be a better image," says Yan.

Another challenge she often faces is fear.  As a female landscape photography lover, she spends a lot of time alone, hiking, admiring, and being mesmerized by the beauty of the landscape. "I try to conquer this fear by taking these words with me into the darkness: 'One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching.' "

The trade-off between noise and star movement. To shoot the Milky Way or stars without star trails, shutter speeds should be between 15 seconds and 30 seconds. To obtain these shorter exposures requires higher ISO's (more noise) or a fast lens (f/2.8 or faster), and sometimes both.

Milky Way over Convict Lake  ~ © Yan Larsen (click to enlarge)

Sea stack illuminated by a bonfire ~ © Yan Larsen (click to enlarge)
"I hope this is worth the $200 in parking tickets I paid." ;-)

Equipment, Tools, and Software:

• "My Nikkor 14-24mm F/2.8 has excellent optical performance, even at f2.8, making it unsurpassed as a lens for low light and night photography."
• Yan has three tripods: the Gitzo GT2541, the Feisol CT3341 and the Benro. "For night photography, a sturdy tripod is a must, and the Gitzo is my choice."
• A remote release is required for long exposure.  "I use the Nikon MC30, which is very easy to use. I bought several cheaper remote trigger releases, but my experience with them was awful. This model doesn't have a timer, so I my iPhone."
• Flashlight. "I sometimes want to light paint a dark foreground. Different colored lights can also add some fun effects."
• Photoshop is Yan's post processing tool to reduce the noise created by long exposures and high ISO's.

Bonsai Rock, Lake Tahoe ~ © Yan Larsen (click to enlarge)

Yan Larsen is a software engineer, working in beautiful Northern California. Although the outdoors and landscape photography have been a passion, she didn't by buy her first tripod in April 2010. "Being close to the nature allows me to think deeply about life, beauty, and true happiness," says Yan. More of Yan's photography can be found at her Flickr page.

Night Focusing the Rokinon 14mm Lens

MilkyWay over String Lake, taken with the Rokinon 14mm lens ~ © Royce Bair

Many have purchased the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 lens for starry night photography, at my recommendation, and then have written to me about their difficultly in focusing this lens for night photography.

Focus Frustrations and Fix: I must admit, that the first time I tried to focus this manual lens I was a bit bewildered. It seemed to stay in focus no matter what I did! This is due to the incredible depth of field of this 114º angle lens, even wide open. After considerable tests in the daylight and field testing at night, I can make the following recommendations: Don't focus on the infinity mark (some are even confused as to what position the infinity mark is located on the lens barrel).

Left: This is NOT the infinity position. Right: This is the infinity position.
HOWEVER, I recommend the following focus position below:

This is the focus position I recommend when shooting 'NightScapes':
Shoot at f/2.8, and set your focus halfway between the 10-feet mark and the infinity mark.

Hyperfocal Distance correction: Some hyperfocal charts will recommend focusing on 7-feet (actually, 7.62 feet—saying that everything from 3.81 feet to infinity will now be in focus). I find that I get better infinity sharpness at my focus position, and I still get good depth of field in to about 10 feet. I think this is because most hyperfocal DOF charts are based on the sharpness quality of an 8x10 inch print, whereas I want 16x20 and even 30x40 quality. (Quoting the Cambridge in Colour website about hyperfocal distances: "... it's often helpful to use a more rigorous requirement for 'acceptably sharp,' or to focus slightly further and improve background sharpness.")

Best Ultra-Wide Lenses for Starry Night Photography: The Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 lens has incredible coma correction and quality for a lens of it's price (about $350). It surpasses the coma aberration correction (even wide open) of most lenses in its ultra wide-angle category. I find it has about 1.5 stops of light fall-off in the corners (vignetting), which is easily corrected in the Adobe Raw Converter (via Photoshop or Lightroom). It is also a little soft in the edges, unless you stop down to about f5.6 or smaller; however, I don't recommend doing that if you're using the lens for high-ISO night photography—just keep this lens wide open, and place important areas away from the edges or corners of your composition. When doing daylight landscape photography, I found this lens performed optimally at f/11, with the focus set at 7-feet (f/16 was also very good, but at f/22, I began to notice a little bit of diffraction).  If you're a Nikon user (and can afford to shell out about $2,000), the only other lens I'd recommend in this category is the Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 lens. This lens is well-corrected in every area, and is sharper than most prime lenses. It is a little sharper than the Rokinon, especially in the corners. Some Canon users like it so much, they even have the Nikon mount adapted to fit their EOS bodies!

Full-resolution crop of the top photo. Enlarge or download this image to see for yourself the quality of the
Rokinon 14mm when used wide open at f/2.8—just keep in mind that you're also seeing the coarseness of an
ISO 6400 image that has had some noise reduction in the ARC software (which tends to soften shadow detail).

Recognizing the Milky Way in a Light-Polluted Sky

Milky Way rising over Silver Lake near Brighton, Utah ~ © Royce Bair (click to enlarge).
Reddish glow on the left is light pollution from Park City, and on the right is from Heber City.

Last Friday, I participated in an evening photowalk with about 100 local photographers. With the help of a lecture I gave a few days before, I guided many on their first ever photographs of a starry night sky. For several, it was a dream-fulfilled to see and photograph their first Milky Way.

People from big cities throughout the world often write and tell me that they'd love to see and photograph the Milky Way, but it is too light-polluted in their region. For the most part, that's true. However, in almost any area of the world, you can still see the Milky Way if you're willing to drive a few miles and train your eyes to see the shape and features of our galaxy—viewed from the perspective of our planet.

The above photo was taken only 11 miles from the edge of Salt Lake City, and we are still in a 'orange' zone according to Dark Sky Finder's map of the area. Even after the Milky Way appeared at 11:00 PM, in the region that I had predicted, many still could not see it until I photographed it and showed it to them on my camera's LCD monitor:

Even this raw, unprocessed view is 4X brighter than the naked eye view, because of the
light-gathering power of a 20-seconds time exposure, a fast lens, and a high ISO.

It's not hard to recognize the Milky Way in the top, post-processed photo, but it takes some education, experience, and practice to recognize the features of our galaxy, especially in a light-polluted sky, where the contrast and colors of the stars are muted by stray, artificial light.

More light-gathering: The top photo is a double-exposure of the middle image and this 3X exposure to increase the detail in the landscape and the reflection in the lake water:

A 60-seconds exposure washes out the sky and blurs the stars, but adds detail to the landscape. Adding the post-processed sky (mainly contrast adjustments in Photoshop's 'Curves') from the middle image produces the final photo (top).

Milky Way from the bottom of the Grand Canyon

Milky Way above the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon ~ © Royce Bair

Because the Grand Canyon walls are so high and narrow, there is only about a one-hour window where the bulge of the Milky Way can be seen during the night. This photo was taken two weeks ago, at about 4:30 in the morning. The stars were starting to fade from view, because it was only about 90 minutes from sunrise. A few minutes later, and I would not have been able to capture this scene. I used the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 lens on my Canon 5D Mark III because of it's ultra wide 114º angle of view, with minimal barrel distortion. This lens is well-corrected for coma aberration, so it is perfect for star photography (not to mention its under $400 price tag). The Mark III gives me one to two stops less noise than my older Mark II at the high ISO's needed for a "nightscape" like this (ISO 5000 • f/2.8 • 30 seconds).

In order to show the walls of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River by starlight, it is necessary to produced a second exposure (4X or 120 seconds) and combine it with the sky exposure.

Here's a panorama of my camera position, taken with my iPhone 4s, two hours later.

Sand in sleeping bag from night storm

Photographing the Milky Way from the bottom of the Grand Canyon was a dream fulfilled when Western River Expeditions asked me to photograph one of their 7-day trips down the Grand Canyon. Preparing for this trip took considerable planning since all equipment had to be protected from the sand and water using small plastic bags, dry bags, and Pelican cases. (Changing lenses during a sand storm is NOT a good idea.) All my batteries had to be recharged several times, so a portable power station had to be devised. Here is some of the key equipment I took on this trip.

Canon 6D is the Low Light Winner Over Nikon D600

In high ISO video tests, the Nikon D600 was at least 2-stops behind the Canon 6D. © Michael Andrew

Early reviews were a disappointment to many Canon users: Both cameras are entry-level, full-frame sensor cameras in the $2,000 price range. When the Canon EOS 6D finally came out in December 2012, following the Nikon D600's flashy entry in September 2012, many Canon users were somewhat disappointed. The Canon has fewer mega pixels: 20MP verses the Nikon's 24MP. It has only 11 focusing squares verses the Nikon's 39. The Nikon has a built-in flash, and the Canon does not. The Canon shoots at 4.5 frames per second in burst mode compared to Nikon's 5.5 frames/second. The Nikon can do focus tracking in live view, but the Canon cannot. Nikon has a wireless transmitter and a headphone jack, and the Canon does not. The Nikon's shutter is duty-rated at 150K cycles, whereas the Canon is only rated at 100K cycles. The Canon does have a cool Wi-Fi tethering feature though, that the Nikon does not.

Specs on paper don't always translate to real world shooting experiences: Michael Andrew has recently produced a YouTube video that provides one of the best and most unbiased field reviews of these two cameras I have seen. It's called the, "Nikon D600 vs Canon 6D Epic Shootout Comparison". Michael concludes that the Nikon D600 is still a slightly better all-around full-frame camera than the Canon 6D, but not by as much as some had suspected.

At high ISOs, the Nikon D600 often exhibits excessive noise in the shadow areas. © Michael Andrew

Low Light Leader: What will surprise many is how much better the Canon 6D performs in low light over the Nikon D600. Michael concludes that "…the Canon 6D is outstanding in its low light focusing and its high ISO noise …the Canon 6D is at least 2-stops better than the Nikon D600 [in its handling of high ISO noise for video] …the Nikon D600 peaked out a little before ISO 3200, whereas the Canon looks pretty phenomenal even at ISO 12,800—and in some cases even ISO 25,600."

High ISO JPEGs and RAW images: In still photos, Michael concluded that, "...the Canon 6D is 1-2 stops better in reproducing high ISO images than the Nikon D600, depending on the subject and file type."

The Canon 6D's high ISO JPEG performance was about 1 to 2 stops better than the Nikon D600. © Michael Andrew

How does the Canon 6D compare to the Canon 5D Mark III? The observations of this editor indicate that for still photos, the Canon 6D and 5D Mark III sensors perform very similarly. The $1,500 savings between the two cameras should be quite attractive to the entry-level photographer looking to find a great full-frame camera for high ISO night photography.

However, Michael Andrew points out in his review that there is a reason the Mark III has a very good reputation for professional quality video. His test showed that the Mark III handled aliasing and moire much better than the other two cameras. In his conclusion, the Nikon D600 had the best dynamic range. It's weaknesses were high ISO noise, moire, and aliasing. The Canon 6D had the best quality in high ISO noise (almost identical to the Mark III). Its weaknesses were in aliasing and moire. The Canon 5D Mark III had the least aliasing and moire, and was similar to the 6D in good quality high ISO noise. Its weakness is its high price (about $3,500).

Michael Andrew (aka Michael the Maven) has great "Crash Course" training videos on many camera models at his popular blog.

Use promo code "nightcape" to save 20% off premium stock photography at prime.500px.com

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Nikon D3s: Best Ever High ISO Camera?

Cairo & Alexandria, Egypt at night ~ taken with the Nikon D3s • 16mm lens • f/2.8 • 1/4 sec. • ISO 51,200

I am one of many photographers who believe the Nikon D3s may be the best high ISO camera ever made for night photography work, especially in its day. It set a benchmark that others have sought to achieve. And, I say this even though I'm currently a Canon EOS 5D Mark III user.

The above NASA photo, taken on 28 October 2010 from the International Station Science, is a good example of the amazing high ISO capabilities of the Nikon D3s. The Nile River and its delta stand out clearly. On the horizon, the airglow of the atmosphere is seen across the Mediterranean. Although a full resolution view of this image shows it to be a noisy photo (at ISO 51200), the image would not have even existed without the technology of the Nikon D3s. (My Canon EOS 5D Mark II had a maximum ISO of 25600, but even at that speed it would have been much noisier than the Nikon at ISO 51200.)

Nikon D3s

James Neeley mentioned in a recent blog post that he felt the Nikon D3s still had a slight edge over the newer Nikon D4. This is mainly because of the huge size of the pixels in the 12.1MP D3s sensor, compared to smaller pixels in the D4, D800, and D600 sensors. Despite the newer sensor technology, Sony (who makes the chips for Nikon) has still not been able to quite overcome the benefit that comes from bigger pixels, although it is getting very close. Today, there are at least half a dozen full-frame sensor DSLR cameras that rival the high ISO capabilities of the D3s, and saying which is the best for night photography is like splitting hairs!