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Author Topic: Dark night, more stars  (Read 1476 times)

Paulo Bizarro

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Dark night, more stars
« on: July 29, 2014, 04:14:36 am »

Good morning,
A couple of nights ago I visited this location, a dam neat the town of Santa Clara Velha (Odemira district, South Portugal). This area is located towards the interior, but still relatively close to the coast (about 60 km or so). It is a forested area, with very sparse houses, so it is pretty dark.
I normally try to shoot the sky when there is a New Moon, but I usually do it on the coast, because it is closer to my house. However, there is some light pollution, as the coast is more inhabited.
This time I spent one night in this town, with the family, in a small Turismo Rural, old farms that have been recuperated for tourism. Very nice, and one of the ways to avoid complete human desertification in these areas. But I digress...
So I went out to shoot a 2 hour star trail (which is what you see here): exposure was 4 minutes, f4, 400 ISO, total 30. Pretty simple. There was some light pollution from another Turismo Rural in the northern end of the dam, and a couple of cars going through some dirt roads.
But pretty dark overall; when I finished the star trail, I wanted to shoot the Milky Way, but the clouds set in, so no luck this time.
Regards.

luxborealis

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Re: Dark night, more stars
« Reply #1 on: July 29, 2014, 07:52:52 am »

Lovely photograph. I keep hearing/reading that light pollution is to be avoided at all costs, but I rather like a bit of it as it reminds us of where we are, in this case rural, but not wilderness. There are times for Dark Sky Preserve photographs, but also times like this when showing that life goes on works in astro photography.

Thanks for sharing.
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Terry McDonald - luxBorealis.com

churly

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Re: Dark night, more stars
« Reply #2 on: July 29, 2014, 10:06:04 am »

I'm not much of a fan of star trails for some reason and like your milky-way shos more but that's just my preference.  I agree with Terry that a bit of light pollution sets some context.  To me the extra light produces a different but equally valid image.
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Chuck Hurich

sdwilsonsct

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Re: Dark night, more stars
« Reply #3 on: July 29, 2014, 07:01:38 pm »

At least the light pollution gives us a foreground. I wonder how it would look over a really calm lake with the star trails reflected.

Paulo Bizarro

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Re: Dark night, more stars
« Reply #4 on: July 30, 2014, 04:40:57 am »

At least the light pollution gives us a foreground. I wonder how it would look over a really calm lake with the star trails reflected.

Thanks for the comments guys.

Yes, it would have been wonderful if the water were really calm. But I think it is impossible, there was a lot of activity going down in the dark:) Lots of fishes jumping out, perhaps to catch some bugs?

lumiway

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Re: Dark night, more stars
« Reply #5 on: July 30, 2014, 10:34:00 am »

stunning photo!  ;D
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maddogmurph

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Re: Dark night, more stars
« Reply #6 on: July 30, 2014, 05:59:59 pm »

Well done.  Do you have any suggestions for fixing the burnout you experience in the shading above the far right horizon?  I sometimes encounter this myself, and can usually adjust it via shadow manipulation to get rid of this, but always looking for helpful tips.
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Maddog Murph
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