The great GetDPI Northern Arizona Workshop

[Terry]

Georg,

After the test exposure, we took the card out of the camera and opened the file in C1 and looked to see how many stops over/under exposed it was.

The hard part about these shots was not being set up with camera/lens combo in place before it got dark. Very hard to do the composition when you can't see anything.

 

[Jack]

... The phase one with the 80mm goes like 2.8, 3.2, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0 and then 5.6... Looking at that I assume you added a factor for every two steps, which means the above reflects a half a stop each. Ok, I get that.

George:

Each full stop is 1/2 or 2x the light of the previous. So full stops from f2.8 progress as, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, etc. So going from 2.8 to 5.6 is 2 full stops, 1/2 x 1/2 or 1/4th the light, and thus you need to increase the time of the exposure by 4x...

Guy's math was off for number of stops between ISO 1600 and ISO 100, it's only 4: 800 is one, 400 is two, 200 is three and 100 is four.

However, a good rule of thumb with any long night exposure is do the math as above, then add one stop for the tripod . Seriously, you almost never over expose them!

And after doing all the math, with a clear sky (clouds change everything) and regardless of the phase of the moon, they almost always work out to about one hour at f4 for ISO 100.

A sidebar note: Because of the difficulty composing through a viewfinder in almost total darkness, and because of the relatively limited apertures of f5.6 or maybe f8, I tend to shoot these with wider lenses --- wider angles of view mean you can "zone compose" by pointing the camera in the generally right direction (shoot loose and crop a bit later), and shorter lenses render greater DoF at a given aperture.

 

[Jack]

Great images folks, kudos to all for such great captures!!!

PS to Terry: Your horizons are fine -- I know the area you were shooting in and the land does slope -- plus your spires are basically straight. ROTFL Sending you a PM on a desaturation technique I like...

Cheers,

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Thanks Jack for correcting that , still in a daze from driving. Just got in a full 8 hours sleep which i have not done since i was 12 years old. LOL

Woke up to some wonderful images and posts . Steve they are prestigious images my friend. Looking to see more.

Peter thanks and for you the longest traveling workshop attendee EVER . I can see you really enjoyed the trip and finally got to play with some of the nicest gear around and capture some nice images. BTW Doug raffled off a free copy of C1 Pro and Steve won it. Congrats

Terry so where was that 135mm when we went by the horses. LOL
BTW I like the desaturated look. I want to play with some B&W shots

 

[Don Libby]

Steve

Great shoot of the balance rock in Marble Cyn. It's be interesting to see what all the shoots look like from that set.

Horseshoe Bend is one of the hardest places to capture however you did it.

Great work.

Don

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Something with a little different in look

 

[Don Libby]

Terry - Never tire of seeing Monument Valley. The horse image is great as are the others (taken near 3 sisters?).

Now can't wait till we go there in August; thanks for giving me a quick "fix"

Don

 

[Diane B]

Well, I've enjoyed the whole trip with all of you LOL. Hope to see more as you process. I've loved the different takes on the same scenes--and with Steve's, Terry's and Guy's shots at different times of day at Horseshoe.

Terry, like the desaturated shots too--sometimes Southwest can be overwhelming colorwise (I still look at film shots of mine--last time I was there LOL) and say--no way--but I know they were pretty true. That's what comes of living east of the Mississippi where the light is different--rock formations and type, color of land, etc. too.

Diane

 

[Don Libby]

Something a little different in look

Very nice Guy! I like the "look"

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Balance rock. Everyone has this identical angle. I set them up for this one at least and had them all shoot this one. I liked the gap between the mountain and rock. A composition lesson in the field

 

[Don Libby]

Well, I've enjoyed the whole trip with all of you LOL. Hope to see more as you process. I've loved the different takes on the same scenes--and with Steve's, Terry's and Guy's shots at different times of day at Horseshoe.

Terry, like the desaturated shots too--sometimes Southwest can be overwhelming colorwise (I still look at film shots of mine--last time I was there LOL) and say--no way--but I know they were pretty true. That's what comes of living east of the Mississippi where the light is different--rock formations and type, color of land, etc. too.

Diane

Hi Diane We have colors here in the Southwest that'll just blow your socks off if you're not careful! I've seen the sky at sunset that comes alive with reds that make the sky look like the inside of a furnace. Then there's the red cliffs of ... well just about everywhere.

Monument Valley is a great place to go as you can't go there without thinking/seeing the two most famous "Johns" John Wayne and John Ford. I've often thought of doing nothing but b&w in MV just to capture the mood of the place.

Don

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Very nice Guy! I like the "look"

Thanks Don used the sepia filter in C1

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Lesson learned need one more ND filter in the bag only 1/4 second at F22 but need to slow it down more. Tough to do in bright light

 

[Jack]

Lesson learned need one more ND filter in the bag only 1/4 second at F22 but need to slow it down more. Tough to do in bright light

I hear that! Why I normally carry a 3 stop and not a 2, and have a 6-stop tucked away specifically for moving water

 

[Guy Mancuso]

6 stop one would be perfect to have.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

The road to planet Mars

 

[Robert Campbell]

Also you want to shoot east or west on the earths axis

Sorry, I don't understand this point. Is it something local, or a general rule-of thumb?

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Because the earth rotates east west, so the stars spin in that direction or we spin actually. On the North or South directions we do not spin in that direction so much leas movement of the stars we go around.

 

[Don Libby]

It's about the rotation of the earth and the ability to shoot star trails.

Opps you said it better Guy!

 

[Robert Campbell]

Thanks for the star trails. I have seen pix taken pointing at the pole star and the southern pole, with impressive concentric trails -- but these exposures were several hours, not just a few minutes. And also a double exposure technique -- one day light but under exposure for the foreground, then much later, several hours for the stars.