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It's been a while, but that last one was very good toriaj.
Orion rising over Death Valley, foreground lit by 3/4 moon. Since I don't use a tripod it is easy to get a strong foreground, since I have to place my camera on the ground in some fashion anyhow. In this case, a piece of 2x4 I found lying around.
Very nice, raven. I'm surprised you didn't get little trails at 40 seconds, why was I thinking even 30 seconds gave you trails? Maybe it's the wider FOV. Anyway, great shot, maybe next time you can get something higher than a 2x4 so the foreground could be in focus :) don't let me bother you, it's a great shot.
I think you're probably right about focal length. The trails aren't visible in this small size, but the stars look a little long at full size. Since I know how to do it after finding this thread, maybe I'll be better next time! Yeah, maybe I should invest in a small tripod too.
Well I don't have much experience with this since my camera is finicky with battery life. After about a couple minutes of exposure it thinks the batteries are dead.
This one is too dark for me. I prefer an exposure similar to Tori's. Unless I miscounted, I think there's 6 stops of difference in the exposure between your shot and hers. Of course though, the light was different for each. Was there moon light for your shot? Composition is a little harder to critique since you were stuck with putting the camera on the ground. The lower you put the camera though, the more careful you need to be about what you have in your foreground.
Got it :D. I had another shot with a brighter exposure. I think I didn't choose it because of glare from the moon, and slightly longer stars. Here it is, cropped to a 3:2 aspect ratio to eliminate some of the foreground. I had a few with my camera on the car too, but the side of the road as a foreground just didn't work, so I moved to the rare sight of water. I think Tori's was taken earlier, for a bluer sky.
A night seascape...
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2771/...cc467af5_o.jpg
A couple from a full moon last month
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/...a4b02c15_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2681/...b9f9ba5e_o.jpg
I guess I'll post this one here too. 3 min exposure
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/...446994af_b.jpg
Pigeon Point Moonlight by Lukas W, on Flickr
Just a simple one from Death Valley
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7049/6...3d081e34_b.jpg
Artist's Drive by Lukas Wenger Photography, on Flickr
I like the soft color fades in the Death Valley shot.