Questions And Answers:
Questions and Answers:
Handheld Torch/Flashlight for Persons within the night photos
People have asked me a number of questions about equipment, issues, and technique in Nightscape or Landscape Astrophotography. Since many of these questions are recurring, I am going to post the questions and answers here. I’ll answer your questions to the best of my ability!
Q: I had a question that you lightly pinged off of in one of your descriptions. A couple of your pics have a humanoid subject holding a torch aimed at the sky. You mention in one description how you had wished you had focused the light a little better. I tried using a headlamp one morning and could not see the beam at all in the sky. All you could see was an overblown white patch on the humanoid's face. How exactly do you get the beam of the torch shining at the sky to show up in the image? I was figuring we could exaggerate it with some powder in the sky, but that seemed a little silly? Or is it just a higher power torch than what my headlamp is capable of? Thanks for your time, and again, great captures.
A: Thanks for looking and writing. You have to use the right kind of light to make it work at night. To see a person holding a light or torch, it works best if you have a LED flashlight/torch, and if it is a focusing light. The last part is important. You need to get a focusing flashlight/torch. The one I used in the photo you mentioned was a focusing COAST brand light. To made it even more focused you can make a "snoot" or a black tube or cylinder to go around the end of the light. This prevents or minimizes side scatter. You can make it out of black rubbery material, black construction paper, etc. But since them I have learned of an even better focusing light, the Duracell Durabeam 1000 Ultra High Beam light. It focuses to an amazingly tight beam and really shows up well in photos. There is also a "500" lumen version. You can get it at Amazon for around $35 USD, and I have been told it is available at Costco for around $22 or so.
I bought a focusing Coast Brand headlamp, but I would like to get one more powerful, so I do not have a really good recommendation for a headlamp to be in the photos.
More Posts from Wayne-pinkston and Others
To Walk an Alien Land... by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook To Walk an Alien Land... He sat foot upon the barren rock of a new world, new to man. There was a residual atmosphere of Nitrogen and Carbon Dioxide but little or no Oxygen. There was widespread evidence of erosion indicating a prior abundance of water but there was little surface water now. They had spent decades in deep sleep and a small exploratory force had recently been awakened by the autopilot to resupply within the nearest system. There was little need for anyone to leave the ship as all resupply functions could be performed remotely by robotics. Spacesuits were still primitive and rarely used, but there were always a few who savoured the experience of walking a new world... If you like photos like this then come and join us in a workshop in July in this location. For details see my website or DM me here at Flickr. Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!
In The Still of The Night by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is Flattop Arch in the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico, located about 36 miles (60 Km) south of Farmington. There are relatively few visitors here and at night the probability is that you will be there alone. It's a rough terrain after you traverse the initial flat area near the parking lot. It's a highly varied landscape with areas of clustered hoodoos, flat areas, ridges and ravines, and a number of small arches. There are a number of hoodoos that look like wings or tables balanced on a rock pedestal. In this photo there is a constant or static light behind the arch, and the front lighting is reflected light from a hand held halogen spotlight. The light is reflected off a formation to my right. This was taken with a Canon 6D camera and a Nikon 14-24 mm lens at f 2.8, 30 sec, 14 mm, and ISO 6400. This is a single exposure. Hope you enjoy! Please join me at: Website Facebook Blog
Questions and Answers:
What color is the night sky?
Question: (more like a comment) Great composition and exposure, but the Milky Way is not blue, the color balance is not correct.
http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/color.of.the.night.sky/
Answer: Thanks for looking, and thanks for the comment. Much appreciated.
What color is the night sky? Excellent article you mentioned:
www.clarkvision.com/articles/color.of.the.night.sky/
I have been thinking about writing about this for a while, so thanks for stimulating me. Please bear with me for a few minutes.I have had this conversation multiple times, actually being on both sides of the argument. It took me a long time to come to a conclusion on how I wanted to present the night sky.
I actually agree with you entirely, the darkest night sky is a warmer color physically, but...
There is a difference between:
1) What color the night sky really is optically (we cannot see the real colors because our night vision is mostly B&W).
2) What we perceive the night sky color to be (our eyes are poor receptors at night), and what our eyes actually perceive is not what we may remember or what the colors really are. By the way, different people have somewhat differing ability to see color at night.
3) and what we remember the color of the night sky to be.
For events that we see repeatedly, like looking at the night sky (or going to the beach, etc.), it has been shown that we do not remember every detail in every instance of looking at the night sky. We may remember the meteor we saw that night, but our memory fills in the background details, like the color of the night sky, the smell of night air or desert air, the feel of chill on your skin, etc., with a combined memory of conglomeration of all the night skies we have seen. When you replay the memory in your mind you remember the unique details, and the background is filled in from averaged memories.
So... if you think about it, most people see most night skies in light polluted places or with a moon in the sky, all of which makes the sky lighter and bluer. The moon is above us more often than not, and lightens the sky, and that is what we mostly remember, a bluish sky.When I started out I thought the night sky was black.
When I got out there in the really dark places, it was not black. I look at photos with black skies and that is not what I see out there. Never. The sky also never looks brown to me, unless there is smoke on the horizon. It never looks brown. As I stand out there for hours and hours, it looks to me to be a deep blue tending towards back. It mostly looks "dark" in away that is hard to explain.
I have processed them every way you can think of, including like in the article you quoted. It's actually a lot easier that way. When you make the Milky Way warmer and yellow brown (forget about airglow for now), the background sky, especially near the horizon frequently turns brownish. It has never looked that way to me in person, in weeks and weeks of being out at night. It just looks unnatural to me.
So what do you do? Well, the answer in photo circles seems to be you do just about anything you want.
Once I got in a discussion with a very famous and respected photographer about the color of the sky. At that time I was arguing the point from the view you take. I finally asked what color is the night sky?His answer was "any color I want it to be". It bothered me at first, but less over time.
So, do you want to make a photo that is true to physics, but is not what anyone can ever see (and at times may be ugly), or make an idealized view of the sky, or simply try to make a work of art, or something people can identify with?
It is a question each person has to answer for themselves, and the answer will be different each time.
For me, I decided, for now, to try to make a work of art that people can identify with. Next year my choice may be different.
Cheers, and thanks for stimulating me to finally write this down!
Wayne Pinkston
The Wizard of Bisti by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Part of a fantasy Series. New Mexico Badlands. Panorama, 11 images, 24 mm, f 2.0, 15 sec., ISO 8000. Low Level Lighting used. There is a light behind the hoodoos (not doing much, lol), and an LED light panel on a tripod behind me and to the left. For more images like this please take a look at Wayne Pinkston Photography . Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!
To Walk a Pale Land: (at American Southwest) https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ4JVp7hnjg/?igshid=19vm6zhe0ehr6
Where's Waldo? (aka Where's Wally?) by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is Double Arch in Arches National Park, Utah. Do remember the picture game "Where's Waldo"? You had to find Waldo in a crowded photo. Anyway, in this photo it's "Where's Eric" (sorry Eric, you volunteered!). There is a figure in the photo with a headlamp, posed to give some scale to the photo. The arch is huge. Since Eric is in front of the arch and closer to the camera, he is actually magnified a bit, and the arch minimized a bit. Nikon 810A Camera, Nikon 14-24 mm lens, 20 mm, f 2.8, 30 sec., ISO 8000. I just discovered it's Where's Wally in most of the world, and Where's Waldo in the USA and Canada. Thanks Oscar for the info! The figure in the photo is Eric Gail you can see his excellent gallery here: www.flickr.com/photos/dot21studios Eric kindly volunteered to pose in the photo. Thanks Eric. BTW, I need another Model Release! LOL Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Where a Civilization once Thrived... by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is the Anasazi or Ancient Puebloan Riun called the 16 Room Ruin. It has many other names but this one seems most common. It is located just south of Bluff, Utah adjacent to the San Jaun River. This is part of an experimental series to see if the Anasazi Ruins are amenable to photography at night. I would love to combine an interest in the Anasazi with nighttime photography. I spent several days in August in the SE corner of Utah photographing several ruins at night, to be processed over the next few weeks. One thing I did discover is this: Being in these ruins at night is fascinating. To see the starlit sky, and be surrounded by ancient habitations where people once thrived is magical. It's like going back in time. The alcoves just glow with the light. You can imagine the glow of fires illuminating the ceiling and walls centuries ago. This ruin is in one of a small minority of Alcoves or Caves that opens facing North, and faces a fertile plain overlooking the San Juan River. Because it opens to the North, the Milky Way is seen overhead to the South. Most of the Anasazi Ruins purposefully open facing South, providing shade in summer and sunlight and heat in winter. It seems they were more concerned with these mundane everyday matters than with the needs of photographers that would come 800 years later. On the other hand the Milky Way may be visible looking out of many alcoves at some point in the year. There are limited choices for photo ops. Sometimes the only decent choice is looking into the Alcove, sometimes the only choice is to look out. Most of the flat "bench" in the Alcoves was used as building sites, and there is not a lot of room to roam around. The maintained and easily accessed Anasazi tourist locations in parks are closed at night. You can get a permit to photograph these at night for hundreds of dollars. There are, however, numerous sites on Bureau of Land Management land that are not maintained. There are unmarked trails to many of these ruins, and if you can find them you can photography at night. Many require a hike of a mile or more through rough trails. They are open to visitation but the BLM does not make them easy to find, sometimes knocking down cairns that mark the way. This is a panorama of 10 vertical images combined in Lightroom. Taken with a Canon 6D camera and a Bower 24mm f 1.4 lens at f 1.4, 15 sec, and ISO 6400. There are 6 lights used. There are 4 very small lights shining up on he ruins from just in front, and there are 2 larger lights lighting the whole alcove. Warming filters were used on the lights. The ridge looks more domed than it really is because of looking upwards at a relatively close structure. Disclaimer: No ruins were harmed in the making of this photo! So what do you think? Is this kind of image interesting or worth pursuing? Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Your time, faves, and comments are much appreciated! Please join me at: Website Facebook Blog
Visions of an Alien Land by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Bisti Badlands, New Mexico Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Whispers of Time Past by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is false Kiva in Canyonlands National Park, Utah. this is a bit of a different take on the composition, shooting from the far left corner, and covering the whole opening of the cave in a panorama. The right rock wall (outside the alcove) usually looks like a large dark void at night, so I decided to light the wall to give some definition. This was shot with fellow photographer Eric Gail, and the shadows on the ceiling of the cave were his idea. He had the idea of using an Indian Headdress to cast a shadow on the walls, using a small headlamp. The effect was really interesting to the eye as well as in the photo. The sky was nice and clear except for lots of smoke in the air from the wildfires in the Western USA. The smoke mostly stayed near the ground and created the ruddy coloration just above the horizon. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Your time, faves, and comments are much appreciated! Please join me at: Website Facebook Blog
A Quiet Night in Joshua Tree by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California, USA, with the Milky Way above. This was taken in an attempt to capture the unique landscape and feel of Joshua Tree National Park at night. In some ways Joshua Tree reminds me of the Alabama Hills, but with lots of odd looking trees. :-) The park contains portions of the Mojave Desert and the Colorado Desert, and is slightly larger than the state of Rhode Island, approximately 100 X 50 Km. The Joshua Tree is the Yucca Brevifolia, and they are usually grow in a widely spaced and scattered pattern. Much of the park is considered "High Desert", ranging up to 5,500 feet (1850 Meters). There are 2 small static light lights among the rocks, and a brighter light 30-40 meters to my right at about 45 degrees. One problem in Joshua Tree is the shadows, as there are lots of boulders, shrubs, and trees scattered around. This is taken shortly after the Milky Way has risen above the horizon, and at that time has a more horizontal orientation, later to become more of an arch. Canon 1D x Camera, Nikon 14-24 mm lens at 14 mm, f 2.8, 20 sec, ISO 6400, 3700 K. Hope you enjoy!
