Questions And Answers

The Mage by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Mautao the Mage had traveled far to reach the Sculpted Lands of the Ancestors. The lore of old held that the lands were carved by fire in the time before Man, and that the eternal smoke of the Dragon’s Breath still arched through the sky at night. The People now suffered from the Wasting Sickness and he had been sent to intervene with the Gods of Old. Rain and game had become scarce and the little food to be had was from foraging and meager crops. The New Gods had not answered their prayers, so Mautao appealed to the Gods of the Ancestors residing above. An image from a fantasy shoot in the New Mexico Badlands. Thanks to Kialo Winters of Navajo Tours USA, who is the Mage! Contact him for tours in the area! This is a Lighting Blend, one exposure for the sky and foreground with Low Level Lighting, and the same image repeated with a muted flash (from behind the rocks) for the Mage. An experiment with night photography, characters, and microfiction. 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

Questions and Answers

Reducing noise in the high ISO images

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: How do you get the noise to be so low at ISO 6400?

A: The Canon 6D does very well with noise to start with at ISO 6400, and is very manageable up to 12,800. . I open the image in Lightroom, and in the Detail panel I use the following for ISO 6400: Sharpening 40, radius 0.7, Detail 50, Masking 50, Luminance Noise Reduction 40, Detail 50, Contrast 0, Color Noise Reduction 20, Detail 50, Smoothness 100. This does remarkably well for ISO 6400. I then export the image to Photoshop. Sometimes I use Topaz noise reduction in Photoshop after I have finished processing the image, but not always.  I do this more to soften the sky than to reduce noise. In the processing of the image I increase the contrast of the sky in "Curves", and this can make the sky look overly sharp and harsh in my opinion, so I try to soften the sky with some moderate noise reduction.

In my opinion it is bad to overly sharpen the sky. The sky has a great deal of contrast to begin with, white stars and dark background. The contrast is so great that it increases perceived contrast, and you don’y need to increase sharpness any greater. It makes the stars look “crispy” and harsh. Also extra sharpening will dramatically increase the perception of noise. 

I also use Topaz Noise reduction on dark foregrounds as the noise there is much greater.

Moccasin Arch by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Panorama, 4 images, 14 mm, f/2.8, 25 sec., ISO 8000 Moccasin Arch in Monument Valley. The Arch is a huge cavernous alcove with an opening in the side of the "roof". This is a photo of some of my fellow photographers taking photos within Moccasin Arch. I was taking photos of them while they were photographing the arch. It turned out that I liked this one more than my views looking straight outward from the arch. The photographers in the photo give you a sense of scale. The Arch is huge! A big thank you to Quanah from Majestic Monument Valley Tours for taking us there. Thank you! He is highly recommend if you want to take a night tour in Monument Valley (day tours also). Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!

Matate Arch in Devils Garden, Escalante by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook This is Metate Arch in Escalante, Utah. Royce Bair masterminded this composition. Thanks Royce! There is Low Level Lighting (LLL) behind the arch with an LED light panel turned down very low. See www.lowlevellighting.org This is a single exposure tanken at 20 mm, f 2.0, 8 sec., and ISO 10,000. For more images like this please take a look at Wayne Pinkston Photography . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. It's a pleasure to post here.

Trona Pinnacles by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is a panorama of the Trona Pinnacles in California, USA, another small step in my efforts to photograph landscapes at night (this time a larger area). For orientation the parking lot is on the left and the dirt road in the foreground goes around the right side of the formation and carries you deeper into the park. There is "static" light painting. There is a light far to the right, and several small lights among the pinnacles. There was a lot of light pollution aiding in the lighting. The bright area along the horizon to the left is Ridgecrest, Ca., and I believe the light pollution on the bottom right is Barstow, Ca. The image wraps around more than 180 degrees, approx. 210 degrees. There is some airglow near the horizon creating the greenish effect in the sky. Many night photographers remove or diminish the light pollution and airglow to make the scene look more natural or to make the sky look more like people expect it to look. I have decided to go along with what the camera detects rather than what you expect to see. As a result this produces a somewhat surreal effect, which to me has a more exotic feel. This is a series of 15 vertical images combined in Lightroom (the new version has a panorama merge function). The images were taken with a Canon 1D X camera and Nikon 14-24 mm lens at f 2.8, 14 mm, 30 sec exposures, and ISO 6400. Hope you enjoy! Thanks in advance for taking the time to look and comment. 

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

Totem Pole Panorama by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Panorama of the Totem Pole in Monument Valley, Utah. 11 images, 24 mm vertically, f 2.8, 15 sec., ISO 12,800. Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!

Whispers of the Past by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook An old house in New Mexico. Lighting with Low Level Lighting with a Gaol Zero Micro Lantern. There are 2 exposures for focus stacking, one for the foreground and one for the sky, both at 14 mm. Sky shot at 15 sec., f 4.5, 15 sec., and ISO 10,000, foreground shot at 25 sec., f 4.5, and ISO 10,000. I shot the foreground at f 4.5 to get more depth of field and forgot to change it for the sky. Oops... Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!

Questions and Answers

Rattlesnakes!

Q: Do you worry about rattlesnakes in the desert at night?

A: You can bet I do keep a lookout for rattlesnakes at night! I am very conscious of where I step, and wear really high boots. It's not what most people think of with night photography, but I try to make sure I come back alive! It's a different world out there with limited vision (darkness), but a really beautiful world. I love it! In a more general sense you have to pay attention to where you and walking and what you are doing, and generally move slowly and carefully. A bigger danger is climbing on large rocks and boulders at night. When you turn the lights off you really need to know where you can move your feet.