On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
The second half of this year has not worked well for shooting the stars, between the insane schedule from the Home of the Orange Apron(all I asked for is consecutive days off, nope) and the days I’ve had off the weather/moon phase not being cooperative. So I’ve not been out under the stars as much as I would have liked the second half of 2022. But I did manage to get to 3 places and shoot the stars. The first was quite close, southwest of Thousand Oaks, an area I know pretty well since I spent my first 18 years as a resident. The second place is the Trona Pinnacles, an unworldly place that I’ve want to visit but the access road is unpaved and I was(turned out rightly) concerned about driving there in the Prius. Finally, at the end of last month I returned to one of my favorite places, the Red Cliffs at Red Rock Canyon State Park north of Mojave. The shots below were shot with 4 different cameras, two of which I didn’t own at the start of the year(my Galaxy S22 Ultra and my Sony A7iv).
Areochrome shot of the Santa Monica Mountains.
I shot in this area earlier in the year since it is the closest location that I thought I might see the Milky Way and I am pretty familiar with the area. Earlier in the year, the Milky Way core is more to the southeast and it’s visibility is affected by the light pollution from Los Angeles and to a lesser extent Thousand Oaks. I thought shooting it later when the Milky Way is more towards the south(just mountains and the Pacific in that direction), I could get a better shot. I think this proved correct.
I decided to try the same shot with my modified NX300, without any filters. I had high hopes when I first started shooting the Milky Way that I could use the NX-300 with it’s hot mirror(a filter that removes the ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths of light) removed to get better shots of the Milky Way. My hopes were dashed out of the gate when I tried some shots on my first trip to Joshua Tree, when the shots had a bright light on the lower left side of the shot. I’ve learned recently, that some camera manufactures have and infrared emitter as part of the shutter timing mechanism, so I had to clean up this shot quite a bit.
The final part of the drive to the Trona Pinnacles is a 5 mile dirt road, I thought I wasn’t going to make it there when I drove in and wasn’t sure I’d make it out after I got there. There was maybe a 50 yard stretch of the road that went through a sandy wash and the Prius almost didn’t get though the sand. On the way back I didn’t try to drive slowly though the wash, just got some momentum heading into it and didn’t have too much of a problem. This is a shot of the pinnacles(they’re tufa, much like what you see at Mono Lake) formed in what was a lake in that area. It is a location that I’d love to shoot at again, but that road frightens me.
This shot was taken just after sunset as the Milky Way first started to appear in the night sky.
After astronomical twilight, I started shooting the stars and then did some light painting on the foreground.
This was shot with my cellphone, I shot 10 shots and then combined them for noise reduction. Recently, Samsung added an astrophotography mode to their Expert RAW app, I’ve shot some with it and it shows promise, but needs some work. I hope it will be better by the time Milky Way season rolls around next year.
As you may have noticed, I mentioned two new cameras. This shot was taken with my new Sony A7iv, my first full frame digital camera. It was time to move on from the NX-1, it takes really great photos, but the APS-C sensor was just not optimal for shooting in low light and the camera was starting to show it’s age(it came out in 2014). This was my first opportunity to take the new Sony out to shoot under the stars. I paired up the A7iv with a Rokinon 35mm f/1.4 manual focus lens. The sky is a single 30 second tracked exposure and the foreground was shot for 99 seconds. The sky is a little out of focus(if you pixel peep) and I should have shot a 2 minute exposure instead of 30 seconds.
Baud
Gorgeous. The Orange Apron needs to give you more days off.
I recently tried to shoot some pre dawn night shots on my Samsung and the blacks came out with a purple tint. The iPhone I had with me came out with a truer black. Not sure why there was a purple tint, but I think the culprit might have been the scene optimizer feature. Didn’t try shooting RAW.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
I screwed up, the fourth shot is NOT supposed to be the same as the fifth shot. The fourth shot should be this one.
Mel
Breathtaking!
The first photo really caught my eye b/c the rich vibrant blues and the warm cocoa and rich ochres of the earth tones are the same shades I’m using in a piece of jewelry that I’m making.
And – wow!!!- the Trona Pinnacles photos are mesmerizing.
Your beautiful photos always start the day with a bit of magic. Thank you for sharing them.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: You should not only shoot RAW and process it in a RAW developer, but you should use the Expert RAW app from the Galaxy store. The latest version includes an Astro mode that will shoot up to 10 minute exposures. This photo was shot with the Astro mode of Orion, the tops of the mountains at the bottom are the Sierra.
Baud
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA:
Oh that’s pretty. Too bad it got left out.
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA:
I’m not a photographer. I just take snapshots. Not worth dealing with RAW. I was just disappointed the Samsung came out so much worse than the iPhone photos with respect to the night scene.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@Mel: Glad you like them, they will be much, much better with the new camera.
@Baud: I’ll admit that I’ve not shot much with the phone at night without shooting in RAW, I always shoot in RAW, you can make it like you want it, not like what Crapple or Sammy want’s it to look like.
Rusty
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA: I love this. In the fall Orion would be above me as I put my shell in for rowing before sunrise.
YY_Sima Qian
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA: Always awestruck by your night shots!
OzarkHillbilly
Nice shots all, Bill. Good to see you back in these spreads.
WaterGirl
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA: I think i’ve got that fixed for you with a new pic up for #4.
cope
Thank you for the great pictures of our spectacular home galaxy. I didn’t realize how much I missed your posts, good to have you back in the saddle.
Among the many, many things about our impending move to CO from FL that i’m most looking forward is the clear, dark skies.
Thanks again.
pat
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA:
I love that photo, all those stars, showing the immense and awesome universe of which we are an infinitesimal part.
eta: Is that one for sale?
mvr
These are all great and also impressive. They must take quite a bit of work.
Perhaps perversely, I find I like the ones that aren’t taken when it is completely dark and in fact the top shot really struck me.
Thanks!
Another Scott
@Baud: Try OpenCamera from the Play store. Much less heavy-handed sharpening, etc, compared to the stock camera on my S20+. Like you, I’m just taking snapshots and not messing with RAW. Yet.
Thanks Billin. Great shots and stories as always.
Cheers,
Scott.
kalakal
@cope:
I hear you, the light pollution here in Pinellas, Fl is awful. I love the skies when we visit the family in OH
stinger
Yay for the return of Starman! (Also an enjoyable moving picture.)
citizen dave
A welcome return of your fantastic photographs! All of your extensive efforts are much appreciated.
Origuy
Beautiful photos. I was in Red Rock Canyon last month for the National Orienteering Champs. Only during the day, though.
Have you ever shot at Anza-Borrego State Park? I’ll going there for MLK weekend.
Mike Mundy
There’s a spot on Trona Road that has a nice vanishing point.
pieceofpeace
Lovely, exciting pictures! I like them equally, so have no favorite. A day’s worth of driving and walking around the Pinnacles Natl. Park due east from Monterey is now in the making. Thanks for your enthusiasm and descriptions.
J R in WV
Great photo work, Bill~!!~ Thanks so much for sharing with us.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@Rusty: Orion’s got so many things that are great to shoot, I always yell a folk who say there’s nothing to shoot when the Milky Way isn’t up in the sky. There’s Orion!
@YY_Sima Qian: Thanks, there will be more and better shots. New camera and all.
@OzarkHillbilly: Thanks, I won’t be a regular, just not enough time with work and shooting.
@WaterGirl: Thanks very much, me and my fat fingers.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@cope: Thanks, it is nice to be able to drive a hour or two and find truly dark skies.
@pat: Thanks, any shots that I post here are for sale at my website.
These shots are here.
@mvr: Thanks, I do shoot some sunsets and blue hour, the new camera really helps there.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@Another Scott: The really nice thing about Android is that there are many choices as far as camera apps. Also, the Samsung cameras have been improving quite a lot with each new phone. The shots with Expert RAW are really amazing balls.
@kalakal: For me, even driving the extra hour or so past Red Rock Canyon can make a huge difference with light pollution. Shooting towards LA’s light pollution can make a shot look like a sunrise(I shot this Monday night).
@stinger:
@citizen dave: Thanks, I show up from time to time.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@Origuy: Thanks, I love Red Rock since it’s close and reasonably dark.
I’ve not shot in Anza-Borrego State Park, but close by in Borrego Springs and the sculptures. My shots appeared in these pages about a year and a half ago.
@pieceofpeace: Pinnacles NP is interesting since it is half of a volcano, the other half is near Lancaster, but much less interesting, so no National Park.
@J R in WV: Thanks, there will be more, I shot a lot in the last two weeks. New camera and all.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@Mike Mundy: I think I past that spot, but I was headed to the pinnacles and had to beat sunset.
BigJimSlade
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA: hey, good to see you on here again! How do you like the new Sony? Or is it too early to tell? (I’m still using my Olympus E-M1 from 2013, but I’m not doing night shots. I’m still always tempted to try other cameras…)
mvr
BillinGlendaleCA, If you ever get out to Wyoming the skies there can be amazing. I have a cabin in the Sierra Madre Mountains where the nightime skies are just gorgeous. As the crow flies it is maybe 75+ miles from Denver but I think the elevation (right next to the Continental Divide at 9,000 feet) also helps to make the skies more apparent than anywhere else I’ve ever been. In any case if you are ever out that way and it is a time I can be there I’d be happy to show you and offer you hospitality.
Winter is even better than summer for the skies but it is a long ski and showshoe trek (around 6 miles) from where the road is closed and whether it makes sense to do is very weather dependent. I have done it but not in several years now.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@BigJimSlade: The Sony is simply amazing, literally the difference between night and day in low light. I shot up in the Owens Valley last week and I shot some 4 minute exposures and it looks almost like daytime. I have two shots, one taken with the NX1 last year and one with the Sony last week, the NX1 shot is black, the Sony shot looks like daytime(same exposure settings).
@mvr: It shot at Long Lake in the Sierra’s Little Lakes Valley last year, elevation about 10,500′, the higher elevation does make a difference.
BigJimSlade
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA: 👍 👍 👍