Moulton Barn Milk

Title

Moulton Barn Milk

Artist

Mike Berenson

Medium

Photograph

Description

It sure took a while for the clouds to get out of the way… but when they did, I got treated to an incredible Milky Way scene at the barn! I really like it when I'm lucky enough to see when clouds break up and clear out of an area.

Some clouds ended up hanging around to cover up the big peaks in the distance but the foreground grass and barn seemed to work well with the clouds and Milky Way stars above. This image was captured at the Thomas Alma Moulton Barn in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.

I had an uninvited guest show up while I was at the barn that's worth mentioning but not a surprise. During a break in shooting, I noticed some dim lights approach the barn. So after they got even closer, I shined some of my light in that direction to see what it was… when I saw what looked like the eyes of a Coyote that soon came to a stop, made eye contact, and then took off into the distance.

I really enjoyed listening to all the animal noises at night in Teton National Park. It was especially fun and relaxing when I was close to my vehicle. :-)

How I Got The Shot
For quite some time, I've been looking for a good way to combine multiple exposures of the sky in a way that improves quality by reducing noise and fits well into the workflow of a photographer who often uses Photoshop. And while I can't take credit for figuring it out myself, I found someone who took a few good steps in that direction. Here's a video tutorial Ian Norman released that explains a lot about the steps to follow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rydg7JGTAbw

There are two key points I picked up on in Ian's video.
1. You can align multiple images of the stars with Photoshop's Auto-Align feature if you mask out the other content.
2. A great way to "average" the star images is to convert the frames to a smart object with the stacking mode set to "Median".

With that technique in-mind, I shot 13 30-second exposures at ISO 6400 before doing one long exposure for 6 minutes at ISO 800. When I got to put them together, I saw even more visible improvement when I compared a combined exposure with a single one than with other techniques. I look forward to using and sharing a variation of this technique in the future. It's a very powerful way to get good images (from foreground to sky) without needing a tracker.

In this case, I was curious to see how the averaging process would work with the clouds that hung around the mountains. I ended up really liking the results with what looked like long, smooth, stretched out clouds that had a nice gentle glow and low noise. Beyond that, I really like how this process allows me to make the most of multiple exposures of the sky to improve quality. I look forward to seeing how it helps in other images I'll attempt in the future!

After blending, I added a finishing touch with Star Spikes Pro on just a few of the brightest stars to make them a bit bigger and brighter.

Photo Gear
• Camera Body - Nikon D800 Digital SLR Camera
• Camera Lens - Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle Lens with Focus Confirm Chip for Nikon
• Tripod Head - Acratech GV2 Ball Head / Gimbal Head with Lever Clamp & Acratech Large Leveling Base
• Tripod Legs - FEISOL Elite CT-3472 Rapid Tripod Legs
• Remote Trigger - Vello Shutterboss Version II Timer Remote Switch for Nikon with 10-Pin Connection

Exposure Settings - Multiple Exposure Composite Image

Short Exposures for the Sky (13 exposures focused on the stars)
• ISO:6400
• Aperture: f/2.8
• Shutter Speed: 30 seconds

Long Exposure for the Foreground (1 exposure focused on the grass)
• ISO:800
• Aperture: f/2.8
• Shutter Speed: 6 minutes

Uploaded

October 19th, 2014

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