An Evening on Sentinel Dome

Posted by Don Smith (California, United States) on 31 May 2009 in Landscape & Rural.

I have made many images atop Yosemite's Sentinel Dome using this Jeffrey Pine as a foreground element. When a group of us decided to try star trail photography, this pine once again figured into my shot but this time as a graphic silhouetted element.

The real work came in post production as it took me close to an hour to touch out the multitude of jet streaks recorded during the 24 minute exposure as planes on flightpath for the Bay Area littered the night sky. I have two other images I really like from this shoot but will process them another day (one is enough)!

Looking back, I have to say the real enjoyment came not so much from the photography, but from spending an evening with friends and other photography enthusiasts atop an 8,000 foot dome, above arguably some of the most incredible scenery in the world, joking and laughing (and trying to calculate exposures), and essentially just taking in the moment. We were the only ones there. Not many nature lovers would hang out on this dome to well past 11:00pm in the cold wind. But the opportunity our camera allows and the places it leads us is always cause for amazement!

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Comments (31)

Eleftheria from Athens, Greece

Super shot!

31 May 2009 8:10am

@Eleftheria: Night shots are fun to play with - you just need to be away from city lights!

Daryl Johnson from Farnham, United Kingdom

It's very impressive work indeed...

31 May 2009 9:08am

@Daryl Johnson: Thanks Daryl for joining in - hope to hear from you again.

Judy from Brooksville, Florida, United States

This is beautiful, Don, and after seeing Scott's and learning how this is done, I'm fascinated.
It's almost dizzying to stare at this and realize how fast we really are moving. Thank God for gravity! :D

31 May 2009 9:26am

@Judy: Hi Judy, it does help to know a bit about the night sky (I'm still learning). After having spent some late nights in remote mountain locations, I have come to appreciate the experience more than the actual making of the photograph. Once the exposure is determined (which is rather easy due to lack of reciprocity failure with digital sensors), one can lock in their shutter and just sit back and enjoy the solitude and quite. With our sight somewhat limited, our other senses are heightened, and for me, that is a very enjoyable situation.

Ana Lúcia from Leiria, Portugal

Breathtaking!

31 May 2009 12:34pm

@Ana Lúcia: Thank you Ana, hope all is well.

Tracy from La Selva Beach, United States

Awesome!

31 May 2009 12:40pm

@Tracy: With the blank blue skies of summer almost upon us here in California, night photography offers a great way to keep our imaginations busy.

ManuelaR from Hainburg (Frankfurt/Main), Germany

This is just magical!

31 May 2009 12:46pm

@ManuelaR: Thank you Manuela.

Stefan from Thiersee, Austria

GREAT!

31 May 2009 1:42pm

@Stefan: I appreciate it Stefan.

Scott Schilling from San Martin, United States

Dear Don, I love the shadow and play of light on this! That was a wonderful experience and an amazing place to see! One of the things that is always amazing is when you are at high elevation the night sky is so detailed with stars it is a bit staggering - that was the case on this night. I started to try and work on the jet streaks through mine and gave up and left them in - I will post my similar one tommorrow - I realized I was not going to survive through trying to eliminate all of them - I appreciate your patience on this because it really cleans up the sky and simplifies the image - wonderful!

31 May 2009 2:41pm

@Scott Schilling: Hey Scott, there is a cool little PS trick I can show you that will speed the process along. It is still a painstaking task, but I feel on that is important in order to keep the night sky clean. Pretty amazing how much air traffic abounds in the night sky over a remote area like Yosemite!

Magda from Vancouver, Canada

Magnificent shot! Amazing job on editing your unwanted jet streaks - it's seamless! Well done!
This image is absolutely amazing! The tree adds great character! Bravo!

31 May 2009 4:36pm

@Magda: Thank you Magda for your nice words. Night photography is really fun but it is amazing how many jets are in the sky and also, how much night pollution there is. I have visited Vancouver many times (great city), and if you were to drive into the mountain area and shoot back towards the city, that could make for some really interesting images.

john4jack from Corvallis, Oregon, United States

Exquisite.

31 May 2009 7:18pm

@john4jack: Thanks Jack, hope all is well with you.

Alun Lambert from cheshire, United Kingdom

fantastic, whata a great shot, i have been trying to do this, but i seem to struggle the getting things in focus.

31 May 2009 8:35pm

@Alun Lambert: Join the club Alun - we all struggle with focusing properly at night. There are a couple ways around this issue. The obvious one would be to set up prior to full darkness and prefocus - but this is not always practical. The way I do it, is to find a bright object, star, planet, headlight etc. off in the distance and use that. We had a friend in our group bring along a 1 million candle power flashlight. He would shine it on a distant object and we would all focus. Most often you will be using a wide angle lens for night work so to focus on something 50 feet away will keep the entire frame in focus.

Dawn Bayer from Whitehall, United States

Wow!

31 May 2009 10:16pm

@Dawn Bayer: Thanks for joining in Dawn. Hope to here from you again.

flyingwind from Taiyuan, China

A specialist with photography, with slow speed of shutter!

31 May 2009 11:50pm

@flyingwind: Hi flyingwing, night photography is really not such a specialty any longer thanks to digital. Once one gets comfortable with exposing at night (and focusing - see above post) then it really is just a matter of determining what you would like to photograph.

Gary Hart from California, United States

Very nice, Don. (I haven't gotten to mine yet.)

1 Jun 2009 6:56am

@Gary Hart: Hey Gary, I've processed this one and another looking east (will post later this week). I have yet to process the one looking towards Yosemite Fall because I accidentally cut out Polaris. That just gives me a good reason to go back! Needless to say, have some patience because there are plenty of jet streaks to clone - I've spent about an hour per image touching them out.

Nerise from Groblersal, South Africa

Great shot!

1 Jun 2009 9:06am

@Nerise: Thanks Nerise.

Doug Otto from Carmichael, United States

Nicely done Don! I completely blew my first exposure, this one looks dead on.

Cheers

1 Jun 2009 3:34pm

@Doug Otto: Hey Doug, I actually thought I blew this image as I forgot to take off my polarizer (ouch)! Fortunately, it must have been set to minimum polarization and probably cost me less than a stop! BTW - I did see your image - great job!

Magda from Vancouver, Canada

Congratulations on the Spotlight!!!!! Bravo! Well deserved! :))

2 Jun 2009 6:38am

@Magda: Thanks for letting me know Magda!

Charles Thomson from Cheltenham, United Kingdom

Wow Don what a super shot!
I have been meaning to attempt some star trails, I recently splashed out on the ML-L3 remote but haven't managed to get anything usable yet... Will have to keep experimenting.
Thanks for the inspiration!

2 Jun 2009 9:05am

@Charles Thomson: Hi Charles, it is really not difficult once a location is selected. Just pick a moonless, clear evening, and take some photo enthusiast friends along - it's a lot of fun!

ManuelaR from Hainburg (Frankfurt/Main), Germany

Congrats on you spotlight :)

2 Jun 2009 9:06am

@ManuelaR: Thank you Manuela.

Eleftheria from Athens, Greece

Congratulations!

2 Jun 2009 12:12pm

@Eleftheria: Thanks Eleftheria - hope you are doing well with your pursuit of image making!

dkc from Xanthi, Greece

Love this photo! The blue background and the black silhouette of the tree give character to the star trails! Just perfect execution!

3 Jun 2009 5:40am

@dkc: Thanks for your kind words dkc.

Anna.C from LA ROCHELLE, France

stunning shot ! great work ! I love the blue dark and the silhouette of the tree like a " bonzaï ". your sky looks like a sky of Van Gogh in his picture" la nuit étoilée " ( the starry night ) !

3 Jun 2009 10:50am

Don Smith from California, United States

Thanks Anna for your nice comments. I've never had my work compared to a painter - let alone "a genius artist!"

3 Jun 2009 1:05pm

MARIANA from waterloo, Canada

This is fascinating image !

3 Jun 2009 1:30pm

Rui from Leiria, Portugal

Excellent shot Don and the Polar rotation is truly spectacular. Congratulations for the spotlight.
I'm also a true fan of night photography, and I've been trying to improve my technique.
Here we also have a group of 3 people that usually makes some night marathons :)
I checked your advices to Alun, and I can add another: use a focal length table, depending if you're using full frame sensor or APS-C you must choose the correct one. Using a powerfull flashlight (1 million candles for example...) and a small laser measurer, you can measure the distance given by the table and focus on that point and then point the camera for what you want to shoot. Was it clear?
But night photography is very challenging, and that's why I like it so much!

5 Jun 2009 10:37am

Rags from Plano, United States

very nice.

7 Jun 2009 10:12pm

Saeed Rasoulof from Tehran, Iran

Very Nice shot . i like it :)

8 Jun 2009 6:38am

alireza from tehran, Iran

wow. very nice, i just look at this exploit

8 Jun 2009 1:06pm

rA from 大连（Dalian）, China

Your words enlights me a lots.
It's a very brilliant long-exposure photographing, I love it so much!

17 Jun 2009 11:47am

Steve Loos from Hollister, United States

Don; having had some success on star trails over the years I say this is a winner (and being one who oftens sits alone in the dark after all have gone to a warm bed.)

18 Aug 2009 5:10am