Meteors, Playa and Camping

August 17, 2009 | Category: Nocturnal Photography, Photography

Here are a few from a recent camping trip with some friends on the playa during the Perseid meteor showers.

My humble abode: The tent was lit inside by a Coleman lantern and the foreground was illuminated by the camp-fire. Specs: Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16mm, Performance lens wipes

The Milky Way over the two small towns of Gerlach and Empire, Nv (where I grew up): For this shot, I painted the foreground from the side with a mag-light and proceeded to make a total of eight exposures vertically. The original panorama was 180 degrees, however I decided to crop it due to the light pollution produced by Black Rock City. I’m not sure which I like better, the color or the B&W version. Which is your favorite?

Trails over Mt. Rose: I thought I’d throw this in randomly. I took this back in May at Mt. Rose. I didn’t really think it was post worthy before, but I needed some filler for this post.

Meteors and Star Trails over the Blackrock Desert: Exposed for 3.5 hours with me sleeping inside. The sky is so bright because the moon rose during the end of the exposure. The glowing embers from our camp fire created a nice warm glow foreground and a short burst of the lantern lit up the tent.

Stay tuned for some timelapses of the stars and meteors!

Tags: blackrock, camping, Dan Newton, desert, Gerlach, Light Painting, Meteor, nevada, Nikon D300, Panorama, Perseid Meteor Showers, photographer, Photography, Reno, Star trails, Tent

8 Comments

Meteors, Playa and Camping : Liquid in Plastic – Photography and …
on August 17th, 2009
1
[...] the original post here: Meteors, Playa and Camping : Liquid in Plastic – Photography and … August 17th, 2009 at 5:45 [...]
Jean Beasley
on August 17th, 2009
2
Hi. I have a blog at http://www.picturecamping.com where I feature people’s posts about camping, and I would like to send my readers your way. Of course I would give you credit for quotes and would link back to your site.

Thanks for considering this,

Jean B. in SC
Kevin
on August 18th, 2009
3
Nice photos! The last two are really cool with the trails. Killer reflection in the Mt. Rose photo. Thanks again for going and driving to the Playa. It was a real blast.

-Kevin
“Liquid in Plastic: Meteors, Playa, and Camping” | Picture Camping...
on August 27th, 2009
4
[...] are some really cool photos of, you guessed it, meteors, la playa, and a tent here. Share and [...]
minimodi
on October 3rd, 2009
5
some pretty amazing work in here! like the long exposures – well done!
macropics
on November 9th, 2009
6
I prefer the color version of the Milky Way; it’s lovely. Thanks for putting so much detail into your posting. You have beautiful shots, and it’s great to be able to learn from your successes as far as timing, lighting, etc. I’m fairly new to long exposure photography, and can use all the tips I can get. Wonderful site!
Jon B
on December 1st, 2009
7
How do you get such clear and crisp night photos? I’m shooting with a D80 and get terrible hot pixels and purple fringing with exposures over 30 seconds. Do the D300 and D3 not do that, or do you just edit those out?
Thanks
Two New Photos : Liquid in Plastic – Photography and Words by Dan Newton
on August 13th, 2010
8
[...] This is a more recent photo, taken during the peak of the the Perceid meteor showers. There are some faint meteors, but disappointingly only one bright one. It’s also noteworthy that [...]