My idea: Trying to capture Milky Way over Yosemite

[CuriousMike]

I have an idea - tell me where I'm going wrong.

The idea is to do a 1.5 day trip; drive to Tunnel View in Yosemite attempting to arrive an hour or so before sunset.
Take a sunset photo.
Then... wait.... and wait... until Milky Way rises over the valley floor.

My reasoning is:
1. I used Google Maps to drop into the main Tunnel View pullout, and it looks like the main view is damn near viewing in the east direction.
2. I use "Stellarium" to verify the Milky Way will be coming up in the East around April 30.
3. The moon, while partial, appears to be set even before sunset.
4. I've read that the summer months are best for Milky Way -- also, it appears ( using Stellarium ) that the Milky Way will be more horizontal in April, and more Vertical in later months. I suppose I'm more interested in the horizontal Milky Way.

The only things going against me would be
1. Weather / Clouds
2. Unsure if the park cares if you "park overnight" to do this.

Feedback?

 

[Nohr]

You'll probably have to wait until 2am to see the Milky Way this early in the year and you may have to give it some extra time to rise over the terrain there. Mars and Saturn are in that part of the sky so that's a nice bonus if you can squeeze them in the frame. It looks like the moon doesn't rise until around 5am that day so you should have a few hours to get your shots. Stellarium probably told you all of this though.

Try calling the public information office to find out about the parking situation: https://www.nps.gov/yose/learn/nature/scenic-vistas-tunnel-view.htm


I did a quick search on flickr and it looks like you should be able to see the milky way from that vantage point.


Tunnel View at Night by Dwood Photography, on Flickr

 

[CuriousMike]

Yeah, it's hard to know how much the valley will obscure the Milky Way, but it looks to be over the horizon by midnight and my guess is over the valley by 1-2 a.m.

Talking with a friend, he mentioned Glacier Point will also be open and that might give me a better view.

My new, secondary idea is to setup my second camera ( Olympus OM-D EM10) and have it record timelapse from dusk to milky way coming up.

I won't know what the weather is going to do until later on in the week, but I'm really hoping it'll cooperate.

 

[tenthumbs]

Word of advice, better get to the Tunnel View parking lot more than an hour before sunset if you want to find parking and good spot for your tripod. There will be a horde of other photographers and visitors.

Glacier Point is a good vantage point for photos, particularly if you want Half Dome in the foreground.

 

[CuriousMike]

Word of advice, better get to the Tunnel View parking lot more than an hour before sunset if you want to find parking and good spot for your tripod. There will be a horde of other photographers and visitors.

Glacier Point is a good vantage point for photos, particularly if you want Half Dome in the foreground.

Thanks for the advice.
I'm still looking at the weather with a sideways eye -- my expectations of "no clouds" is probably unrealistic this time of year.

If I go, it'll be Saturday or Sunday depending on which day looks better weather wise, and I'll shoot to be there at least an hour before sunset.

 

[CuriousMike]

Yosemite Valley
May 1 2016
2:17 a.m.
28'

 

[BrainEater]

Nice Picture !!

I'll add that to my 4k desktop collection.

:thumbsup:

 

[Crotulus]

Cool picture. The effort certainly paid off.

 

[The Stigenator]

nice picture...

What camera and what settings? I see you do not have the motion blur.... I can never do night star photography without the blur.

 

[Gooberlx2]

nice picture...

What camera and what settings? I see you do not have the motion blur.... I can never do night star photography without the blur.

I'm guessing he used his 14 2.8. Wide angle/wide open lenses can allow for minimal to no star trail.

 

[CuriousMike]

nice picture...

What camera and what settings? I see you do not have the motion blur.... I can never do night star photography without the blur.

I'm guessing he used his 14 2.8. Wide angle/wide open lenses can allow for minimal to no star trail.

@The Stig = The basics for night stars = Take your focal length, divided by 500 and that is your maximum shutter length before star trails. For example, in my case, 500/24 = 20.8 seconds is my max shutter length for sharpness. Set your aperture as low as it'll go. Set your ISO as high as you're comfortable with. I'll ignore describing how to focus at infinity at night as I presume you have that down.

I used my new (!) 24mm f/1.4 Rokinon - it is ridiculous the change in light gathered from 1.4 to 2.8. I mean, I was gobsmacked when my first image popped up.
I played around from 1.4, 1.6 and 2.0 ... all the images looked so sharp. I half-assed it by stepping down to 1.6 "just in case", but in reality not necessary.

Full details
Nikon D610
5 vertical images stitched
24mm
f/1.6
15 seconds
ISO 3200

 

[Gooberlx2]

I used my new (!) 24mm f/1.4 Rokinon - it is ridiculous the change in light gathered from 1.4 to 2.8. I mean, I was gobsmacked when my first image popped up.

Nice. I picked up a 16mm F2 Samyang, and I'm excited to try it out soon. I assumed the 14mm because your pic looks hella wide and couldn't find the stitching seams at full res. (I think I might see them in thumbnail version).

 

[CuriousMike]

Nice. I picked up a 16mm F2 Samyang, and I'm excited to try it out soon. I assumed the 14mm because your pic looks hella wide and couldn't find the stitching seams at full res. (I think I might see them in thumbnail version).

I had my D610 as my main, and I had my D5200 setup with the 14 f/2.8 to do a timelapse.
14mm @ 1.5x crop = 21mm = 500/21 = 23 seconds = 20 second exposure @ f2.8
The pictures are noticeably darker with the 14 f2.8 than the 24 @ f2, both at 20 seconds.

I'm kicking myself for not doing a more thorough comparison of the 24 at 1.4, 1.6, 2.0 and 2.8. I just have shots at 1.4, 1.6 and 2.0.

The 24 was trickier to focus at inifinity than the 14; with the 14, if I set the focus ring anywhere near infinity it's good. The 24 was much more finicky (similar to my Nikon 35/50/85 f1.8's) - using LiveView and 100% magnification on a star to verify sharpness was a must.

That 16 @ f2 is going to be a winner.

 

[IronWing]

Very nice pic!

 

[bigrash]

Awesome picture!

 

[corkyg]

Just a belated kudo for a great panoramic that captures stars and terrain, and is geophysically correct. As you know, the valley generally runs west-east, and you nailed it with the sunrise. An earlier sample in the thread was obviously photoshopped. (The sun was in the west indicating afternoon, and the stars were also in the western sky - not possible. )

Hope you don't mind, but am using it as my Win10 desktop.

 

[SKORPI0]

Hope you don't mind, but am using it as my Win10 desktop.

Yes great picture, used it as my desktop background (dual 2560x1440 screen) it a few days after being posted. :thumbsup:

 

[Anubis]

Just a belated kudo for a great panoramic that captures stars and terrain, and is geophysically correct. As you know, the valley generally runs west-east, and you nailed it with the sunrise. An earlier sample in the thread was obviously photoshopped. (The sun was in the west indicating afternoon, and the stars were also in the western sky - not possible. )

Hope you don't mind, but am using it as my Win10 desktop.

yea the first one is obviously a blended exposure

one taken at sunset to get the forground and a 2nd one later for the stars

 

[CuriousMike]

yea the first one is obviously a blended exposure

one taken at sunset to get the forground and a 2nd one later for the stars

While I agree it looks like a blended exposure, the foreground didn't have to be taken at sunset. It could have been a BULB exposure - something like a 10-15 minute exposure would do it (at a lower ISO, like 800)

Edit: Wait a minute. Yeah, that was sunset. There are shadows casted on the southern walls. I'm not so sure there are shadows at midnight.

 

[BrainEater]

I must say you have totally inspired me !
I'm a skier....As soon as it's winter again , I'll hike my camera up the mountains again ( this time at 2:00 am ) and take some shots from the summit !!
The same shots I took this year , but at night .
Fantastic !

Thanks !

 

[artemicion]

Was the tunnel view parking lot packed late at night? Thinking about doing this July 4 weekend, but don't want to bother if the park is going to be packed 10pm to 2am.

 

[CuriousMike]

Was the tunnel view parking lot packed late at night? Thinking about doing this July 4 weekend, but don't want to bother if the park is going to be packed 10pm to 2am.

This was not Tunnel View; it was Glacier Point.

a) Verify you won't have to contend with moon ( it should be waning )
b) Verify time the Milky Way rises; This late in the season, it'll probably be up at about 10pm, and the galactic core will have shifted south. ( In my photo, take the Milky Way and shift it right and make more vertical. )

 

[artemicion]

This was not Tunnel View; it was Glacier Point.

a) Verify you won't have to contend with moon ( it should be waning )
b) Verify time the Milky Way rises; This late in the season, it'll probably be up at about 10pm, and the galactic core will have shifted south. ( In my photo, take the Milky Way and shift it right and make more vertical. )

OK . . . was Glacier Point packed?

 

[CuriousMike]

OK . . . was Glacier Point packed?

It emptied out when the sun set. When I was out shooting from 11:30pm to 2:30 a.m., I'd say there were 4-8 other people about.

But, it was earlier in the year and MUCH colder which are likely mitigating factors for number of peoples.

For *Glacier Point*, I don't think you'll have any issues with moving around.

If you're specifically looking to see the Milky Way, I'll re-iterate you will want to verify where the moon will be and what time you intend to be there. Stellarium can with moon and MW timing.