Uploads from David Kingham, tagged stars

3 nights of the Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower

nobody@flickr.com (David Kingham) — Sun, 12 May 2013 20:19:23 -0700

I have a follow up to my blog post 'How I completely Changed My Life In One Year'
www.davidkinghamphotography.com/blog/2013/5/how-i-changed...

This shot is a crazy composite taken over 3 nights using 2 cameras. The background is a stitched panorama of 16 images using a D600 (ISO 6400, f/2, 20 seconds at 24mm Rokinon) and the meteors were captured with a D700 (ISO 6400, f2.8, 30 seconds, 14mm Rokinon). I rotated the meteors to correct the radiant of the meteor shower. There are a total of 16 meteors and 1 very bright Iridium satellite for good measure.

Devils Tower Milky Way

nobody@flickr.com (David Kingham) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 08:00:11 -0700

David Kingham posted a photo:

Here's a frame from a timelapse I took during my Devil's Tower workshop last weekend. We had our challenges with the weather, but on the last night the clouds cleared long enough to see the milky way at 5am.

I just posted 10 Steps to Photography the Milky Way on my blog www.davidkinghamphotography.com/blog/2013/3/ten-steps-to-...

Due to the success of this workshop I'm adding another at Devil's Tower in May! www.davidkinghamphotography.com/devils-tower-may-night-ph... I can't wait to get back to those dark skies!

I've also added a bunch of 1 day workshops that are more affordable, I have a feeling these will fill up fast www.davidkinghamphotography.com/1-day-night-photography-w...

Twinkling Stars Timelapse

nobody@flickr.com (David Kingham) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 08:41:47 -0700

David Kingham posted a video:

Fog Filter Effect - Photoshop Tutorial

I've just posted a tutorial on my blog that shows you how to add a glow to the brightest stars in your image along with free presets!

www.davidkinghamphotography.com/blog/2013/3/fog-filter-ef...

I used the effect in this video, which I had to apply to each frame, the twinkling stars was a nice unintended effect that was caused by the plugin selecting different stars to brighten in each frame.

Lead me to Longs Peak

nobody@flickr.com (David Kingham) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:38:09 -0800

David Kingham posted a photo:

Last night I ventured out under the starry skies of Rocky Mountain National Park with Mike Berenson and Bryce Bradford for an all night long star fest. I have a lot of images to go through, a blog post is in order, here's a teaser for now.

I'm trying out something new for smart phone wallpaper, visit the links below to download free wallpaper. Please let me know how it looks!

iPhone 5 - www.davidkinghamphotography.com/img/s8/v82/p1467793388.jpg
iPhone 4 - www.davidkinghamphotography.com/img/s8/v84/p1467792752.jpg
Android - www.davidkinghamphotography.com/img/s8/v84/p1467815768.jpg

And of course free wallpaper for your computer on my site www.davidkinghamphotography.com/night/h577cfb08#h577cfb08

Mesa Arch under the Stars

nobody@flickr.com (David Kingham) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 19:57:51 -0800

David Kingham posted a photo:

Even with a moonlit landscape adding your own light can add a lot of drama to the scene. I used my Xenon light from the lower right of the arch to add long, raking shadows on the bottom the arch, and a another subtle application to the front from camera right as well.

This is 2 exposures, one for the stars at high iso and one for the arch at a low iso

This is one of the locations we will be visiting during my Arches Workshop www.davidkinghamphotography.com/workshops

Free downloads on my site www.davidkinghamphotography.com/night/h57303bc8#h57303bc8

Devil's Tower Night Beams

nobody@flickr.com (David Kingham) — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 16:00:19 -0800

David Kingham posted a photo:

Last weekend I drove to Devil's Tower to do a little scouting for my workshop next month (there is a spot available!). I attempted to light paint the tower with a 2 million candlepower spotlight, but unfortunately there was too much humidity in the air for the light to reach on this night, so I used it to my advantage and pointed it towards the sky to accentuate the light beam! For the workshop I've picked up a giant HID spotlight that should do the trick :)

For more info on the workshop go here: www.davidkinghamphotography.com/devils-tower-night-photog...

Piney Lake

nobody@flickr.com (David Kingham) — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 20:47:02 -0800

David Kingham posted a photo:

I forgot all about this night out with my friend Mike Berenson until he posted his great shot (see comments) I prefer his take on this scene, mine is a vertical panorama taken at 35mm to really draw the detail out of the sky.

Reminder: my night photography workshops are filling up, sign up soon! www.davidkinghamphotography.com/workshops

Double Arch

nobody@flickr.com (David Kingham) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 10:14:34 -0800

David Kingham posted a photo:

After false kiva we went to Arches for some more light painting around 3 am, I almost threw in the towel at this point for the comfort of the sleeping bag. I mustered up the last bit of energy I had though and am very happy I did!

The small bright light you see in the lower left is me and my flashlight. I left that in to give a sense of scale of this giant arch, mindblowing to see in person.

Free download on my site www.davidkinghamphotography.com/night/h530abadc#h530abadc

Learn more about my night photography workshops www.davidkinghamphotography.com/workshops

False Kiva

nobody@flickr.com (David Kingham) — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 14:14:34 -0800

David Kingham posted a photo:

An all night shooting spree with Thomas O'Brien and Scott Jarvie in Canyonlands and Arches on Thursday night. We had some trouble finding this spot after following a trail that led us directly above, but not to the site. After a mile long detour we finally found false kiva around midnight just as the moon was setting. I had just enough time to take this panoramic shot while there was still light on the canyon. Light on the rocks was provided by Thomas. One of the most spectacular places I've ever been, especially amazing at night, I can't wait to go back for the milky way.

D700, Rokinon 24 1.4, 2 row panoramic (9x2) 16 exposures at ISO 3200 f/1.4 20 seconds, stitched in Microsoft ICE

Free wallpaper download on my site www.davidkinghamphotography.com/night/h52d5b024#h52d5b024

Learn more about my night photography workshops www.davidkinghamphotography.com/workshops

Spanish Peaks Milky Way

nobody@flickr.com (David Kingham) — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 13:13:31 -0800

David Kingham posted a photo:

I'm very excited to announce the schedule for my 2013 Night Photography Workshops!

www.davidkinghamphotography.com/workshops

Each one of these locations were selected for their combination of dark skies and breathtaking scenery. Combining these elements will create stunning nightscapes. The dates were carefully selected based on moon phase and location, to provide just the right amount of moon light combined with exceptionally dark skies.

The class sizes are very small so these will fill up very fast! Sign up now to secure your spot.

I have some interest in an East Coast workshop as well, which would likely be at Acadia in the summer. Please let me know if you're interested and I will get this scheduled!

La Veta Pass Milky Way

nobody@flickr.com (David Kingham) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 10:34:33 -0800

David Kingham posted a photo:

Taken earlier this year from La Veta Pass in Southern Colorado. I decided it was time to refresh this image by reprocessing it with all the new methods I've learned since originally taking this shot. You can see the original here www.flickr.com/photos/davidkingham/7016481233/

Free downloads on my site www.davidkinghamphotography.com/night/h1d60c690#h1d60c690

If you want to learn more about my processing techiques, or learn everything you need to know about night photography, check out my workshops www.davidkinghamphotography.com/workshops

Paint Mines Leonids

nobody@flickr.com (David Kingham) — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 14:04:01 -0800

David Kingham posted a photo:

If you look closely you can make out 4 faint meteors, the bright objects are satellites. Not the best meteor shower ever, but I had a great time.

We light painted the rock formations to bring out the detail, then took continuous exposures for 6 hours. I combined the light painted exposure with 18 other exposures that contained meteors and satellites.

See a more detailed version and download for free on my website www.davidkinghamphotography.com/night/h4bf138a2#h4bf138a2

Night photography workshops now available www.davidkinghamphotography.com/workshops

Horseshoe Park Milky Way with Andromeda Galaxy

nobody@flickr.com (David Kingham) — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 16:51:15 -0800

David Kingham posted a photo:

Last night I went out with intent of capturing the Taurid meteor shower, unfortunately the wind in the mountains was intense (50 mph gusts) and only 10 degrees. So I instead used the time to test out some new lenses. This was taken with a Rokinon 85mm 1.4, it's a vertical panorama of 16 images. You can see the less bright portion of the milky way and the Andromeda Galaxy in the upper left corner.

You can see a more detailed version on my website www.davidkinghamphotography.com/night/h4b3e3800#h4b3e3800

Night photography workshops now available www.davidkinghamphotography.com/workshops

What's that in the sky?

nobody@flickr.com (David Kingham) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 17:48:33 -0700

David Kingham posted a photo:

I have no idea! I need help identifying the object passing through the night sky. This was taken on 10/21 at 5:28 MST (1228Z) and was crossing the sky for 4 minutes. I've checked different sources and couldn't find any satellites passing through the sky at this time. This is looking SE. Any ideas? I'm stumped.

Night of Draconids

nobody@flickr.com (David Kingham) — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 11:54:31 -0700

David Kingham posted a photo:

Draconids a bust!

Last night I spent the evening in Rocky Mountain National Park hoping for a good display of the Draconid meteor shower. I did not have high hopes since it was not predicted to be a good year, but I had to try anyway!

After shooting for 5 hours I came out empty handed, not a single meteor. I only saw one in person.

So, instead of a meteor picture today you just get to see stars.

I combined two exposures, one taken before the moon rose at ISO 3200 f2.8, 30 seconds, and another for the foreground when the moon had risen at ISO 800 f2.8 for 5.5 minutes. I also used Star Spikes Pro 2 to enhance the stars.

You can view a better version on my website www.davidkinghamphotography.com/night/h463b11b6#h463b11b6

Snowy Range Perseids Meteor Shower

nobody@flickr.com (David Kingham) — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 15:14:26 -0700

David Kingham posted a photo:

Last night I went out to Snowy Range in Wyoming in search of dark skies for the Perseid meteor shower. I wanted something special for the foreground and I knew the Snowies faced in the perfect direction to get this shot. I started shooting at 10pm and didn't stop until 5 am, I had to change my battery every 2 hours which made for a long night. The moon rose around 1am to light up the mountain range.

This is a composite of 23 images, 22 for the meteors/stars and 1 taken at sunrise for the foreground which was lightly blended in. I also corrected the orientation of the meteors to account for the rotation of the earth (this took forever!)

I had a great night which was made even better because I spent it with my newly adopted dog Emmie, she was a trooper!

Free wallpaper downloads on my website! www.davidkinghamphotography.com/night/h626c32b#h626c32b

Free smartphone wallpaper www.davidkinghamphotography.com/blog/2013/3/free-smartpho...

I also offer Night Photography Workshops www.davidkinghamphotography.com/workshops

Pawnee-Light-Painting

nobody@flickr.com (David Kingham) — Mon, 21 May 2012 08:59:32 -0700

David Kingham posted a photo:

Last night I went out to Pawnee with Jon Blake to try out a bit of light painting on one of my favorite abandoned houses. The house was incredibly creepy at night, especially with the blinds in the window that looked like a ghost...there's no way I would have done this alone.

Cupid Mountain

nobody@flickr.com (David Kingham) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:28:00 -0700

David Kingham posted a photo:

Last year I missed out on Mike Berenson 's epic hike up to Cupid Mountain due to work and not being physically able to do it at the time (I'm in much better shape now) thankfully I mentioned to Mike that I would like to go for the next trip, which inspired him to set up our amazing trip on Tuesday night.

The temperature was a balmy 10 degrees and thankfully the winds were light (we estimated 40 mph at times) if we were correct with that estimate the wind chill was -15 deg. As we were summiting the 13,000 ft mountain I was hiking in 2 layers of down, a fleece, windstopper and down pants. I stayed quite warm except for my toes going numb/pain a few times.

I finally had the pleasure of meeting Dan Ballard who is one of the most genuinely nice guys I've ever met and extremely intelligent, if you've been debating taking one of his workshops, stop debating; you will not regret it.

So Dan; this is how the big pano turned out, I don't think it has as much impact as it could, if I would have done another row to capture the entire arc of the milky I believe it would be much more complete. I played around with some cropping but could not find a happy place to stop so I left it as is. I have some other shots that are much tighter and probably better, I just think the huge pano is cool :)

Thanks again Mike for setting this up, you know how to pick the epic spots and I'm glad you got the shot I wanted ;) Well done sir, you kept your composure better than I did in the ridiculous cold.

Snowy Range Star Trails

nobody@flickr.com (David Kingham) — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 20:27:04 -0700

David Kingham posted a photo:

This was a royal pain to process! 350 images stacked using the lighten blending method. But I wanted to create something different by tapering off the trails which I describe on my blog www.davidkinghamphotography.com/blog/2012/4/comet-like-st... this required layers to change the opacity, but photoshop was brought to it's knees with that many layers. So I opened 7 at a time, changed the opacity, flattened, repeat. Someone tell me it was worth it...

Lyrid Meteor Shower

nobody@flickr.com (David Kingham) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 10:31:07 -0700

David Kingham posted a photo:

Last night I went out to Pawnee Buttes hoping the Lyrids would be a good show this year. I took 467 shots over a 5 hour period and only managed to catch 4 meteors. I saw 3 in person before I setup the camera so I was very hopeful but it slowed down a lot after that. There were some very cool clouds rolling through early in the night so I used one of those frames as the base image an layered in the meteors.