Milky Way, Leslie gulch, Oregon. Two nights before the 2018 eclipse

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Wink Jones

Wink Jones

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This is my first ever milky way shot. I went out with Scott DeHart and another friend from Boise and we shot many pictures in the canyon called Leslie Gulch just over the border from Idaho into Oregon via about 30 miles of bumpy dirt road once we entered Oregon.

The foreground was a ten second exposure around dusk. As you can see there was still some extra light on the rock on the left hand side of the photo. We took dozens of photos over the next three hours and this was my best Milky way photo. My lens for this was an 18 to 55 3.5 kit lens which required me to use a 30 second exposure. This can easily be seen by the fact that my stars are more like little dashes rather than points of light.

Scott walked me through the procedure for acquiring the photos and helped me do the compositing at our duck club the next night while we were waiting for the eclipse to come the following day.

I accidentally sold a copy of this photo to a friend who saw me picking up a copy at Costco. It was the very first photo I ever sold. To date, it is one of three that I have sold, all to friends who just had to have a print of something I was hanging on my own wall.

I made a mug for my friend Pete who was with us and one for Scott and one for myself. Mine is somewhat scratched up from heavy use, but many gallons of fresh coffee have been enjoyed from that mug.

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Beautiful shot. I admire the effort that goes into such a shot and like your story behind the shot. It is just not something I Do not have the patience to pull off. Well captured and thanks for sharing.
 
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JAS said:
Beautiful shot. I admire the effort that goes into such a shot and like your story behind the shot. It is just not something I Do not have the patience to pull off. Well captured and thanks for sharing.
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Thank you JAS. It is not something I can do alone, I need to have at least one other person with me to share the experience. When I was with several friends for the eclipse a day and a half later, I did not have the right equipment for shooting the eclipse, so I shot my friends shooting the eclipse If you were not one of them there, the pictures were pretty boring. I did get a nice sunset the evening before though...

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Wink Jones said:
This is my first ever milky way shot. I went out with Scott DeHart and another friend from Boise and we shot many pictures in the canyon called Leslie Gulch just over the border from Idaho into Oregon via about 30 miles of bumpy dirt road once we entered Oregon.

The foreground was a ten second exposure around dusk. As you can see there was still some extra light on the rock on the left hand side of the photo. We took dozens of photos over the next three hours and this was my best Milky way photo. My lens for this was an 18 to 55 3.5 kit lens which required me to use a 30 second exposure. This can easily be seen by the fact that my stars are more like little dashes rather than points of light.

Scott walked me through the procedure for acquiring the photos and helped me do the compositing at our duck club the next night while we were waiting for the eclipse to come the following day.

I accidentally sold a copy of this photo to a friend who saw me picking up a copy at Costco. It was the very first photo I ever sold. To date, it is one of three that I have sold, all to friends who just had to have a print of something I was hanging on my own wall.

I made a mug for my friend Pete who was with us and one for Scott and one for myself. Mine is somewhat scratched up from heavy use, but many gallons of fresh coffee have been enjoyed from that mug.

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Great image. I am not surprised you sold a print
 
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Wink Jones said:
This is my first ever milky way shot. I went out with Scott DeHart and another friend from Boise and we shot many pictures in the canyon called Leslie Gulch just over the border from Idaho into Oregon via about 30 miles of bumpy dirt road once we entered Oregon.

The foreground was a ten second exposure around dusk. As you can see there was still some extra light on the rock on the left hand side of the photo. We took dozens of photos over the next three hours and this was my best Milky way photo. My lens for this was an 18 to 55 3.5 kit lens which required me to use a 30 second exposure. This can easily be seen by the fact that my stars are more like little dashes rather than points of light.

Scott walked me through the procedure for acquiring the photos and helped me do the compositing at our duck club the next night while we were waiting for the eclipse to come the following day.

I accidentally sold a copy of this photo to a friend who saw me picking up a copy at Costco. It was the very first photo I ever sold. To date, it is one of three that I have sold, all to friends who just had to have a print of something I was hanging on my own wall.

I made a mug for my friend Pete who was with us and one for Scott and one for myself. Mine is somewhat scratched up from heavy use, but many gallons of fresh coffee have been enjoyed from that mug.

View attachment 37215
Click to expand...
Been wanting to try this, maybe soon as May June best mos from what I read. There are some 9000 ft passes with no cities in site about 2 hrs from home in sierras I have been staking out for a good site. Nice job for first, hope tyo do as well. I have 250GB to get it right!!!
 
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Thank you KurtT. I have admired so many of your shots, I am excited for you and wish you the very best weather to go with your great location.

May, and June may be the best, but my first Milky way was taken on August 9. My Milky way shots from Stanley Lake were taken in September. (Can be seen here: https://bcgforums.com/index.php?threads/milky-way-at-stanley-lake-idaho.14822/#post-164176)

One of the most helpful planning tools if you are not going out with an experienced friend is PhotoPills. It is an incredible program that allows you to go to an area months ahead of your actual trip and pick a point and "look" at the sky that night FROM THAT POINT! I am getting ready to plan my trip to McCall, Idaho during the week of a new moon, and I will pick a location for a good dusk shot with a magnificent Milky Way shot all from my office here in Boise. I think I paid a total of $10 for the app. Great investment! You can see not only the moon, but the sun and plan your golden and blue hour shots as well.

I wish you well and am looking forward to seeing some of your 250 GBs. ;)
 
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Butlerkid said:
EXcellent work! I've always wanted to photograph the Milky Way. It just hasn't happened.....YET!
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Thank you Karen. You are another of the great photographers here that leaves me inspired to learn more about photography. This forum has given me so much information in such a short period of time, and I have "met" some really nice people.
 
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Wink Jones said:
Thank you KurtT. I have admired so many of your shots, I am excited for you and wish you the very best weather to go with your great location.

May, and June may be the best, but my first Milky way was taken on August 9. My Milky way shots from Stanley Lake were taken in September. (Can be seen here: https://bcgforums.com/index.php?threads/milky-way-at-stanley-lake-idaho.14822/#post-164176)

One of the most helpful planning tools if you are not going out with an experienced friend is PhotoPills. It is an incredible program that allows you to go to an area months ahead of your actual trip and pick a point and "look" at the sky that night FROM THAT POINT! I am getting ready to plan my trip to McCall, Idaho during the week of a new moon, and I will pick a location for a good dusk shot with a magnificent Milky Way shot all from my office here in Boise. I think I paid a total of $10 for the app. Great investment! You can see not only the moon, but the sun and plan your golden and blue hour shots as well.

I wish you well and am looking forward to seeing some of your 250 GBs. ;)
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Thank you for the compliment, been trying to get better on the wildlife and I think I am, or at least, I am getting more keepers. Kind of trying to transition from the documentation I saw it shots to the composition now! Thanks for the info. I have heard of the app but haven't looked at it yet. Sounds interesting, price right. From what I read, May June are when the Milky Way is arching across the horizon if I remember right. Thus area I want to go to is a little lonely at night, not sure the misses wants to go and my son was my shooting partner, moved this weekend to Colorado Springs.
 
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KurtT said:
Thank you for the compliment, been trying to get better on the wildlife and I think I am, or at least, I am getting more keepers. Kind of trying to transition from the documentation I saw it shots to the composition now! Thanks for the info. I have heard of the app but haven't looked at it yet. Sounds interesting, price right. From what I read, May June are when the Milky Way is arching across the horizon if I remember right. Thus area I want to go to is a little lonely at night, not sure the misses wants to go and my son was my shooting partner, moved this weekend to Colorado Springs.
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Get the app sooner rather than later, there is a TON of learning to do, but well worth it. I will be doing some refresher work as I have forgotten much of what I will need to plan my trip to McCall.

May I ask what your Avatar is? (Please do not say a bird, I am not THAT old. What kind of a bird?)
 
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Wink Jones said:
Get the app sooner rather than later, there is a TON of learning to do, but well worth it. I will be doing some refresher work as I have forgotten much of what I will need to plan my trip to McCall.

May I ask what your Avatar is? (Please do not say a bird, I am not THAT old. What kind of a bird?)
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Wink Jones said:
Ha Ha...Ruined it for me. Brewer's Blackbird. Was at Bodega Bay famous from Hitchcock's The Birds and he accosted me, obviously used to collecting a toll from tourists before they pass.
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