A sky filled with stars and the half light of the moon make for an enchanted night on the lost coast...

A sky filled with stars and the half light of the moon make for an

enchanted night on the lost coast of Tutuila, American Samoa. I took

this 2 nights before the big Tsunami.

 

This is a blend of 2 exposures, one for the stop action motion of the

blowhole and one for the stars. A bright 3/4 moon was positioned behind

me, giving perfect illumination to the foreground scene but still allowing

the stars in the background to show themselves.

 

It all had to come together perfectly to get this shot: A big swell at High

tide well after dark with a bright moon behind me to illuminate the

foreground, no wind in the palms and and no clouds to obscure the

stars. And yes, this is the rainy South Pacific so getting all of those

elements together happens only a few times a year! I felt extremely

lucky to get this shot!

Wow Mike, I'm glad to be the first to comment on this. This is really an outstanding shot (shots), how long apart were they taken? The waves look like they were taken with a fairly fast shutterspeed which wouldn't seem possible after dark. Anyway, glad you're safe.

Thanks Ryan!

 

This was a blend of 2 exposures 45 minutes apart on a tripod. 1/15 sec f2.8 ISO 800 for foreground and 20 seconds f2.8 ISO 2000 for the sky. It must have been crazy at this spot when the Tsunami hit 36 hours later. Glad I wasn't sitting right there on the edge of that cliff when the earthquake hit- it would have knocked me down there with little time to climb back up before the big wave! It's great to know you were thinking about us!

 

-Mike

Dear Michael,

I was thinking about moon landscape shots with the 5DmkII, but I did not dream about the possibility to get something like this. This is just amazing. This opens up new possibilities in photography. Thanks for the technical details.

By the way, how did you blend the sky into this picture?

Luckily you are safe. Best wishes. Karl

Thanks Karl! I can imagine LOTS of opportunities where you tend to travel! Can't wait to see what you come up with.

 

I did a manual blend of the two exposures in Photoshop. The key is to bracket lots of exposures for both foreground and background so they blend seamlessly. Make sure you remove the polarizer for the star shot so you can use a lower ISO and keep noise levels down. Focus before it gets too dark to see since you will be using f2.8 - f4. It was a lot of fun to do something totally new.

 

Hope you're doing well. Where are you off to next?

 

-Mike

Hi Michael, this is beautiful and well done but I would suggest to do some dodging on the foreground rocks to bring out some details a bit.

All the best!

Its a beautiful shot Micheal! Beyond the addition of the stars I also find the wave splash very striking.

 

+Lalit

amazing shot. enough dark to feel the mood of the night, and enough light to enjoy the details. stunning tones and colors. well done.

Very beautiful shot Mike. I often struggle with night shots (mine or from others) as it is difficult to strike a balance between enough detail in the shadows and portraying that night feeling. I think you have struck that balance perfectly.