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I just got my hands on a 15mm lens and was delighted to test it out on some night sky photography last Saturday at the Spruce Grove Campground just outside of the LCW. I have never shot with a focal length shorter than 24mm before, so this 15mm proved to be a bit of a challenge. For one, it takes in MUCH more of the sky, forcing me to spend quite a bit of time standing around waiting for airplanes to get out of the shot. It's going to be a really fun lens though, and I'm looking forward to using it more.

15mm, 30 sec, f2.8, iso 3200
Night Sky Over Spruce Grove

I found a nice dark field in Park County to do some Milky Way practice shots using various settings on my camera. I tried several different noise reduction settings, and I honestly couldn't tell the difference from picture to picture. I was able to overcome a problem with timing exposures in the bulb setting. I was trying to time the exposures using the stopwatch feature on my phone, but I'd have to let my eyes readjust every time I looked at my phone. I remembered reading once that Ansel Adams used a metronome to keep time while he was developing his photos, so I turned on my phone's metronome app to 60 beats per minute and counted off the seconds. It worked like a charm. I'm excited to get out and do some more Milky Way photography in the coming months.

15mm, f2.8, 34sec, iso 3200
Milky Way vs. Front Range Light Pollution

Uh oh, this is my third post in a row to this thread. Does anybody else have any shots to contribute so I don't feel like a ball hog?

My wife and I were in Crested Butte for the weekend, and I needed to find a good location in the area to photograph the lunar eclipse. After researching possible locations using Photopills and The Photographer's Ephemeris, I decided on a location near the Castles. My original location was unreachable due to a gated subdivision and a whole lot of barbed wire fencing, but I was still able to get this shot from the road.

245mm, f5.6, 2sec, iso1600
Blood Moon Over the Castles

vonmackle wrote:Uh oh, this is my third post in a row to this thread. Does anybody else have any shots to contribute so I don't feel like a ball hog?

My wife and I were in Crested Butte for the weekend, and I needed to find a good location in the area to photograph the lunar eclipse. After researching possible locations using Photopills and The Photographer's Ephemeris, I decided on a location near the Castles. My original location was unreachable due to a gated subdivision and a whole lot of barbed wire fencing, but I was still able to get this shot from the road.

Great shot of the Castles and the blood moon. Which 15mm did you pick-up? I have the Sigma, and I love it.

Thanks, Jody!

yorksman wrote:Which 15mm did you pick-up? I have the Sigma, and I love it.

I got the cheapest one I could find, the Zeiss Distagon (I didn't look very hard ). It's amazing, even wide open. Kind of makes me want to go prime for all of my lenses, but it wouldn't be very convenient lugging all of those things around.

From last fall at Twin Lakes the night before hiking La Plata. Mt Elbert is to the right.

119 sec, f3.5, ISO 2000, 10mm

wow some amazing shots in here

The overflow campsite at Big Bend in Moab. The hard part was not getting the other 12 tents at the site in the frame!

A little different, meaning no stars, but I did catch the moon setting over the Sydney Opera House a few weeks ago (from our Hostel rooftop patio, happy hour every night!).

Hand-held (but braced on railing), 1/2 second, f6.3, ISO 800, 50mm lens (on APS-C).

One fun note is that the features on the moon are rotated about 80 degrees from what we see here in Colorado.

My wife and I recently did a four day backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon. We stayed at the Indian Garden campground on the third night, and I felt the need to justify bringing along my tripod, and my 24-70mm and 15mm lenses. I was hoping for the moon to light up the canyon, but clouds along the horizon were blocking out the moon. On the way back to camp, I noticed the moonlight on the high level clouds and stopped to take this photo.

For those of you interested in night sky photography, be sure to join us for the Spring Photo Gathering in the Lost Creek Wilderness on June 13-14.

24mm, f2.8, 20sec, iso 1600
Moonlit Clouds and the Inner-Canyon Skyline from the Tonto Plateau, Grand Canyon National Park

vonmackle wrote:My wife and I recently did a four day backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon. We stayed at the Indian Garden campground on the third night, and I felt the need to justify bringing along my tripod, and my 24-70mm and 15mm lenses. I was hoping for the moon to light up the canyon, but clouds along the horizon were blocking out the moon. On the way back to camp, I noticed the moonlight on the high level clouds and stopped to take this photo.

For those of you interested in night sky photography, be sure to join us for the Spring Photo Gathering in the Lost Creek Wilderness on June 13-14.

24mm, f2.8, 20sec, iso 1600
Moonlit Clouds and the Inner-Canyon Skyline from the Tonto Plateau, Grand Canyon National Park

It works for me!

After bailing last minute on my photography plans in RMNP, I still wanted to get out and practice some Milky Way photography. I chose to head down to Eleven Mile State Park, and I figured this would be a great chance to try out some light painting. I'd set my camera exposure to 20-30 seconds (depending on the lens I was using), hit the shutter release, run about 15-20 feet to the side of the camera, and then 'paint' the foreground with my headlamp. It's a really fun technique. (Special thanks to Kane for some excellent processing suggestions)


iso 6400, 24mm, f2.8, 20sec
Milky Way Over Eleven Mile Reservoir