3 United Arab Emirates Desert Sky

[Dale D]

I am on an extended trip to the Middle East including Dubai, UAE and Abu Dhabi UAE.(plus TelAviv-Jerusalem,Amman,Jordan and Petra). We are staying at a desert camp about 2 1/2 hours drive south of Abu Dhabi in the desert called the Empty Quarter, one of the largest deserts in the world. Last night I did a timelapse with limited time and there was still a lot of ambient light from a nearby restaurant. Despite this I was able to create this image using AI masking software of Lightroom. The actual timelapse was only 3 seconds long.
Nikon D750
Nikkon 14-24mm f/[email protected]
ISO 1600
shutter 10 seconds

Dale
Miami

 

[OdysseyShane]

Great shot! I've been to the edge of the Empty Quarter. We drove from Al-Ain, UAE. I would love to do it again one day!

 

[Dale D]

Great shot! I've been to the edge of the Empty Quarter. We drove from Al-Ain, UAE. I would love to do it again one day!

Thank you! I will be up your way in August- Lake Louise , Moraine Lake Lodge, Emerald Lake Lodge, etc.

 

[akdrone]

I am on an extended trip to the Middle East including Dubai, UAE and Abu Dhabi UAE.(plus TelAviv-Jerusalem,Amman,Jordan and Petra). We are staying at a desert camp about 2 1/2 hours drive south of Abu Dhabi in the desert called the Empty Quarter, one of the largest deserts in the world. Last night I did a timelapse with limited time and there was still a lot of ambient light from a nearby restaurant. Despite this I was able to create this image using AI masking software of Lightroom. The actual timelapse was only 3 seconds long.
Nikon D750
Nikkon 14-24mm f/[email protected]
ISO 1600
shutter 10 seconds

Dale
Miami

Impressive!

 

[Dale D]

Impressive!

Thanks AK
We’re off from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv in the morning

 

[Richard R]

Excellent shot !

 

[CvCow]

I am on an extended trip to the Middle East including Dubai, UAE and Abu Dhabi UAE.(plus TelAviv-Jerusalem,Amman,Jordan and Petra). We are staying at a desert camp about 2 1/2 hours drive south of Abu Dhabi in the desert called the Empty Quarter, one of the largest deserts in the world. Last night I did a timelapse with limited time and there was still a lot of ambient light from a nearby restaurant. Despite this I was able to create this image using AI masking software of Lightroom. The actual timelapse was only 3 seconds long.
Nikon D750
Nikkon 14-24mm f/[email protected]
ISO 1600
shutter 10 seconds

Dale
Miami

Youre the best....

 

[Dale D]

Youre the best....

Always truing
Thanks

 

[Jug's Life]

Very nice! I dabble a little astro myself.

 

[Dale D]

Very nice! I dabble a little astro myself.

Respectfully, you cannot dabble in astro.It is a total commitment for me to plan and do a shoot. I would say that the average time spend from beginning to end would be a matter of several days. This particular shot was the result of travel to a distant land (desert outside of Abu Dhabi), a rigorous trek up a very steep dune in total darkness, with very soft sand ( I had to rest 5 times to catch my breath), and at least 30 minutes of test shots to get the focus of the stars, regular the composition so that the horizon is level (it is pitch black), and when finally set, start the timing which takes several hours for a 400-500 exposure timelapse. I shoot at 15-20 second shutter speeds so figure 2 images a minute. You can do the match and see that several hours out in the pitch black is quite a devotion. The return down the dune takes another 30 minutes. Then the processing takes at least several hours.

 

[Chrislaf]

Respectfully, you cannot dabble in astro.It is a total commitment for me to plan and do a shoot. I would say that the average time spend from beginning to end would be a matter of several days. This particular shot was the result of travel to a distant land (desert outside of Abu Dhabi), a rigorous trek up a very steep dune in total darkness, with very soft sand ( I had to rest 5 times to catch my breath), and at least 30 minutes of test shots to get the focus of the stars, regular the composition so that the horizon is level (it is pitch black), and when finally set, start the timing which takes several hours for a 400-500 exposure timelapse. I shoot at 15-20 second shutter speeds so figure 2 images a minute. You can do the match and see that several hours out in the pitch black is quite a devotion. The return down the dune takes another 30 minutes. Then the processing takes at least several hours.

I respectfully disagree. I have been shooting astrophotography for many many years and have some of the exact same equipment that you use and have also rented lenses as you have done. Not everyone has the time or means to travel around the world to exotic locations and take days to plan their trips around their shoots but that does not mean that they are not committed to doing astrophotography or cannot dabble in astro.

I travel with my family so they are my priority. If I can do my astrophotography which I love to do, at the places we are camping/staying then that is a bonus for me. Usually that means that I leave our campsite as soon as it gets dark and drive/hike to a location by myself and stay for hours to take night time shots and star trails which I sometimes combine into a time-lapse.

I know many people who dabble in astrophotography, some of them are excellent local professional photographers who I have met from our local photography club. They do not spend several days planning their shoots and travel all over the world to capture them and yet some of their images are spectacular, but astrophotography is only a small part of what they do.

Chris

 

[Dale D]

I respectfully disagree. I have been shooting astrophotography for many many years and have some of the exact same equipment that you use and have also rented lenses as you have done. Not everyone has the time or means to travel around the world to exotic locations and take days to plan their trips around their shoots but that does not mean that they are not committed to doing astrophotography or cannot dabble in astro.

I travel with my family so they are my priority. If I can do my astrophotography which I love to do, at the places we are camping/staying then that is a bonus for me. Usually that means that I leave our campsite as soon as it gets dark and drive/hike to a location by myself and stay for hours to take night time shots and star trails which I sometimes combine into a time-lapse.

I know many people who dabble in astrophotography, some of them are excellent local professional photographers who I have met from our local photography club. They do not spend several days planning their shoots and travel all over the world to capture them and yet some of their images are spectacular, but astrophotography is only a small part of what they do.

Chris

Yes, Chris:

Certainly, you can attempt to shoot on the fly out of a family vacation but for the professional teachers that I follow and learn from and from the the astro workshops I have taken, planning on dark sky nights, new moon nights, on a lunar calendar, and searching out dark sites, it is a true sub specialty of photography. The art becomes even more demanding if you are planning more than just a single image, e.g.: a timelapse.Such shoots, as I noted, may take up several hours and several batteries. This is not to even mention standing around in the cold, or sleeping in the car and not allowing the car door lights to affect the images when you must get out of the car and check everything.

I know this discussion has nothing to do with drone flying, but in my world of photography, I am trying to use every modality available to make an interesting video.

It has come to a point in my travels that much is planned in hopes of finding dark sites. I truly understand that the average photographer may not have the time or capital to do these kinds of travels, but I am fortunate in that I can.

Dale

 

[OldGuy]

I am on an extended trip to the Middle East including Dubai, UAE and Abu Dhabi UAE.(plus TelAviv-Jerusalem,Amman,Jordan and Petra). We are staying at a desert camp about 2 1/2 hours drive south of Abu Dhabi in the desert called the Empty Quarter, one of the largest deserts in the world. Last night I did a timelapse with limited time and there was still a lot of ambient light from a nearby restaurant. Despite this I was able to create this image using AI masking software of Lightroom. The actual timelapse was only 3 seconds long.
Nikon D750
Nikkon 14-24mm f/[email protected]
ISO 1600
shutter 10 seconds

Dale
Miami

In 2010 I was living in Abu Dhabi and camped many a night in the Rub' al Khali (Empty Quater). If you are really interested in this desert which by the way is the larges unboken streatch of sand in the world (but not the biggest desert as you point out). Then I would recommend that you read Arabian Sands by Wilfred Thesiger. This gentleman travelled this destert back in 1945-50 with the bedu on camel. A really interesting read on the hardships encountered in this inhospitable part of the world.

Dale
Mijas

 

[Dale D]

Yes, Chris:

Certainly, you can attempt to shoot on the fly out of a family vacation but for the professional teachers that I follow and learn from and from the the astro workshops I have taken, planning on dark sky nights, new moon nights, on a lunar calendar, and searching out dark sites, it is a true sub specialty of photography. The art becomes even more demanding if you are planning more than just a single image, e.g.: a timelapse.Such shoots, as I noted, may take up several hours and several batteries. This is not to even mention standing around in the cold, or sleeping in the car and not allowing the car door lights to affect the images when you must get out of the car and check everything.

I know this discussion has nothing to do with drone flying, but in my world of photography, I am trying to use every modality available to make an interesting video.

It has come to a point in my travels that much is planned in hopes of finding dark sites. I truly understand that the average photographer may not have the time or capital to do these kinds of travels, but I am fortunate in that I can.

Dale

Hey Chris
Here is one hot off the press. It took an hour hiking, an hour shooting, and an hour processing. Best seen full screen.

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[Chrislaf]

Hey Chris
Here is one hot off the press. It took an hour hiking, an hour shooting, and an hour processing. Best seen full screen.

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Nice! Too bad it wasn't longer but I do realize how much time it takes and the amount of shots it takes just to get a few seconds of video in a timelapse. I can remember setting up my camera outside my Yurt in a Quebec National Park to get a timelapse of the night sky and the tide coming in on the St. Lawrence. I remember going to bed and then getting up hours later to check the intervalometer on my camera.

Chris

 

[Chrislaf]

Yes, Chris:

Certainly, you can attempt to shoot on the fly out of a family vacation but for the professional teachers that I follow and learn from and from the the astro workshops I have taken, planning on dark sky nights, new moon nights, on a lunar calendar, and searching out dark sites, it is a true sub specialty of photography. The art becomes even more demanding if you are planning more than just a single image, e.g.: a timelapse.Such shoots, as I noted, may take up several hours and several batteries. This is not to even mention standing around in the cold, or sleeping in the car and not allowing the car door lights to affect the images when you must get out of the car and check everything.

I know this discussion has nothing to do with drone flying, but in my world of photography, I am trying to use every modality available to make an interesting video.

It has come to a point in my travels that much is planned in hopes of finding dark sites. I truly understand that the average photographer may not have the time or capital to do these kinds of travels, but I am fortunate in that I can.

Dale

Dale, I am not criticizing you or the amount of time you spend planning and preparing for your photo shoots. Astrophotography is certainly a demanding part of photography not only on the photographer but on the equipment as well, but the point I was trying to make is that you can still enjoy doing astrophotography and get some great results even if you don't have all the best equipment and have the time to devote just to that purpose on a trip. You need to start somewhere and usually it is by dabbling in it for awhile.

Chris

 

[Dale D]

Nice! Too bad it wasn't longer but I do realize how much time it takes and the amount of shots it takes just to get a few seconds of video in a timelapse. I can remember setting up my camera outside my Yurt in a Quebec National Park to get a timelapse of the night sky and the tide coming in on the St. Lawrence. I remember going to bed and then getting up hours later to check the intervalometer on my camera.

Chris

Yes-"only 3 seconds."

There is a bit of a longer back story to this very short 3 second video. I was staying at what my wife and I consider, one of the best hotels we have ever stayed at. All of the activities were extremely expensive. They wanedt to charge me the equivalent of $433.00 USD for a guide to drive me away from the hotel and lights into the deeper desert, and to stay with me for the shoot which I estimated to be about 4 hours. I just plain refused to spend the $ and tried to do it on the cheap.

I took one of the hotel golf cart rides to the edge of the darkest part of the resort near a restaurant set up in the sand. The restaurant had large spot lights illuminating the palms. I tired to climb up the dune, and with my 84 year old legs, it was not easy. One step up and two steps slide back. Repeat. Repeat. After about 30 minutes of struggling, I found a place behind a dune shielding me from the lights. I set up the tripod, found a bright star to focus on, and then did about 20 test shots for ISO, level horizon, shutter speed,etc. (it was pitch black and I had on my head lamp.

At long last, I started the sequence. I settled on a 15 second interval to avoid star trailing, and a 10 second exposure at ISO 1250 to avoid noise So doing the calculations, I was able to shoot an image every 15+10 second, or 25 seconds per shot, which gave me about 2 images a minute. Knowing the I needed 24 frames (images) per second of video, I managed to stay from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM. We had a dinner reservation for our last night there at 8:30! Of course we did not make it to the restaurant until 9 PM and all I could get was 100 frames. Ergo, the 3 second timelapse. I was willing to cancel the dinner, but about 2/3rds of the way through the shot a a SANDSTORM arose! Sheets of fine sand started to blow into my camera, eyes, camera bag, etc. So I had to break down everything, and struggle back down the very soft dune (my shoes sank into the sand up to the ankles). That, my friend, is what we do for our photography!

Dale

 

[Chrislaf]

Yes-"only 3 seconds."

There is a bit of a longer back story to this very short 3 second video. I was staying at what my wife and I consider, one of the best hotels we have ever stayed at. All of the activities were extremely expensive. They wanedt to charge me the equivalent of $433.00 USD for a guide to drive me away from the hotel and lights into the deeper desert, and to stay with me for the shoot which I estimated to be about 4 hours. I just plain refused to spend the $ and tried to do it on the cheap.

I took one of the hotel golf cart rides to the edge of the darkest part of the resort near a restaurant set up in the sand. The restaurant had large spot lights illuminating the palms. I tired to climb up the dune, and with my 84 year old legs, it was not easy. One step up and two steps slide back. Repeat. Repeat. After about 30 minutes of struggling, I found a place behind a dune shielding me from the lights. I set up the tripod, found a bright star to focus on, and then did about 20 test shots for ISO, level horizon, shutter speed,etc. (it was pitch black and I had on my head lamp.

At long last, I started the sequence. I settled on a 15 second interval to avoid star trailing, and a 10 second exposure at ISO 1250 to avoid noise So doing the calculations, I was able to shoot an image every 15+10 second, or 25 seconds per shot, which gave me about 2 images a minute. Knowing the I needed 24 frames (images) per second of video, I managed to stay from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM. We had a dinner reservation for our last night there at 8:30! Of course we did not make it to the restaurant until 9 PM and all I could get was 100 frames. Ergo, the 3 second timelapse. I was willing to cancel the dinner, but about 2/3rds of the way through the shot a a SANDSTORM arose! Sheets of fine sand started to blow into my camera, eyes, camera bag, etc. So I had to break down everything, and struggle back down the very soft dune (my shoes sank into the sand up to the ankles).

That, my friend, is what we do for our photography!

… And sometimes it works out and you get a stunning shot or timelapse and oftentimes it does not and weather or other unexpected situations happen.

Regardless, you have some great shots to share and add to your portfolio.

Chris

 

[CvCow]

Hi Dale, sorry i lost the rigt thread.....

I'm always very fond of your pics......i saw a picture of Petra with camels in front, and you told us that you photoshopped People out of it and it was hard to do.. can you post the original so i can try to retry it......because the last version of fotoshop can do it very easy....
Kind regards..a fan of yours
CvCow