A wide panorama of Orion and the winter stars setting on a spring evening at Dinosaur Provincial Park, with the Zodiacal Light rising out of the twilight and distant yellow sky glow to the west at centre. Sirius is at left to the southwest, with Orion setting behind the badlands hill, while the Pleiades is in the Zodiacal Light band at centre, with Mars just below the Pleiades. Perseus, Cassiopeia, and the Andromeda Galaxy are setting at right in the northwest. High haze and aircraft contrails (one at centre) add the natural star glows. The lingering twilight adds the sky colour. This is a 240° panorama stitched from 17 segments, all with the 24mm Sigma Art lens and Nikon D750 in portrait orientation, each segment 20 seconds at f/1.4 and ISO 3200. Stitched with Adobe Camera Raw. A mild Orton glow effect was added to the landscape with Luminar 3 plugin.
Orion, Sirius, Taurus, the Pleiades, and the winter sky setting in the spring twilight sky, March 29, 2019, at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta. Lingering twilight adds the blue sky naturally, during the last moments of a “blue hour.” This is an HDR and luminosity mask blend of 6 exposures to retain detail in the dark foreground and bright twilight. The sky and stars come from a single exposure, with the exception of a shorter exposure blended in for the bright twilight area. A little unintended light painting from headlights from another visiting photographer painted the hill to the left. All with the Sigma 24mm Art lens and Nikon D750. An soft focus Orton glow effect added to the ground with Luminar plugin. This is a good demo of Rule of Thirds and leading lines composition elements.
Orion setting over the iconic Victoria Glacier at Lake Louise, frozen here in March, and with the scene lit by the light of the waxing Moon. I shot this during the few minutes when the star Sirius had just appeared from behind Mount Fairview at left, and just moments before the star Rigel in Orion set behind Mount Victoria. The Hyades and Pleiades in Taurus are at right over Mt. St. Piran and the Beehive. I was several hundred metres out from shore on the frozen lake. This was March 19, 2019. This is a panorama of 3 segments stitched with Adobe Camera Raw, each segment 8 seconds at f/3.5 with the Sigma 24mm Art lens and Nikon D750 at ISO 800. Minor adjustments of tonal balance applied with luminosity masks from Lumenzia.
