A Desert's Sky

Congratulations! This is the Image of the Week selection for the Landscapes Gallery, week ending 15th June, 2012!hi all,

this is my first take on startrails (actually my second, but the first one i'm willing to share ).

late in the afternoon a sandstorm rolled in from the west. i couldn't go as deep into the valley as i had planned and was afraid that my shot would be ruined (or worse - that my camera would fail). i still decided to give it a try, wrapped my camera in a plastic bag and left it for the night.
luckily the sandstorm neither did harm my camera nor did it ruin the exposure - it even added this nice warm glow in the direction of the setting sun. i still had a hard time in pp to fight the crazy amount of noise the heated sensor had caused (using live view to compose wasn't the best idea..).

*EDIT*
due to a lot of people asking me how this image was created, i decided to write a somewhat technical article about it on my blog.
A Desert's Sky
Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia

Canon 5DMKII, EF 17-40 @ 17mm
ISO 200, f/5.6, 300 seconds
46 exposures stacked and blended in PS

thanks for taking the time to look!
c&c are very welcome,
joerg

Wow! This is stunning Joerg! Everything about it is great. I really like the tree as an anchor and the star trails worked out great. The splash of color from the setting sun really tops this image off, really nice work!

Beautiful image! I second what Kyle said...just a pleasure to view...

You did well...great capture!

superb!

Wow Joerg -- outstanding first effort!

Joerg - Was glancing thru here and spotted your image. Have to say this is really well done, love the comp and the "action"! Kudos!!

Yeah, the afterglow of the sun makes this image for me. Superb comp...

Outstanding in all ways. Just love that tree and how it reacts with the glow.

You nailed this one. My only nit: there is a bright anomaly in the stars just above the center branch of the tree I would clone out. Outstanding.

Wow! I'm going to have to put my camera in a bag and leave it somewhere overnight to see it this can happen to me as well Excellent!

Amazing shot

Absolutely beautiful. Won't change a thing.

Fantastic star trail shot. This one is executed to perfection!

Great! Today is the photo of the day on earthshot! COMPLIMENT!!

Um, my first and second and subsequent attempts look nothing like this. This is simply stunning!

The composition works so well and I love the colors, the warmth of the sky and light on the horizon. The silhouetted tree in the bright area of the sky, with the branches all above the mountains and the purple and cold colors. I love it! This is just gorgeous Joerg!

thank you all for your kind comments!!!

since this image sparked a lot of technical questions all over the web, i decided to write an article about it on my blog. check it out here!

all the best,
joerg

Missed this one while I was away.
Absolutely love it!!!!!
Congrats on the IOW honor.

saw it on EarthShots - fabulous work Joerg, congrats...

Pure class and the perfect IOW!!!!!!!!, big congrats!