Desert night over Camp Hansen

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Marcellox
Posts: 112
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2008 4:52 am

Desert night over Camp Hansen

Post by Marcellox »

I was looking online at some photos of the conflict in Afghanistan attached to an article and came across this June 4, 2010 picture. I really like it in part because I like the nighttime, the serenity and peacefulness missing in most other photos of the Afghanistan war and a lack of pain and suffering made it also appealing. It is my hope you all will enjoy it as well. Picture shows the starry desert night over Camp Hansen at Marjah, in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. (Photo Source: yeeyan.org)
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Daneldil
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 5:09 pm

Re: Desert night over Camp Hansen

Post by Daneldil »

uber enhanced sky... ?

Marcellox
Posts: 112
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2008 4:52 am

Re: Desert night over Camp Hansen

Post by Marcellox »

I lack details of the conditions the photo was taken. I am 99 percent sure the photo was not altered in any way. Some useful stuff for night time photography. However, almost any camera will work in taking nighttime sky photos provided the sky is clear with at least a 3/4 moon, temperature is between 45 - 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and the weather is calm, your camera is on the tripod (very important due to the longer exposure required for nighttime shooting) and your camera has a self-timer for the shutter. The aperture needs to remain open a much longer time period (from 1/2 to 30 seconds) to accumulate the amount of light needed for a good photograph. A longer night time sky exposure will capture more light from more sources resulting in a sky appearing far fuller versus the naked eye.
Other factor, which contributed to this photo is the lack of light pollution in Afghanistan. Compared with much of the United States, where the lights from towns and large cities tend to obscure all but the brightest of the stars, there is very little such light pollution in Iraq and Afghanistan. On most clear nights, the night sky can be seen in its full glory.
From many localities in the Middle East, the sky can appear truly black. In the summertime, for example, the Scorpios and Sagittarius region of the Milky Way casts obvious diffuse shadows on the ground. Any clouds in the sky are visible only as dark holes in the starry background. In addition, if you are out on a wide-open area, your companions and vehicle are almost totally invisible.
Iraq and Afghanistan are located roughly near and along 35º north latitude. There the night sky will pretty much match what can be seen from places like Los Angeles, Albuquerque, Oklahoma City or Memphis, at least in terms of the locations of stars and planets that are visible. If you happen to be in these regions of the USA you will see about the same nighttime sky except for the reason stated above, the light pollution from cities and towns.

Dami
Posts: 53
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 12:15 am
Location: NJ

Re: Desert night over Camp Hansen

Post by Dami »

amazing, you can see the milky way...
Dark Elf Warrior... forgot level...90-95? o.O

Daneldil
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 5:09 pm

Re: Desert night over Camp Hansen

Post by Daneldil »

I take night pics, none have came close to that without heavy contrast enhancement, I have a high end camera, and tripod.. I just dunno how you could get it like that! its awesome, maybe I need to buy a book on nightsky photography.

Marcellox
Posts: 112
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2008 4:52 am

Re: Desert night over Camp Hansen

Post by Marcellox »

Me thinks, alot has to do with light pollution. But in an area like Afghanistan with biblical souroundings, the sky is that much clearer.

Kivanarri
Posts: 155
Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2010 10:50 pm

Re: Desert night over Camp Hansen

Post by Kivanarri »

One of things I liked about Iraq was looking up at night on a clear sky and seeing the stars. I remember laying on top of my Humvee and just thinking how many stars are out there. Then I remembered I was where the Chaldeans and Babylonians were when they did their star research. Amazing photo.

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