Stars and Milky Way, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

Briefly noted: This is a nine and one half minute exposure from the top of Half Dome looking southwest across Yosemite Park, taken in June 2007. When I was there the Milky Way, shown in this photo as a pleasing blur, was crisp and sharp, but the time exposure and the motion of the heavens rendered it soft focus. The orange light is from the west and is ambient light from the cities of California’s central valley (probably mostly Fresno).

I used this previously unprocessed photo as a demo of RAW conversion the first night of my recent workshop.

[Nikon D200, 12-24mm zoom lens at 12mm (18mm in 35mm terms), 970 seconds at f/4 and ISO 100, tripod mounted.]