Jon Benham Photography
Milky Way over Zugspitze (explored)
Milky Way core rising above the summit of Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain, reflected in the Eibsee lake.
My first shot of the Milky Way and it took some planning! A dark sky is necessary to capture the faint light of the Milky Way so a cloudless and moonless sky is needed. We had to be there after sunset but before 10 pm as the lake is privately owned by the nearby hotel and closed to visitors at night. I used a star app to estimate the location of the Milky Way in the sky and was reasonably confident that it would be visible above the Zugspitze from the opposite side of the lake, but I wasn't expecting the core to be just above the summit, a real bonus!
It quickly darkened after sunset on the moonless night and we needed head torches to find our way. There were lots of frogs and toads on the path which weren't there during the day and we even saw a snake in the middle of the path with a suspicious bulge in its middle which we guessed was an unfortunate frog, so we were very glad to have our torches!
We found a spot by the lakeside and could hardly see the Milky Way before our eyes adjusted to the dark. I couldn't see anything in my viewfinder except for the light from the cablecar station at the top of the mountain. I blindly focused my lens manually at infinity, hoping that the stars and mountain would be in focus and took a long 25 second exposure - I was very pleased with the resulting image showing the Milky Way, the mountain and reflection in the lake, and I think the streaks in the sky are from meteors, not aircraft. On the way back the sky had darkened even more and I stopped to take another shot of the Milky Way above the trees and mountains.
Fujifilm XT3 with Samyang 12 mm F2.0 lens ISO 1600
Edited from raw image with Lightroom Classic on Macbook Air
Milky Way over Zugspitze (explored)
Milky Way core rising above the summit of Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain, reflected in the Eibsee lake.
My first shot of the Milky Way and it took some planning! A dark sky is necessary to capture the faint light of the Milky Way so a cloudless and moonless sky is needed. We had to be there after sunset but before 10 pm as the lake is privately owned by the nearby hotel and closed to visitors at night. I used a star app to estimate the location of the Milky Way in the sky and was reasonably confident that it would be visible above the Zugspitze from the opposite side of the lake, but I wasn't expecting the core to be just above the summit, a real bonus!
It quickly darkened after sunset on the moonless night and we needed head torches to find our way. There were lots of frogs and toads on the path which weren't there during the day and we even saw a snake in the middle of the path with a suspicious bulge in its middle which we guessed was an unfortunate frog, so we were very glad to have our torches!
We found a spot by the lakeside and could hardly see the Milky Way before our eyes adjusted to the dark. I couldn't see anything in my viewfinder except for the light from the cablecar station at the top of the mountain. I blindly focused my lens manually at infinity, hoping that the stars and mountain would be in focus and took a long 25 second exposure - I was very pleased with the resulting image showing the Milky Way, the mountain and reflection in the lake, and I think the streaks in the sky are from meteors, not aircraft. On the way back the sky had darkened even more and I stopped to take another shot of the Milky Way above the trees and mountains.
Fujifilm XT3 with Samyang 12 mm F2.0 lens ISO 1600
Edited from raw image with Lightroom Classic on Macbook Air