Skyfall

When I visited this nice waterfall with Benjamin Barakat and Marc Hoffmann, the hike through the forest near the waterfall was dodgy to say the least. The humidity in the air made the path dangerously muddy. We also had to cross a stream coming form a second cascade higher up.

 

When we finally arrived at our planned spot, there was so much spray in the air that my colleagues decided not to risk drowning their cameras. While they watched over my backpack, I grabbed my camera and tripod and headed a bit further up the slippery path to get clear of some trees blocking the view. 'View' is the wrong word though, as it was pitch black in the ravine.

 

In a seemingly clear spot, I set up my tripod and took a high ISO framing shot, blindly aiming towards the waterfall. The image that appeared on my LCD showed that the 28mm lens I had on was way too narrow for the scene. Shit.

 

I unscrewed my camera and headed back to my friends. In the half-zipped backpack I changed lenses, hoping that my sensor would stay dry. After stumbling back to my tripod, I was finally ready to shoot the scene.

 

I had to increase both ISO and exposure time more than I liked and when I finally got a half-decent looking histogram, my camera and lens were soaking wet. I decided to skip my usual sequence for stacking in order to leave the place while my equipment was still working.

 

Of course, I didn't capture the sky under such horrible conditions. I shot it in a dryer spot and the image is therefore a composite, but the alignment of the Milky Way is correct.

 

EXIF

Canon EOS Ra

Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8

iOptron SkyTracker Pro

Sky:

Stack of 6x 90s @ ISO1600

Foreground:

Single exposure of 90s @ ISO6400

Done