skypointer2000
A Night to Remember
The plan was simple: camp under a perfect night sky on a dry lakebed and capture the Milky Way. The forecast said storms would pass by sunset. Easy.
By late afternoon, dark clouds closed in. We scrambled to throw the rainfly on the tent as a gust front slammed into us. The wind howled, the tent shuddered, but held.
Thirty minutes later, calm returned. Sunset painted the retreating storm, and I set up for astrophotography. The clouds cleared, I framed our glowing tent under the stars… then spotted a new cloud drifting in. I took some untracked single shots, waiting for it to pass.
When it did, I started my tracked panorama - until the horizon dimmed strangely. Stars vanished one by one. A high ISO shot revealed the truth: a towering wall of sand, racing toward us.
Adrenaline spiked. I grabbed both tripods, trackers and cameras still attached, threw them in the trunk, and dove for the tent. Seconds later, the dust storm hit, hammering us for three unrelenting hours.
The Milky Way would have to wait for a different night.
EXIF
Canon EOS-R, astro-modified
Sigma 28mm f/1.4 ART Sunwayfoto T2840CK tripod
Foreground:
Stack of 6x 90s @ ISO6400, f/2.8
Sky:
Panorama of 3 panels, each a single exposure of 10s @ ISO6400, f/1.4
A Night to Remember
The plan was simple: camp under a perfect night sky on a dry lakebed and capture the Milky Way. The forecast said storms would pass by sunset. Easy.
By late afternoon, dark clouds closed in. We scrambled to throw the rainfly on the tent as a gust front slammed into us. The wind howled, the tent shuddered, but held.
Thirty minutes later, calm returned. Sunset painted the retreating storm, and I set up for astrophotography. The clouds cleared, I framed our glowing tent under the stars… then spotted a new cloud drifting in. I took some untracked single shots, waiting for it to pass.
When it did, I started my tracked panorama - until the horizon dimmed strangely. Stars vanished one by one. A high ISO shot revealed the truth: a towering wall of sand, racing toward us.
Adrenaline spiked. I grabbed both tripods, trackers and cameras still attached, threw them in the trunk, and dove for the tent. Seconds later, the dust storm hit, hammering us for three unrelenting hours.
The Milky Way would have to wait for a different night.
EXIF
Canon EOS-R, astro-modified
Sigma 28mm f/1.4 ART Sunwayfoto T2840CK tripod
Foreground:
Stack of 6x 90s @ ISO6400, f/2.8
Sky:
Panorama of 3 panels, each a single exposure of 10s @ ISO6400, f/1.4