skypointer2000
Moonlight Shadows
On a recent San Francisco layover, I took a drive south along the Pacific Coast Highway. My original shooting location near Big Sur didn’t look promising during the afternoon scout, so I set off in search of alternatives.
McWay Falls had long been on my list, though previous attempts had been thwarted by heavy fog. This time, the skies were clear, but I faced a different challenge: the Moon phase and the season of the Milky Way core.
Most nightscape compositions I’d seen from McWay Falls captured the Milky Way in its spring or early summer position, rising gracefully in the south-east. By late August, however, the core shifts nearly vertical and farther to the right. To complicate things further, a 40% waxing Moon lingered near Scorpius, threatening to wash out any Milky Way detail for the first 90 minutes after dusk.
Even so, I chose to give it a chance, and to my relief, my worries proved unfounded.
Under the excellent transparency, the Milky Way revealed more structure than I had dared to expect, its intricate dust lanes standing out and its star fields alive with depth. I even managed to capture the subtle colors of Rho Ophiuchi and several nearby emission nebulae, their hues faint but unmistakable.
The framing worked well, too. From just the right vantage point, the Milky Way stood gracefully above the beach and waterfall, while the setting Moon bathed the scene in a warm, golden glow. Its light shimmered across the water, and the trees on the headland stood in striking silhouette, their crisp shadows reaching into the cove - a sight far more enchanting than I had ever imagined.
EXIF
Canon EOS-Ra
Sigma 28mm f/1.4 ART
IDAS NBZ-Filter with Canon EF-EOS R drop-in adapter
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Sunwayfoto T2840CK tripod
Sky:
Panorama of 2 panels, each a stack of 10x 30s @ ISO1600, clear filter & 5x 90s @ ISO6400, IDAS NBZ
Foreground:
Single exposure of 30s @ ISO800
Moonlight Shadows
On a recent San Francisco layover, I took a drive south along the Pacific Coast Highway. My original shooting location near Big Sur didn’t look promising during the afternoon scout, so I set off in search of alternatives.
McWay Falls had long been on my list, though previous attempts had been thwarted by heavy fog. This time, the skies were clear, but I faced a different challenge: the Moon phase and the season of the Milky Way core.
Most nightscape compositions I’d seen from McWay Falls captured the Milky Way in its spring or early summer position, rising gracefully in the south-east. By late August, however, the core shifts nearly vertical and farther to the right. To complicate things further, a 40% waxing Moon lingered near Scorpius, threatening to wash out any Milky Way detail for the first 90 minutes after dusk.
Even so, I chose to give it a chance, and to my relief, my worries proved unfounded.
Under the excellent transparency, the Milky Way revealed more structure than I had dared to expect, its intricate dust lanes standing out and its star fields alive with depth. I even managed to capture the subtle colors of Rho Ophiuchi and several nearby emission nebulae, their hues faint but unmistakable.
The framing worked well, too. From just the right vantage point, the Milky Way stood gracefully above the beach and waterfall, while the setting Moon bathed the scene in a warm, golden glow. Its light shimmered across the water, and the trees on the headland stood in striking silhouette, their crisp shadows reaching into the cove - a sight far more enchanting than I had ever imagined.
EXIF
Canon EOS-Ra
Sigma 28mm f/1.4 ART
IDAS NBZ-Filter with Canon EF-EOS R drop-in adapter
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Sunwayfoto T2840CK tripod
Sky:
Panorama of 2 panels, each a stack of 10x 30s @ ISO1600, clear filter & 5x 90s @ ISO6400, IDAS NBZ
Foreground:
Single exposure of 30s @ ISO800