View allAll Photos Tagged STARSCAPE
As a kick-off for the Advent Season, it is time for another image with a spiritual touch...
For me, there is hardly a more metaphoric subject than a lone chapel under a starry sky and the wooden bridge over the small ravine at this remote spot in the Swiss Alps packs the image with even more symbolism.
Prints available: ralf-rohner.pixels.com
EXIF
3 panel vertical panorama
Canon EOS 6D astro modified
Samyang 24mm f/1.4
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Low Level Lighting
Sky:
2 panels in landscape orientation, each is a stack of 6 x 30s @ISO1600 f/2
Foreground:
Stacked single panel of 3 x 60s @ISO1600 f/2
...wait for no man. But it is great to capture them in a moment of time. Worth waiting for in my book.
Bigbury-on-Sea, Devon
Nikon D7000, tamron 17-50 f2.8, tripod, 100 photos (1600iso, f4.0 x 30'' for every photo) and stratrails program..
Can the sky be on an LSD trip? Looks like. At least I got this impression during my visit to this little known fire lookout last June.
While capturing this 360° panorama, the airglow was so strong that I was able to see it with my naked eyes. When the images popped up on my camera screen, I shortly wondered whether the colors weren't caused by a northern light. Of course, this is impossible under the Milky Way arc in Northern California, but I am still not sure if the strong reds along the northern horizon weren't caused by an Aurora display extending this far south.
EXIF
Canon EOS-R, astro-modified
Sigma 28mm f/1.4 ART
IDAS NBZ filter
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Sky:
Panorama of 20 panels, each a stack of 7x 45s @ ISO1600, unfiltered & 3x 105s @ ISO6400, filtered.
Foreground:
Panorama of 20x 4s @ ISO100, during twilight.
During a visit to the Creux du Van in northwestern Switzerland, I hiked past these peculiar limestones. As I had a different shooting location in mind, I did not stop to check them any further, although thought that they looked kind of cool.
After a long and cold shooting, I finally called it a night. On my way back to the car, I passed these stones again and when I saw how nicely the Milky Way with Cygnus on the horizon aligned with these limestones, I immidiately knew that I had just lost some more of my precious sleep.
Prints available: ralf-rohner.pixels.com
EXIF
Canon EOS 6D, astro-modified
Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 @ 15mm
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Sky:
Stack of 10 x 60s @ ISO3200
Foreground:
Stack of 7 x 60s @ ISO6400
An starscape from the Dorset coast where there are some amazing cliff quarries whose entrances sometimes face due south over the English Channel. At the right time of year and night they perfectly frame the Milky Way in the night sky.
It was an amazing sense of awe and adventure to make such captures and I am truly grateful to Kevin Ferrioli for leading the way.
Winspit, Worth Matravers, Dorset
Close-up images of the Milky Way core always remind me of Olbers' paradox. Olbers' paradox, named after the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers (1758–1840), is the argument that the darkness of the night sky conflicts with the assumption of an infinite and eternal static universe.
If the universe was static, homogeneous at a large scale, and populated by an infinite number of stars, any line of sight from Earth should end at the surface of a star and hence the night sky would be completely illuminated and very bright.
This contradicts the observed darkness and non-uniformity of the night. The darkness of the night sky is, therefore, evidence for a dynamic universe, as postulated by the Big Bang model.
In a photograph of the galactic core, however, the stars are so densely packed that there indeed is nothing but stars if the line of sight isn't blocked by interstellar dust.
For me, a foreground with a solid wall of stars as a backdrop is one of the most stunning scenes in landscape astrophotography. I hope you like it as much as I do.
EXIF
Canon EOS 6D
Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM ll @ 88mm
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Sky:
Stack of 6x 60s @ ISO3200
Foreground:
Stack of 3 x 60s @ ISO3200
My nightscaping expeditions to the US Southwest last normally about a week. As I do not take a computer along, my memory cards accumulate lots of data during my working nights.
After returning home, I try to remember what exposures looked most promising and I develop those images first. There is however lots of data that I put aside in the first processing run and these RAWs can contain some nice surprises when checking them later.
This image is such a case. I took it in spring 2017 and only recently discovered the folder containing the untouched RAWs on my harddrive. When I started working on them, I quickly realised that the data was excellent and that I liked the composition even better than my initial favorite...
Prints available:
EXIF
Canon EOS 6D astro modified
Tamron 15-30mm f2.8
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Low Level Lighting
Sky:
3 x180s @ISO800, tracked
Foreground:
3 x 180s @ISO800
This shot was taken about 8 hours earlier than the other one I posted. A crescent moon was still up at this time, which helped to light up the foreground and reduce noise on the tufas. The stars were still highly visible, except for the bank of clouds that rolled in (damn you iPhone weather app!). This experience taught me that a little moonlight maybe advantageous for some situations, especially if your subject is too far away to light paint, or, in my case, if you don't what you're doing.
"Space Excavation"
Milky Way rising behind an excavator in a dirt field, middle of nowhere, South Dakota.
HomeGroenPhotography.com
500px.com/AaronGroen
FB- Aaron Groen
Instagram- @homegroenphotography
Another trip to the ruins for me. After seeing Neal's shot from this angle I decided I needed to go back and try it out. I've never even thought about timelapsing from this side before but absolutely LOVE the outcome. This is what a startrail looks like shooting West.
This is a stack of 349 images. Roughly an hour and a half time taking pictures.
Canon 6D Mark II
IRIX 30mm
13 sec
f/1.4
ISO 1600
Ancient Witnesses
As the stars rise, the stone remains — quiet, enduring, timeless.
These formations have watched the passage of millennia in silence, bearing witness to the slow arc of the cosmos above. I often wonder what stories they’d tell if they could speak — stories of fire, wind, and water… of creatures long gone… and now, of a lone photographer beneath their gaze.
Captured under a moonless sky, this is one of those nights where everything aligns — the air still, the Milky Way rising, and the sense that you’re standing in a place where time barely matters.
I return to these places not just to photograph them, but to feel something deeper — the connection between earth and sky, between the ancient and the now.
I visited the Toadstool for the first time in 2016, but had no time to do nightscapes.
When I was back this spring, I grabbed my chance to spend a night at this iconic Hoodoo.
As the place is quite easy to access and due to the perfect conditions, I assumed that there would be other photographers, but to my pleasant surprise, I had the place all to myself. The perfect chance to shoot a full Milky Way panorama...
EXIF
Untracked Panorama of 12 single exposures.
Canon EOS 6D
Samyang 24mm f/1.4
12 x 12s @ ISO 6400
Low Level Lighting with 2 LED panels and 1 omnidirectional light
Stiched with PTGui
Thanks for all your faves and comments
Prints available:
Comet Leonard as seen from E. Attica, Greece, (lat. 38 deg, long. 23.75 deg.) on Dec. 9, 2021, ~0400 UTC. Tamron 70-200 @ 200 mm, f/3.2, iso 2.5-3.2k, 143x25'' with iOptron Skytracker. Median stacked on DSS. It might not be NEOWISE, but it surely is a nice celestial show :)
Photography and Licensing: doudoulakis.blogspot.com/
My books concerning natural phenomena / Τα βιβλία μου σχετικά με τα φυσικά φαινόμενα: www.facebook.com/TaFisikaFainomena/
This image was taken west of St George, Queensland where there is nearly zero light pollution. It was so dark when I was shooting out there I could see the starlight reflecting off my car. And so quiet I could hear my ears ringing! very spooky but very awe-inspiring!
Christmas season is when I start seeing things in my images...
This year it is my Trona shots that make me wonder. Why havn't I noticed the Holy Three Kings arriving at the crib, when I was there? Can you see them too?
Prints available: ralf-rohner.pixels.com
EXIF
Canon EOS 6D, astro modified
Samyang 24mm f/1.4 @ f/2
iOptron Skytracker Pro
Low Level Lighting
Sky:
Stack of 5x30s @ ISO1600, tracked
Foreground:
Stack of 5x30s @ ISO1600
Fälensee is a lake in the Alpstein range of the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden, Switzerland. With the sheer cliffs surrounding it, Fälensee is one of the most photogenic alpine lakes in Switzerland. The easiest way to reach it, is a rather sternous 2 hrs hike. Fortunately the Bollenwees Guesthouse is conveniently located slightly above the lake, allowing for comfortable overnight stays.
Due to its westerly alignment and the surrounding high peaks, it is impossible to capture the galactic core above the lake. The autumn MW however aligns nicely with this alpine beauty, whose calm waters act as a perfect natural mirror...
EXIF
Canon EOS 6D, astro-modified
Samyang 24mm f/1.4
iOptron SkyTracker
Sky:
10 x 30s @ ISO 1600, tracked
Foreground:
3x 90s @ ISO 1600 & 3 x 180s @ ISO 1600
Reflection:
5 x45s @ ISO 1600
Colorado, USA. Hoped for a better shot of the sky but the thin clouds and the lights behind the church kind of spoiled the that. Anyway the result wasn't a total loss.
I had my heart set on doing a Milky Way shot over a lake, but then I quickly realized why people make composite images. It's a challenge to light paint a large area! I don't know how else you would do it, unless you had cohorts that were helping you light up the foreground. The headlights from the cars on the road helped a little - that and the stationary lights of the entrance booth to the park.
I visited Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest for the first time in 2015, but I had no time to do nightscapes. Ever since, this place was very high on my bucket list. In August 2017, after a crazy drive from Lassen Volcanic NP, I was finally able to visit these ancient beauties again for some night shooting.
As expected, I was not alone, but fortunately the other photographers present were very experienced nightscapers and so we were able to work side by side without disturbing each other. When I asked if any of them had something against me illuminating the foreground with Low Level Lighting, they all immediately agreed that it was more than fine with them. So I finally got the shots I have been longing for so long...
EXIF
- Astro-modified Canon EOS 6D
- Samyang 24mm f/1.4
- iOptron SkyTracker
- Low Level Lighting with 2 LED panels
Foreground:
Stack of 3 x 50s @ ISO1600
Sky:
Stack of 3 x 50s @ ISO1600, tracked
Thanks for all your faves and comments.
Prints available:
This composite image is created by blending two meticulously stitched panoramas, each composed of 7 individual frames. The foreground panorama, captured during the blue hour on Socotra Island, features the iconic blooming Desert Rose (Adenium obesum) standing resiliently above the rugged coastline. The soft ambient light of twilight highlights the intricate textures of the rocky landscape and the delicate blossoms.
The sky panorama, taken under a dark, moonless night, comprises another set of 7 frames that reveal the sweeping arc of the Milky Way in striking detail.
By combining these two 7-frame panoramas, the final image merges terrestrial rarity with celestial grandeur—offering a seamless vision where the mystical beauty of Earth meets the vastness of the cosmos.
Taken August 7th 2016 3:46AM west of Estelline, South Dakota. Single exposure photo Canon EOS 6D Canon EF 16-35mmf/2.8L II usm @ 25 seconds f/2.8 6400iso 16mm #Prints at HomeGroenPhotography.com #GroenyView
Before you draw your conclusions about this image, please read the description.
The sky and foreground were captured back to back at the same focal length and with the same equipment from a single tripod position.
The camera position was roughly 2 miles away from the mountain station, and the telescope/camera combination has an extremely narrow field of view of only 1.5° x 2°. The resulting telephoto compression makes the otherwise tiny Orion Nebula appear huge.
Two years ago, I had already captured a similar deepscape, but I was never really satisfied with it. The problem was lacking data for my sky, especially in the green channel, as clouds moved in towards the end of the imaging session.
Of course, I could have recaptured the missing data or the entire Orion Nebula from a different place, but that's not my style. After waiting two years for an opportunity to reshoot the image, I finally got my chance this February.
The weather this time was perfect, which made capturing the sky pretty straightforward, but otherwise, the conditions were still as demanding as 2 years ago.
Getting the foreground in focus with a monochrome micro 4/3rd astro-cam and RGB filters through a 500mm f/5.6 telescope is a real pain. Furthermore, snowcats grooming the slopes caused constantly changing, extremely bright illumination. Considering this, I am quite happy that I was able to capture a usable foreground.
EXIF
Camera: ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro (cooled monochrome MFT astro-cam)
Telescope: William Optics Megrez 88 (500mm f/5.6)
Filters: Baader HaRGB
Other equipment: ZWO EFW and EAF
Autoguider: ZWO ASI 385MC
Mount: Equatoriallly mounted Skywatcher AZ-GTI
Rig control: ASIair
Sky:
25min RGB (each)
21min Ha
Foreground:
5x 60s RGB (each)
10 x 60s Luminance
Stars of heaven, clear and bright,
Shine upon this Christmas light,
Vaster far than midnight skies
Are its timeless mysteries
~ Timothy Dudley-Smith
There is hardly anything more joyful than a silent night in a winter wonderland, where bright Christmas stars shine on high in the wintery sky.
May you never be too grown up to search the skies on Christmas Eve.
Merry Christmas to all!
EXIF
Canon EOS Ra
Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 @ 15mm
Sky:
Untracked stack of 5 x 20s @ ISO6400
Foreground:
Focus stack of 4 x 90s @ ISO3200
The August Milky Way is dividing the sky above Lassen Volcanic NP. While the incredibly dark skies in the north (right of the MW) enabled me to capture the strongest airglow I have ever seen, light pollution from the Sacramento Valley is drowning all stars near tje horizon in a yellow glow south (left) of the MW band.
As my trip to the Pacific NW draws to an end, I am looking forward to process the images it took. Unfortunately, I was not able to do as much night work as planned, due to some fog and lots of smoke in the area.
I nevertheless had a great time and was able visit some awesome places.
To shorten the wait for my new images, I publish a shot from my trip to the same area in 2017. This year this capture would probably not be possible due to heavy smoke of the Carr fire.
EXIF
Canon EOS 6D astro modified
Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8
iOptron SkyTracker
Low Level Lighting
Sky
5 x 50s @ISO1600, tracked
Foreground
5 x 100s @ISO3200
Here is another nightscape of Sunset Arch in Grand Staircase-Escalante NM.
It was my first capture of the night with the core section of MW just rising behind the dragon...
EXIF
Astromodified Canon EOS 6D
Samyang 24mm f/1.4
iOptron SkyTracker
Sky:
8 x 50s @ ISO1600, tracked
Stacked with fitswork4
Foreground:
5 x 50s @ ISO1600
Stacked with PS
Thanks for all your comments and faves
Prints available
During the last days of August, I was able to tick one more spot off my bucket list: The Chruezberg is a prominent row of sharp rising peaks on the eastern edge of the Alpstein Mountains. Is forms a towering cliff high above the Rhine valley and looks absolutely breathtaking when viewed from a ridge north a small pass named Saxer Luecke (Saxer Gap).
The densely populated Rhine Valley produces strong light pollution, but luckily, the sky is still dark enough to allow Milky Way photography and the artificial light from below nicely illuminates the foreground.
In late summer, the position of the Milky Way at nightfall is perfect and during this night, there was a very active line of thunderstorms in the far south, with some massive cloud to cloud lightning, adding drama to the scene.
Prints available: ralf-rohner.pixels.com
EXIF
Canon EOS 6D, astro modified
Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8
iOptron Skytracker Pro
Sky:
3 panel panorama, each a stack of 6 x 90s @ ISO 1600, f/5
Foreground:
3 panel panorama, each a stack of 6 x 30s @ ISO 1600, f/2.8
Thunderstorm:
Stack of 2 x 15s @ ISO 400, f/2.8
PS:
In case you wonder why I shot the sky at f/5... Shooting in the dark is never easy and the crammed space on the ridge distracted me enough to accidently close my aperture to f/5. Thanks to my habit to regularly check the histogram, I noticed that my exposures were too dark, but fatigue prevented me from finding the reason and I therefore simply increased the exposure time to 90s. After finishing the sky sequence, I noticed my mistake. I checked the shots on my LCD and found that the tracking was spot on, but of course I opened the aperture again for the foreground panorama.
The Great Basin Bristlecone Pines (Pinus longaeva) are the are the oldest living non-clonal organisms on our planet. They are gnarled, weather-beaten, and resilient. The oldest tree, is believed to be 5,070 years old now.
The harsh climate forces the Bristlecone Pines to grow very slowly. That's the secret behind their longevity, but they nevertheless do not live forever. The slow growth makes their wood extremely durable after their demise and dead trees can persist for thousands of years next to their living descendants.
Prints available: ralf-rohner.pixels.com
EXIF
Canon EOS 6D astro modified
Samyang 24mm f/1.4
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Low Level Lighting
Foreground:
Stack of 3 x 50s @ISO1600 f/1.4
Sky:
Stack of 6 x 40s @ISO1600 f/1.4, tracked