Photo of the Week 2024-07-29

Working with captures from the same night time outing used to create last week's image,  I merged 2 (unstacked) frames as a mini pano to get another composition I wanted. This, showing the crazy light pollution glow over Tobermory when everything is closed for the night ...

' Tobermory glowing under the Milky Way '

... it was a significant challenge to bring out some detail of the Milky Way given the amount of light Tobermory was throwing off but I managed to get something that I like and I'm learning along the way.

DJE

 

 

Photo of the Week 2024-07-22

 

' MW Arching Over Hay Bay '

A first go at capturing the Milky Way Arch. Six vertical images, themselves each a stack of 4 exposures, stitched into a panorama. Processed in LR, PS and ON1.

 

There is no shortage of 'nightscape' images on the internet showcasing the Milky Way over dramatic landscapes. There are nearly as many processing styles, with options ranging from subtle single exposure versions to the surreal using stacking and tracking techniques to extract the last photon of light and detail.

Recently I was treated to a clear sky forecast while at the cottage and decided to take advantage of it to try out the new (to me) Irix 15mm f/2.4 for some night sky shots. I spent some time planning with PhotoPills, TPE and other online resources to determine time and position of the Milky Way core. I had not thought to try a stitched panorama capturing the full MW Arch until I was out on the shore near midnight and noticed just how much of it I could see.

The process of image capture was relatively simple, though it was my first time out under the night sky with my R5 and with a hew lens as well. I ended up capturing six sets of four images over a roughly 150* (estimated) field of view. I applied lens profile correction in Lightroom, then exported to TIFF's, then used Sequator to stack each set of 4 exposures, following some online tutorials. The resultant output from Sequator (also in TIFF format) were touched up for light pollution and bright cottage lights in PS, saved back to the TIFF and then stitched in LR using photomerge.

 

Challenges came mostly from the quarter moon shining bright to the SW, blazing lights from cottages across the water, and the ever present glare of Tobermory and the Ferry dock megawatt lights. All the aforementioned challenges were tackled using a combination of Lightroom, Photoshop and ON1 Effects adjustments, dodge, burn, clone, heal and curves techniques and tricks to achieve the result shown above.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-02-17

A cold clear night provided great views of the night sky on the Northern Bruce Peninsula ... so it was time to suit up, gear up and get out for some night sky photos.

Venus and The Milky Way

 

The Heavens Above

Front Row Seats

 

Village Glow

 It was calm, crisp and quiet at -20*C... and there was home made hot cocoa to warm up with afterwards.


DJE

Photo of the Week 2015-01-19

Not every image is a winner, many, perhaps most, are not even keepers ...

I was reading a photography article online recently that touched on a familiar question. "What is it that draws me to a scene and motivates me to make an image" ? The article suggests that "there is one question you should ask yourself before taking any picture" .

For me it translates to "What am I trying to create in making this image?"

Like the author of the article, most of the time I react to scenes in front of me as opposed to undertaking a detailed analysis before making an image. I've worked hard to quiet my analytical side and allow creativity through to take the lead. I do believe it's a good to keep why I'm making a particular image and what I am trying to say with it in mind along with compositional and exposure guidelines. My reasons for creating an image may be anything from simply "here is a beautiful scene" to "wow look at this, I really need to show this to others".

This week, while I was making the image below, there were no questions, no answers  consciously running through my mind, just ... "this is freaking awesome !" Now that I have the image, I do want to share it with others, it is beautiful, it fills the viewer with wonder and amazement and it tells the story of light pollution.

Orion Rising

I made this image a couple of nights ago, on a crisp winter night at the cottage, with still winds and the temperature at -22*C. It was 10:00 pm and quite pleasant standing at the shoreline watching the stars, listening to the alien like gurgle-glug-gloog of water moving under the ice. Fortunately Lynn was there to share the experience with me. As a matter of fact it was at her suggestion we decided to head down to the shore in the first place.

Enjoy !

DJE

Photo of the Week 2014-09-29

...  she said, "I think you should make one of those in the tall narrow ones you do."

... so I did :-)

DJE.

Photo of the Week 2014-09-01

The last night of the last long weekend of summer ...

About a month ago, I made a first attempt to photograph the night sky over Hay Bay, the Bruce Peninsula and Lake Huron from the shore at our cottage. Conditions were not ideal but seeing the Milky Way appear, lead by many stars as a we sat at the shore enjoying the embers of a campfire, motivated me to give it a go.

Since then, during a week of vacation, an opportunity under much more favourable conditions arose and I was able to make some decent images (blog post 2014-08-18). For that possibility, I had come equipped with a particular lens, with characteristics more suited to night sky photography. I'm not certain how much the improved results were due to the selection of equipment, opposed to the more favourable conditions ...

... but, the results impressed me enough to do some further research on gear and technique in the effort to improve my night sky images more. My research led to an online discussion of lenses and which were recommended for the brand of camera I use. Never needing much of a push to acquire new gear, I picked up a ultra-wide FF lens, the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8, a focal length not already covered by something in my kit.

As luck would have it, the next visit to the cottage looked as though it would offer only cloudy night skies and the Rokinon would see use just for landscape and trial images as I became familiar with it's manual focus and manual aperture control. Well luck changed and on the final night, the sun set through clearing skies and by 9:00 pm the first star was visible. I started to gather the equipment I would need and waited for the night to darken.

The challenge on this attempt, a waxing crescent moon throwing a tremendous amount of light over the bay and into the surrounding sky. At this particular point in the lunar cycle, the moon is just slightly west of the Milky Way when looking south across the bay. After making a number of exposures of just the sky, I decided to try a series that would include some of the surrounding landscape, water etc. I ended up including the moon and it's reflection on the bay. It required a fair bit of processing to get the look I wanted and I'm still not totally satisfied, but here it is ...

August Moon & Milky Way

I can can see spending many more nights working to capture the night sky at various locations on "the Bruce."    

DJE

Photo of the Week 2014-08-18

... one bazillion and one, one bazillion and two, one bazillion and ...

On a cool summer evening, Lynn, Jordan and I built a shoreside campfire. For the first while we sat and listened to the crackle of some free cedar kindling, kindly provided by a neighbour. We watched as smoke drifted up and out over the bay until the main wood caught.

Sun had dipped below the horizon when Jordan picked up his acoustic guitar and began to play. First, his own composition, a piece he is working on for me. I intend to use a recording of it as background music for a yet to be created slide show of my fine art images, and perhaps even a studio open house at some point. I love listening to J play anytime, and it's something else when it's beside a campfire.

Lynn was leaning back in one of the "Bruce Chairs" (others might call them Muskoka or Adirondack chairs, but to me they are my "Bruce Chairs"), pointing out the stars as they made their nightly appearance. One, two, three ...

Soon the sky was full of stars, planets, satellites and a few meteors .... and ohhhhh that MIlky Way.

cosmic canvas I

cosmic canvas II

cosmic canvas III

Forget counting ! It turned out to be a wonderful night for watching stars, and for photographing the Milky Way.

DJE  

Photo of the Week 2014-08-04

Sunset, Moonrise, One Milky Way, Three Meteors and a Bazillion Stars !

There are techniques that can be used to make the Milky Way more prominent in night sky photographs but for my first attempt I chose an approach that would convey a more realistic presentation of what my eyes saw on a clear night, from the shore at our cottage on Hay Bay.

The Bruce Peninsula is a Dark Sky Preserve and I've been meaning to take advantage of my time there to make night sky images. The challenge is that I like morning light, I mean really early morning light, and in order to photograph then it requires that I'm out f bed and heading to a location before or close to sunrise ... 6:00am and earlier these days. With my body's alarm clock set for early rise it's difficult to get past 10:00 pm and I'd definitely need to do that if I was going to capture the Milky Way in the night sky. This required a mid day nap, and what better to do on the August long weekend at the cottage than grab an hour or so in the afternoon for just that.

So in the evening, well rested, armed with a shore-side fire and coffee complete with hooch, I waited until the sun went down ...

  
                                                                                                          and the moon went up ...

 



 ... then the stars came out !

Milky Way 2014-08-01

DJE