Falling skies…
Milky Way, Southern Cross and Ponga trees, West Coast, South Westland, New Zealand
Last night it was new moon and the sky was perfectly clear and dark here on the West Coast of New Zealand with, I believe, zero light pollution.
Overwhelming zillions of bright stars fell on my head, at least it felt like that, with Milky Way and The Southern Cross starting to be more and more prominent on the sky as night progressed towards midnight.
I couldn’t resist not to put up my tripod and get some exposures.
In front of my house, there are some nice Pongas, so I chose to include these New Zealand’s native tree ferns to be silhouettes in foreground but didn’t paint them with light, as I didn’t want to take focus from the sky…
I exposed several frames, some for the galaxy and some for the star trails.
This image is a single exposure of 41s through wide angle lens with aperture open to f4.
To avoid star trails in this case, I had to crank up ISO up to 2000.
This image is not currently on-line, therefore by clicking on it you’ll be taken to our “STORE” – fine poster page.
Thank you and Enjoy!
Moonlight over Franz Josef Glacier
Franz Josef Glacier under the moonlight, Westland National Park, West Coast, New Zealand
I’ve been wondering for quite some time how Franz Josef Glacier looks under the moonlight. As you know, there is only 12 or 13 full moons in a year and not each of moon’s appearance is on a clear sky for maximum light. Also, I might not always be able to chase it…but eventually, I managed.
Couple of days back it looked like its going to be a good full moon and because I was around, I decided to give it a go and hurried up to climb the hill and spent a night under the stars…and what a night it was!
I’ve been just starting and experimenting with night photography so I was very excited to see what can be captured. I managed to get several exposures ranging from 30 to 40 min but I can see that there is much more potential. It was full moon and that’s why I went up – to get well illuminated glacier but next time I might go somewhere in the middle of the moon cycle. That should allow me to add some nice, stronger star trails into the frame, as well, as this time the sky was too bright.
Since this image is not online yet, the link from it will take you to our STOCK galleries where you can explore more on New Zealand’s landscapes!
Enjoy!
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