Hi All
As I mentioned previously in my other post, I've recently been in New Zealand (The South Island) its a place i"ve been 4 times before. Lake Tekapo is a beautiful place and when this latest trip (a photo holiday with a friend) was on the cards it was the one place I had to go. It also holds a special place in my nightscape history its the first place I attempted a night shot and where I caught the nightscape bug. I've been lucky to visit Lake Tekapo 2 times since that first trip and each time I've had a nice equiptiment upgrade, so I thought it would be nice to look back along my nightscape journey @ this amazing place;
Details on the shots
1 - Was in 2009 it was my first trip and one of my first night shots taken with a Canon 400D (2nd hand) 28-105mm lens and shot on a monopod (full story (& larger res in my
flickr page)
ISO 800, f3.5 for 60 seconds
2 - Its the same shot as number 1 but by 2011 I'd learnt a bit about post processing night shots.
ISO 800, f3.5 for 60 seconds
Larger Version
3 - This shot was from my 2011 trip to Lake Tekapo, new camera and new lens plus the the learnings and stretching of the post processing techniques I'd learnt earlier in the year. Looking at it now I feel I went too far (esp the eta carina colouring)
Canon 60D, 24mm f1.4 @ f2.0 for 5 seconds, ISO 3200
Larger Version
4 - I've included this shot for 2 reasons, the focusing is better than in the shot above (earlier that night while on the star gazing tour on mt john I was chatting to Fraser Gunn the resident astrophoto guru and he explained how to better live view focus) Also this shot I took some artistic licence with the white balance, I remember the shot looking more red on the back of the camera so moved the white balance more that way than on the previous shot to add more "romance" to the shot. I must just credit to my wife for suggesting we jump in the shot. I am disappointed I didnt frame it as the shot above but we were rushed for time avoiding all the lights from the other tourists.
Canon 60D, 24mm f1.4 @ f2.0 for 8 seconds, ISO 1600
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The 2013 shots were from a different angle, due to the different time of year and the milky way in a different position in the sky.
5 - Shot on the 2013 trip with my new Canon 6D and the bower(Samyuang) 14mm f2.8 lens at f2.8 for 10 seconds, ISO 3200. Post processing stripped back to Noise reduction , white balance corrention & tonal curves adjustment in Lightroom.
Larger Version
6 - Canon 6D and the bower(Samyuang) 14mm f2.8 lens at f2.8 for 20 seconds, ISO 6400. Same post processing as above
Larger Version
I hope you enjoyed that little trip down memory lane, there are alot more nightscapes from this trip and shots of the church including where I think my nightscapes are headed in 2013 and beyond but I'll need some more time to look through those shots and pick out my best ones
Matt
Thanks for the walk through time (and equipment). I'm loving the third one with the Carina Nebula poking above the roof.
