Just Me and the Milky Way

[StephenM]

Hi all,

I took advantage of the favourable weather forecast and set the alarm for 3:30 this morning, and then drove 45 minutes south west of Brisbane to have a play with my Tokina 11-16mm lens. Here are a couple of single 30 sec exposures shot at f/2.8 and 3200 iso. The first one was shortly before the start of astronomical twighlight, and the second is just after. The last image shows Scorpius setting over the Main Range and Cunningham's Gap.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,
Stephen

[Joshua Bunn]

Like your style Stephen. :)

Josh

[iceman]

Love the location! Great shots.

[Larryp]

Good shots, Stephen :thumbsup:

[StephenM]

Thanks Josh! Much appreciated.



Thanks Mike! The only thing that's missing is a dead tree or something like that to use as a foreground object... (that way I wouldn't need to use myself!) But it's nice having a dark-ish location an easy 45 minute drive away.



Thanks Laurie! They came out better that I was expecting.

Cheers,
Stephen

[kinetic]

Beautiful shots Stephen.:thumbsup:
I did a background colour tweak in Nebulosity, it loses the beautiful
softness on the distant hills but brings out the MW a bit better.
Hope you don't mind

Steve

[gregbradley]

Great results. It looks like that lens is a keeper.

Greg.

[leon]

Love your images Stephen, especially the first one, someone or something in the foreground certainly sets of the captures, well done.

Leon

[hotspur]

These are great Stephen-I like that first one-did you have someone turn a torch on and illuminate you in last few seconds of exposure?

[StephenM]

Thanks Steve!

Yep, that's a good re-edit. I might try and see if I can bring the MW out a bit better in Lightroom, without altering the hills.




Thanks Greg! It's been a while since I last used this lens - I think I should get out and use it more often.




Thanks Leon! I agree that having a bit of foreground makes a Milky Way image.. and in the absence of a tree it had to be me!



Thanks Chris! I couldn't convince the rest of my family to get up at 3:30am and help (surprise, surprise...!), so I just set up a torch reflecting off my car, and then set the camera on the 10 second timer and kept as still as I could for the 30 second exposure. It's harder that I thought and it took a few goes to get a decent result, but I'm happy with the first one especially.

Cheers,
Stephen

[hotspur]

Thanks Stephen,I understand what its like having 'extreme photography' interests,and getting helpers LOL.
Great result,certainly looks great :thumbsup:

[astronobob]

Great going Stephen, all cool shots, dig the action with the Binos & braving the chill ! !

[bloodhound31]

I really like #1 Stephen. I would have stood at the left end of the milky way, with the binos lined up on it's axis. Kind of like the Milky Way was coming out of your objectives.

Great colour, v nice exposure.

Baz.

[StephenM]

Thanks Bob! It was worth braving the chill I think.



Thanks Baz! You're right - standing a bit further to the left probably would have been better. But I hadn't had a coffee yet so I wasn't thinking clearly enough! ...

Cheers,
Stephen

[callingrohit]

awesome snaps Stephen. I'm soon going to acquire sigma 12-24 lens and would love to test it on the 5d mk 3.

I'm in Brisbane as well can you provide the exact location of this dark site so near to Brisbane.

Thanks

[ourkind]

Nice shots Stephen well done!

[Ross G]

All alone in the universe!.....nice shots Stephen.


Ross.

[StephenM]

Thanks very much Vivek, Carlos and Ross!



This was just off the Cunningham Highway at Warrill View, Vivek. Turn right at Warrill View and drive in for a few km and you'll find relatively dark skies.

Cheers,
Stephen