OzEclipse
17-10-2023, 07:55 PM
The Church - Under the Milky Way
Boorowa, NSW AUSTRALIA.
I had to come into Canberra this week from Young. I delayed my departure until well after sunset last night so that I'd be passing this location at the time when the Milky Way was setting perched above the church. I have driven past the location many times and specifically scouted the place some weeks earlier in daylight.
I don't use Photopills for planning. I have a very simple system. Many years ago, I made a plot of times of twilight and when the Milky Way is 20 degrees above the horizon during rise and set for each day of the year. It doesn't change year to year except the dates of daylight savings switch. At my latitude, the Milky Way centre rises and sets 60 deg either side of due south. Simple, and I don't have to ruin my night vision staring at a smart phone screen. All latitudes have a similar symmetrical pair of azimuths of rise and set but they differ with latitude.
This location is very dark save regular passing traffic. I couldn't see any of the ground and could only see the white parts of the church exterior. In fact, it is so dark that although I've driven past this church many times, I drove straight past it and had to backtrack a few kilometres. My own fault for not using the GPS.
The landscape and church in the primary image is lit entirely by starlight lifted in Lightroom and Photoshop. The second image illustrates what happens when a truck comes along during the exposure 🤣.
Nightscape EXIF (both images)
Pentax K1 / Samyang 14mm f2.8
20s f2.8 ISO 6400
Daylight reference image
Pentax K1 / Samyang 14mm f2.8
1/180s f9.5 ISO 100
Boorowa, NSW AUSTRALIA.
I had to come into Canberra this week from Young. I delayed my departure until well after sunset last night so that I'd be passing this location at the time when the Milky Way was setting perched above the church. I have driven past the location many times and specifically scouted the place some weeks earlier in daylight.
I don't use Photopills for planning. I have a very simple system. Many years ago, I made a plot of times of twilight and when the Milky Way is 20 degrees above the horizon during rise and set for each day of the year. It doesn't change year to year except the dates of daylight savings switch. At my latitude, the Milky Way centre rises and sets 60 deg either side of due south. Simple, and I don't have to ruin my night vision staring at a smart phone screen. All latitudes have a similar symmetrical pair of azimuths of rise and set but they differ with latitude.
This location is very dark save regular passing traffic. I couldn't see any of the ground and could only see the white parts of the church exterior. In fact, it is so dark that although I've driven past this church many times, I drove straight past it and had to backtrack a few kilometres. My own fault for not using the GPS.
The landscape and church in the primary image is lit entirely by starlight lifted in Lightroom and Photoshop. The second image illustrates what happens when a truck comes along during the exposure 🤣.
Nightscape EXIF (both images)
Pentax K1 / Samyang 14mm f2.8
20s f2.8 ISO 6400
Daylight reference image
Pentax K1 / Samyang 14mm f2.8
1/180s f9.5 ISO 100