Cape Leveque at Night

[iceman]

Out in the middle of nowhere, the sky is so dark. Perfect for night sky photography. The setting crescent Moon in the West lit up the red rock cliffs of the beautiful Cape Leveque as the Milky Way galaxy shone brightly overhead.

This photo was taken on night 3 of our Kimberley (http://www.mikesalway.com.au/tag/kimberley) adventure, our last night at Cape Leveque (http://www.mikesalway.com.au/tag/cape-leveque) before heading off early the next morning on our long drive to Fitzroy Crossing. I headed down to the western beach at around 10pm as the Moon was setting in the West. A reddish haze or thin cloud was visible in the long exposures, low on the horizon towards the south and west. On the back of the camera, it looked like aurora but I knew that just wasn’t possible given my latitude.

- Large (http://www.mikesalway.com.au/download/282)
- Blog (http://www.mikesalway.com.au/2012/08/21/cape-leveque-at-night/)

The image was captured with a 5D Mk 2, Samyang 14mm lens @ f/2.8, ISO3200, 30 second exposure. Processed in Photoshop.

Next, I can finally get around to processing the shots with the Vixen Polarie!

Thanks for looking!

[CapturingTheNight]

Can't wait. Will be interested to see how the tracking effects any landscape elements (or did you enter the world of composites?). Another great shot Mike :thumbsup: I still can't decide if I like those star spikes or not. They are by no means intrusive but my eyes go straight to them as it's not something I see everyday on these Milky Way widefield shots.
Cheers

[iceman]

Oh the tracking definitely effects the landscape - I did composites. One exposure with tracking on, one with tracking off. I've half-processed one so far, and is fairly simply to mask and combine in photoshop.

I'm still not sure on the star spikes myself - still experimenting :) I'm trying not to have them too overpowering, just very subtle.

But yeh I'm still deciding myself :)

[Deeno]

Love it. Almost a finger pointing at the galactic bulge....

[gregbradley]

Another very dramatic image.

You've got the Milky Way just perfect there. The red hae and green air glow adds interesting colour to the image.

Greg.

[lacad01]

Cracking good shot, beautiful landscape :thumbsup:

[Ross G]

A great photo Mike.

I love the composition.

My favourite of your photos so far.

Ross.

[iceman]

Thanks Deeno! A big up yours from Cape Leveque ;)




Thanks Greg - I'm glad I didn't post this after my first go at processing it. It's been practically ready for about 2 weeks but after looking at it again yesterday morning it was horribly red. A fresh pair of eyes helped and so the colour balance is much better now.




Thanks Adam!




Thanks for the compliment Ross, glad you enjoyed it.

[alexch]

Nice image, Mike! Moonlight looks wonderful on the rocks and really brings the colour out. The airglow colours add to the experience.

I noticed the Milky Way bulge is burnt out just a little.

Cheers,
Alex

[astro_south]

Great shot Mike :thumbsup:

[StephenM]

Beautiful image Mike! Well done. And I quite like the star spikes! (I assume they were added during processing?)

Cheers,
Stephen

[iceman]

Thanks Alex, it looks a little bright to me too, i'll check it out.



Thanks Andrew!




Thanks Stephen! Yes, just added using Noel Carboni's tools.

[Paddy]

Great shot Mike!

[naskies]

Very nice! The colourful cloud in the background looks like airglow to me (I often see it dancing around in my exposures).

[dj gravelrash]

more total quality mike- awesum:)

[iceman]

Thanks Paddy, Dave and Dino.
I appreciate your kind words.

Dave I think you're right about the airglow, but i've got some other shots where they look like light haze/cloud. I'll post them soon and hopefully someone can tell me.

[Octane]

What I like about this image is how the bulge of the Milky Way is mirrored with the bulging in the rock formations, towards the left.

Well seen and shot, Mike.

What an amazing place!

H