Lake IISAC, as we have now dubbed it, is a small dam half way up the hill at the Lostock Scout Camp where we hold
IISAC2011. It became a focal point for a group of us at the star party as we stood and sat around the dam, enjoying the reflections of the stars off the water – listening to the cacophony of frogs croaking their deafening tune.
It also made for a great photographic target, as the still water reflected the stars beautifully during the short exposures for the timelapse and star trails.
This set of 3 images were taken on the north edge of the dam, facing south, on the 2nd and 3rd nights of the star party.
1: An hours worth of exposure taken with the Canon 40D and 10-22mm lens @ 10mm, f/3.5, ISO800. Each exposure was 300 seconds (5 minutes).
2: Also about an hours worth of exposure, taken with the Canon 40D and Canon 15mm f/2.8 lens, f/2.8, ISO1600, 30 seconds each.
3: The third image was taken with Fred’s Canon 5D Mark II and 24mm f/1.4 lens. Each exposure was 19 seconds @ f/1.4, ISO3200. It was being used for timelapse so a well exposed image was needed, which has meant the star trails stack is brighter than I would normally like it. It’s lost a lot of the star colours and exposed too many of the faint stars.
It’s always a trade-off between wanting bright exposures for the timelapse, and lower ISO for a star trails. The intention was to capture the timelapse, the star trails was an after thought so I’m not too concerned, but something to remember for next time.
I also forgot to re-focus the lens, so there’s some pretty ugly stars near the edges but the star trails hides most of it.
Larger versions here:
Southern Reflections on Lake IISAC
Thanks for looking.