I like to think of this image as the beginning of a new standard for my astro-landscape photos. Although its not my favorite, it’s been a while since I’ve put as much time and effort into producing a single image as this one. At least in terms of technique and post production anyway.
This is a 45 frame (15 columns × 3 rows) panorama I captured around the last new moon near the beginning of this month.
It is a “tracked blend”, meaning I used an equatorial tracking mount to capture the sky frames. This allowed me to produce a well exposed image with pin sharp detail in the sky as well as the foreground, by not only tracking the stars across the sky, but by doubling my exposure time, reducing aperture size and ISO sensitivity in camera.
I later had the lengthy task of blending the tracked and non-tracked images together in post.
The composition is looking over Motuariki island and the peninsula, facing toward the north of lake Tekapo, with the Milky Way rising vertically in the sky. I was fortunate enough that there was still a bit of snow on the Alps. Also the presence of strong red air glow on the horizon made for a pretty impressive scene!😍
♣️ #Sony A7s + Sony 28mm f2.0 lens
♦️ Skywatcher SAM equatorial mount
♠️ #Siruiw2004 tripod.
♥️ 45 frames @ 30sec, f/4.0 ISO6400
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Enjoy!😁
