Nightscape Photography - Landscape & Nature

From Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber, Pembrokeshire

The northern extension of the Milky Way arch above a small cove on the Ceredigion coast.

Cassiopeia, Perseus, Andromeda and Taurus from the Ceredigion Coast Path

Corona Borealis, Bootes and Ursa Major above Cardigan Bay, West Wales

The Great Rift of the Milky Way over Cardigan Bay, West Wales

Cassiopeia, Perseus, Auriga and Andromeda above the Ceredigion Coast, West Wales

The Chicken Tree, Warwickshire, England

Why this is called locally the "chicken tree" I don't know, but it certainly made for an interesting foreground subject to light paint. Jupiter is the bright orb to the left. This was taken with a 70% gibbous moon, rising behind and to the left of the camera position, so clear and bright stars were going to be a challenge!

Sky : 13 images plus 5 dark frames, 24mm, f4, 10 seconds, ISO 3200. Sky images stacked in Starry Landscape Stacker

Foreground : 13 image blend combined with stacked sky image, 24mm, f5, 10 seconds, ISO 500

The Cygnus Region and Great Rift of the Milky Way Arch

This was my first attempt at trying to capture detail in this amazing section of the Milky Way arch. During the summer months, in the northern hemisphere, this is what you see directly overhead in the middle of the night. This image was taken from a Bortle 4 area, looking directly overhead. I took 11 light frames, and 5 dark frames just to have a go at stacking for noise reduction and a better quality result. There was a significant amount of contrast, highlights and whites editing, and the result, although not disastrous, has shown there is still much for me to learn!

11 light frames and 5 dark frames: 15mm, f3.2, 10 seconds, ISO 2500

Midnight in Cwmystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales

The Cygnus region of the Milky Way and the "Summer Triangle" above the valley of Cwmystwyth in Ceredigion, Wales. This is a good example of trying to do too much with the composition! Walking down the road in the middle of the night, I saw this view over a wall. In order to get the house, driveway, the distant hill and the Milky Way in the frame, I had to resort to a 14mm focal length. I knew that this would give perspective distortion, but I had to angle to angle the lens upwards to capture the stars!

Sky: single exposure, 14mm, f4, 13 seconds, ISO 3200 | Foreground: 3 shots, 14mm, f3.5, 30 seconds, ISO 1600

The Milky Way above the "Chicken Tree", Warwickshire, England

This is a favourite location for capturing the summer Milky Way. Living in the English Midlands means that light pollution is all around, and the 70% gibbous moon was not not going to help matters! The tree and the foreground field was lit using just my torch.

Sky : 11 images, 18mm, f4, 10 seconds, ISO 3200, Sky images stacked in Starry Landscape Stacker

Foreground : 10 image blend, 18mm, f4, 10 seconds, ISO 500

Milky Way Rising, Northamptonshire

This shot was taken on the 30th May, very close to my home in Northamptonshire. I live in the English Midlands and light pollution is a real problem as we are surrounded by large towns and conurbations. On this particular evening (just after midnight), my patience was rewarded with this image of the Milky Way rising in the east. The Cygnus region and the Great Rift are clearly visible, as is the Summer Triangle of Deneb (Cygnus), Vega (Lyra) and Altair (Aquila). What was even more surprising is that you can just make out the Dark Horse nebula at the right hand end side of the image, just above the treeline. Not bad, for a Bortle class 4 area!!

A 9 image stack, 14mm, f4, 13 seconds, ISO 2500 (stacked in Starry Landscape Stacker)

The Plough above Craig Goch reservoir and dam, Elan Valley, Powys, Wales

Arriving at my favourite vantage point for enjoying the view of Craig Goch dam, I could see that there was a flurry of astro-photographic activity at the far end of the dam. It was thanks to these very photographers that the dam face is lit and the cascading water is so clearly visible. The flare is the torch-shine from photographers, through the heavy spray which was filling the bottom of the valley and rising to meet them. The sky above was clear but for some hight thin clouds, and of course the spray from the waterfall.

Sky: single exposure, 14mm, f2.8, 15 seconds, ISO 6400 | Foreground: 6 shots, 14mm, f5.6, 15 seconds, ISO500

Dead tree, as a foreground to Orion, Taurus and Mars

When this shot was taken, I was more concerned with not getting wet than paying attention to what was in the background. The subject is clearly the dead tree in the undergrowth, but what I'd failed to notice was Orion setting behind it, the open star cluster of the Hyades (containing Aldebaran), the Pleiades and Mars!!

Sky: single exposure, 18mm, f5, 10 seconds, ISO 800 | Foreground: 6 exposures, 18mm, f4, ISO 500

The Winter Hexagon above frozen Northamptonshire fields

A cold February night provided another opportunity to capture the Winter Circle (or Hexagon, as it is sometimes described) above the fields near my home. The 14mm focal length was perfect for capturing the Hexagon, as well as showing some snowy foreground.

Single exposure: 14mm, f4, 13 seconds, ISO 3200

Orion in star trails above Northamptonshire fields

A frosty night at the beginning of February provided some clear skies for photographing Orion. I had set out with the intention of using my tracker for some detailed shots of the M42 nebula, and whilst the tracker was doing its thing, I used another camera to capture this star trail shot of Orion and the Winter Triangle crossing the sky. I ended up preferring this shot.

The method here was to shoot at 30 seconds but only for so long as to capture the trail patterns and highlight the diverging curves from the celestial equator. This session only lasted 27 minutes. I tried to keep the ISO as low as I could to balance the 30 second exposures. ISO 800 at f3.5 enabled me to capture the dynamic range and the rich diversity of colour in the stars. With much longer trails, describing near circles, another trick is to slightly de-focus the stars. This will make the individual trails broader, and thus help to accentuate those colours.

54 exposures: 24mm, f3.5, 30 seconds, ISO 800

Fallen tree under the stars, Northamptonshire

The intention was to have the low arch of the Milky Way behind the tree, extending across the frame. On this night in March, however, the moonlight made sure that the Milky Way was invisible. Fortunately, the branches of this fallen tree provided an interesting composition in itself. The advantage of shooting under moonlight is that it provides some detail in the distant fields that would otherwise have been black shadows.

Sky: 24mm, f4, 10 seconds, ISO 2500 (single) | Foreground: 24mm, f5, 10 seconds, ISO 500 (20 exposures)

Orion, Aldebaran (Taurus) and The Pleiades (Taurus) above the fields of Northamptonshire

This single exposure was taken under the glare of a nearly full moon. Although this does make capturing details in the night sky more difficult, it does also mean that only the brightest stars make an appearance, even to the camera's all-seeing sensor. The other advantage of shooting in moonlight is that the ISO can drop to an acceptable level (in this case 1600), and thus accommodate a single exposure.

Single shot: 24mm, f3.5, 10 seconds, ISO 1600

Orion, Aldebaran, Mars and the Pleiades above my village in Northamptonshire

For this image I used my tracker to capture as much detail and colour in the sky as possible. Here, Betelgeuse (Orion), Aldebaran (Taurus) and Mars can all be seen to be glowing with their characteristic red/orange colour, and the tracked exposure of 60 seconds has ensured the sky is noise-free. For the foreground, I was experimenting with long exposures, seeing how much ambient light there was available, and the result was pleasantly surprising.

Sky: tracked, single shot 24mm, f3.5, 60 seconds, ISO 800 | Foreground: 24mm, f4, 180 seconds, ISO 400

Orion, Aldebaran and the Pleiades

On a week's holiday in mid Wales (famous for its dark skies), I was tempted out of bed early one September morning to view Orion rising in the eastern skies. The time was just before 05:30, and therefore twilight, becoming brighter by the minute.

Single shot: 24mm, f3.2, 13 seconds, ISO 3200

Summer night thunderstorm, Northamptonshire

After a hot and humid spell there is always the chance of a thunderstorm. Lightning photography is very much a patience and luck game, but you can, to an extent, create your own luck by extending opportunities. Weather forecasts and news bulletins told me that the weather system was approaching the Midlands from the south west, bringing heavy rain with thunder and lightning. As soon as I saw a flash in the sky, I took up position (at the bedroom window.......I didn't want to get wet), set up my camera with a 24-70mm lens, set f8, ISO 400 and my shutter speed to 30 seconds. I kept the same white balance K value of 3850, as I do for all my night shots. Then I just kept taking pictures. In all, I took 46 pictures, each at 30 seconds, the thinking being that in one of those 30 second exposures, something might happen. It did!

Single shot: 24mm, f8, 30 seconds, ISO 400

Summer night thunderstorm, Northamptonshire

As per the previous shot, the settings were almost the same, but I changed camera angle to "follow" the direction of the lightning. Expect a very low hit rate if the lightning strikes are infrequent, but keep the shutter release on continuous and accept that over 95% of your shots will not have lightning in. Flashes behind the clouds are well worth recording as well, even if there are no streaks to see.

Single shot: 24mm, f10, 30 seconds, ISO 400