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Star trails at Mount Stromlo Observatory. This is a 2 hour exposure, using the "dark frame-long exposure noise reduction" method in camera, which doub...
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Star trails at Mount Stromlo Observatory. This is a 2 hour exposure, using the "dark frame-long exposure noise reduction" method in camera, which doubled the time the shot took, but at least I could move the camera after the first 2 hours.
This is actually my fourth attempt at this shot. The first had clouds... then a storm came in 48 minutes into the shot. (I got very wet protecting the camera) The second, a very strong gust of wind moved the camera and blurred everything at roughly 1hr and 53 mins in. <cue disappointment here&bt; The third, no joke, a kangaroo knocked the entire tripod over as I was over near my bag, looking for my jacket. That was about 1 hour and 30 minutes or so in, and each time, I had to walk back down the mountain, drive home, re-charge, then walk back up. The fourth was actually a little over-exposed, so I brought it back down to something a little more appropriate in post. If I've learned anything, this sort of shot takes a lot of battery power, and cold winter temperatures that might get you the nice clear skies, also shorten battery life considerably. Also, persistence does pay off... if not necessarily in the time frame you'd like.
Many will think this is a dawn-dusk shot given the orange tinge to the sky. However, this is actually the orange light pollution from the Canberra street lights. It's also a significant reason that Mt. Stromlo hasn't been restored to its former glory since the 2003 bush fires, where it was completely destroyed.
The dome in this shot is the only one that remains, and it's inside is largely a burned-out wreck. To see one of the burned-out domes, have a look at my "Stromlo Sparks" shot, where I basically whirled molten steel wool around in a relatively safe location.
Since then, most of the astronomical equipment has been re-established near Coonabarabran, at the Siding Springs Observatory instead.
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This is actually my fourth attempt at this shot. The first had clouds... then a storm came in 48 minutes into the shot. (I got very wet protecting the camera) The second, a very strong gust of wind moved the camera and blurred everything at roughly 1hr and 53 mins in. <cue disappointment here&bt; The third, no joke, a kangaroo knocked the entire tripod over as I was over near my bag, looking for my jacket. That was about 1 hour and 30 minutes or so in, and each time, I had to walk back down the mountain, drive home, re-charge, then walk back up. The fourth was actually a little over-exposed, so I brought it back down to something a little more appropriate in post. If I've learned anything, this sort of shot takes a lot of battery power, and cold winter temperatures that might get you the nice clear skies, also shorten battery life considerably. Also, persistence does pay off... if not necessarily in the time frame you'd like.
Many will think this is a dawn-dusk shot given the orange tinge to the sky. However, this is actually the orange light pollution from the Canberra street lights. It's also a significant reason that Mt. Stromlo hasn't been restored to its former glory since the 2003 bush fires, where it was completely destroyed.
The dome in this shot is the only one that remains, and it's inside is largely a burned-out wreck. To see one of the burned-out domes, have a look at my "Stromlo Sparks" shot, where I basically whirled molten steel wool around in a relatively safe location.
Since then, most of the astronomical equipment has been re-established near Coonabarabran, at the Siding Springs Observatory instead.
Read less
Dec, 2014Views
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Contest Finalist in Epic Exposures Photo Contest
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken at Mount Stromlo Observatory, near Canberra, Australia. It is located on top of a mountain with a destroyed observatory. This is the only dome that was left superficially "intact" by the 2003 bush fires. However, inside, the telescopes and and most of the equipment was (and probably still is) largely a burned-out wreck. I think they just repaired the dome and gave it a coat of paint.Time
This is a relatively old photo now, since it was taken back in 2010 (if I recall correctly). Yet the "time of day" is a bit of an interesting question. Obviously this is a night shot. Usually between 11pm and 4am, as I got off from work then. Canberra often has a lot of haze, spring has a ton of pollen, summer dust, so to get the clarity I was looking for, this was taken in the depths of Canberra winter, after a recent bit of rain to clear out the air. This is the FOURTH attempt to get a single, multi-hour exposure. (At the time, I did not have the software to smash multiple images into a single cohesive star trail). To get this image, I had to put much more effort. Even with most of the observatory equipment gone, by convention, observatories block night time car traffic to stop headlights interfering with their research... So I had to walk up the mountain each time, and down again. Now I want to stress, that the orange tinge of the sky is not dawn, but the light pollution from Canberra. You see, the city grew considerably since Stromlo was founded back in the 1920s... and so it's the primary reason that most of the telescopes have NOT been replaced and the new equipment has been shifted to Siding Springs Observatory since the 2003 fires. Why four attempts? Now this image is a 2hour, 20-40 minute exposure (from memory). A LOT can go wrong in that much time on an SLR. 1st Attempt: The lens got dew on it and fogged the image.. not sure when that happened. I didn't notice until it was time to pack up. 2nd Attempt: Wild kangaroo knocked the entire tripod and camera over 1hr 57 minutes into my 2hr 30min exposure by running (or hopping) into it in the dark. 3rd Attempt: A single gust of wind proved too much for my tripod.. moved it just enough to ruin the image with motion blur, but not enough to notice during the exposure. 4th Attempt: The successful shot you see here.Lighting
As I mentioned, the orange tinge to the sky is from the street lights of Canberra. A torch was used to "light paint" the dome, for all of about 10 seconds, with the accumulated light over the next two and a bit hours filling in the rest. Interestingly, this actually OVER exposed the image, but because I was shooting in raw, I could bring it down to more reasonable levels.Equipment
This was shot on a Canon 40D with an original version (mark 1, if you prefer) Canon EF 24-105 F4L lens set somewhere around 24-30mm. To get the single, multi-hour long exposure, I used a release with bulb mode, a battery grip with two batteries (cold weather and extremely long exposure = huge power needs). These batteries needed to be in top condition, fully charged. The camera was also set to use mirror lockup, and long-exposure noise reduction. WARNING: this DOUBLES the time of the exposure, so don't turn the camera off while it's doing the dark frame (it shoots a second image with the shutter closed EXACTLY as long as the first "light frame", so it can find the in-camera noise, and remove it from the first image). This means my 2+ hour exposure was running the camera for twice that long. I simply put it in a plastic bag to keep the condensation out (still powered on) put it in on my R-strap harness under my jacket (to keep the batteries a little warmer) hiked back to the car, warmed the car cabin up (to improve the odds of my batteries lasting the full duration as I drove home). The light-weight tripod proved to be too flexible to protect the camera from wind-based movement. So on the last attempt I dragged a metal Manfrotto tripod, 055XPROB, with heavy duty hexagonal quick release plate, and biggest head I could grab. Total weight of the rig was just over 6Kg (including the camera and lens). I also attached my backpack for further mass. If another kangaroo was going to run into it, I wanted it to be a little more robust. Dew settles on lenses that are colder than ambient, letting the lenses "acclimatize" to the environment, THEN cleaning them, and then going with the shot seems to help with the dew issue. So a couple of lens cloths are always handy. However, when the shooting is done, I STRONGLY advise you to put the gear in sealable/zip lock bag with silica gel in it, because as soon as you bring it into the warm, moisture will condense again onto the equipment. This keeps the moisture off your gear while it warms up. A torch, good footware and jackets are handy! Canberra can get down to -8 Celsius. On top of a mountain, in winter, an hour away from a car... means a thermos, jacket, and something to keep you occupied while the two hour exposure ticks along. Hiking up the mountain and back means the trails (and even road) can be littered with ankle-twisting rocks, and other obstructions.Inspiration
I have been a member of the Astronomical Society, I worked for the university that ran Mt. Stromlo at the time, and I'm an avid photographer. I'd seen photos of star trails, but I wanted to do my own. Star trails and an observatory are elements that go well compositionally. I also wanted to learn about night photography, as well as long exposures. I had been messing about with neutral density filters for my daylight photography, but wanted to see just how dark the night sky really was. Getting a star trail photo was more challenging than simply "find a good spot, mount the camera to the tripod, switch my SLR to bulb and go". Dew, battery life, weather conditions, air quality, and wildlife, on top of the "getting it there, and back". Back in 2010, I didn't even own a smart phone, let alone apps like "Photo pills" or "Photographer's Ephemeris" which would make life so much easier today. However, it was laden with lessons for those crazy enough to trek up mountains alone in the dark.... multiple times.Editing
The raw, as described, was actually overexposed, but it was brought down. A bit of noise reduction was done since the 40D was known for it's low light noise, and small spot due to something being on the lens was removed.In my camera bag
I've been doing photography for nearly 30 years. So I don't want this to come across as a "Look what I have" statement. There are newbies who have newer and better gear than what I own. There are amazing photography "heavy weights" that use gear that was out of date when I was born... and they continue to use it in their dark rooms because they know how to make the absolute most out of it. My question is... "Which bag?" While I'm predominantly a DSLR shooter, I use my compacts, phones, and mirrorless cameras too. You'll often find charged batteries, lens cloths, a warm jacket, a small towel, long-lasting snacks, a torch, some basic first aid supplies, and tape (electrical or duct...) end up in my bags for temporary repairs. On the camera side.... I have my trusty 5D, 7D, and 40D (now converted to infrared). But I have several bags depending on the type of photography I am doing at the time. Wildlife, I'll use the Canon EF 400mm F5.6L for an amazingly sharp, light weight, prime telephoto lens. My walk around lens is the EF 24-105mm F4L IS (mark 2, or mark 1). I keep a couple of primes (14mm, 50mm, 85mm, 100mm). For events, I'll use my primes and a 70-200 F2.8L IS. For landscape, I'll use anything from 14-400mm. I also use a Sony RX100 mk V for a light-weight option and reconnaissance. I also have an intervalometer, a couple of flashes with wireless triggering, and a small collection of gels. My "research" bag (for when I'm paid for research photography) has extension rings, a Canon EF 180mm L series lens, the MPE-65mm, and a Mitutoyo 20x Microscope objective with Raynox lens, tube extenders, and a Cognysis stackshot for macro, as well as a DJI Mavic Drone for field research.Feedback
Be BOTH informed, AND prepared. No really, I mean: 1. Do your homework before you go. (Use apps, weather sites, photography forums, etc). For every day you're in the field, do TWO of full-time research. Your odds of success will go up a LOT. (Putting work in leads to success, crazy I know)... what I didn't know was that wild kangaroos were almost in plague proportions on Stromlo, but a few sites confirmed this AFTER they'd almost destroyed my camera by knocking it over onto a rock. Monkeys steal cameras in Thailand, Eagles attack drones.. everywhere it seems, and in Australia, even herbivores as benign as the Kangaroo can and will, pose a threat. 2. Make sure YOU are sorted before you gear, (snacks, warm beverage, clothing, emergency supplies) then make ABSOLUTELY certain your gear is working, fully charged, nice and clean. Take a couple of test shots just before you head out, so there's no nasty surprises. One of my colleagues joined me, only to find he put the batteries on the charger, but got distracted, FORGOT to turn the charger on at the wall. He had a different camera... so I couldn't supply any batteries. It was nice to have someone to talk to, but he couldn't get anything. 3. Stay near your gear. Now I know most people do, but some people wander off to get a snack, or sit down out of the wind.. that's how the kangaroo surprised me. I was only 10 metres (30 ish feet) away for all of about 2 minutes. It's a long time to be out in the cold... be prepared for that. 4. There are pros and cons to both stacking images versus long exposure. People have their preferences, but try both. In either case, the camera still has to be out in the cold, not moving, (unless you're doing a time-lapse video). 5. If you're trying to do the milky way photography, the time of the year will play a huge part about what stars/constellations/Milky way stip.. will be where and when. Use the app, "Photo pills" to help you get to the right place, at the right time. However, the weather and timing won't always be convenient. :~) I hope this helps, be safe, take lots of photos, tinker, and have fun!
