020913_SALTtrail
020913_SALTtrail
020913_SALTtrail
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Nov, 2013Views
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Awards
Chatter Award
Zenith Award
Top Shot Award 22
Moderator Award
Creative Winter Award
Great Shot
Outstanding Creativity
Absolute Masterpiece
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Peer Award
Superior Skill
Exceptional Contrast
Jaw Dropping
Magnificent Capture
All Star
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
After getting special permission and promising to work in absolute darkness as not to ruin the very expensive research conducted at S.A.L.T the Southern African Large Telescope Observertory in Sutherland, South Africa. Fascinating place with magnificently clean air, free of all pollution, including light pollution. The sky really is a magnificent blue in Sutherland.Time
I was on tour with my wife there the previous day and had a wonderful stargazing experience, seeing actual planets. Late the next afternoon I set out to setup my equipment around Dawn and started taking a few still shots of the Observertory and making sure I have a great spot facing South. After that I set my camera to take 30sec time-laps exposures until almost midnight. The plan was to go all night and capture 3-400 images as well as the dusk light the next morning, but at close to 0degree temperatures and suffering EXTREME PAIN from a ruptured disc between my C6 and 7 vertebrae it was just getting a bit silly. Probably my most painful image to date!Lighting
Yes everything. The air in Sutherland is so clear and you have never witnessed the milky like at a spot that has specifically been chosen by astronomers for optical observations. That day I got rewarded with the most amazing range of yellows, oranges, pinks, reds, purples and blues as the sun was setting giving way to a black black sky! After a lot of blending I think the final image really shows all the colors I experienced that day.Equipment
My trusty Canon 60D, 24-105 F4L USM lens, Manfrotto 055PRO tripod, weighed down with a bag of rocks and my Hännel remote trigger with timer. Using a stargazing app on my iPhone I was able to pinpoint astronomical South Pole during the day already. A good tripod is a must for making time-lapses. Photoshop CC. And YouTube videos, many, many hours of research and learning from there! Oh and knowing where the astronomical South Pole is, is also very important. You need to know which way the stars are going to move and plan your shot accordingly.Inspiration
Funny story, but on the previous day's tour of S.A.L.T's facilities I couldn't help but notice that they had a really bad photo of this magnificent, largest in the Southern Hemisphere telescope. The image did not even display the beautiful, no make that magnificent, stars. I joked with the curator about this point-and-shoot camera image and that I was sure I could take a better photo for them. That's how I got my permission. But really the awe of it all inspired me. Since S.A.L.T's experimental time is international and very precious I was rather nervous about ruining someone's research by accidentally triggering a flash or something. I mean with a machine 9million times more sensitive than a human eye who wouldn't be, phew!Editing
Yes a lot. I spent days on blending all the images together to get the perfect amount of star trails and not too much noise, but I wasn't good enough. It was okay for star trails, but I wanted the subject to be the actual observatory. For this I had to blend my star trail with my dawn photos using Layers with Photshop CC2014. And after many experiments with exposure, light and color adjustments as well as using the Adjustment brush tool for finer tweaks I was finally satisfied. This was my first ever real Photoshoped attempt at making a great image! All of which I learnt from watching YouTube tutorials and trail-and-error.In my camera bag
My Canon 60D a few various lenses: Canon 100mm F2.8 Macro, Canon 24-105 F4L, a wide angle zoom, and my Sigma 120-400 F4.5-5.6, two Speedlights, a Tripod and my remote trigger wireless and cable backup. A few odds and ends, spare batteries and a very nice set of LEE Polorising and ND filters. A Go-Pro and duct tape. Always carry duct tape.Feedback
Batteries, remember batteries! Trust me it's no good to set out for a night of camping only to realize your remote timer cable releases battery is dead! Plan the sky around you subject, using smartphone apps help, but maybe take two nights to plan first then shoot. A very warm jacket and coffee! But really it's about having fun and experimenting. I would say: find a creative way to light you subject so that it doesn't get lost in the multiple exposures. Have at least one photo where it is well exposed and very detailed. Layering many photos on top of each other does not necessarily mean it will come out correctly exposed in the end.
