Ground Control to Major Tom
Despite the bright moon, an exploratory trip to scout out the location yielded a keeper.
Despite the bright moon, an exploratory trip to scout out the location yielded a keeper.
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Jul, 2015Views
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Winner in Into the Night Photo Challenge
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Behind The Lens
Location
The image was shot at Warkworth Satellite Station outside Auckland. It is a location very well-known to NZ astrophotographers, as it provides a very apt foreground for starscapes. This was my first visit there at night actually, since I'd just moved to the area recently. I really didn't have much expectation of getting anything good since I didn't know the area well and it was a bright waxing gibbous moon in the sky. What I did know is that the Milky Way was going to be vertical and I wanted to compose such that the radio telescope would seem to be "transmitting" to the stars. Fortunately, the telescope was pointed in the right direction (straight up!), and I only had to walk a few steps to get the framing I wanted. Given that the core of the Milky Way was already getting pretty high in the sky, I didn't want to waste time trying to find a different spot in the dark and risk missing the core altogether.Time
It was shot around 11pm on a Wednesday night (June 24). I couldn't leave the house until after 10pm (since my wife was working late that evening), so I was afraid the galactic core would already be too high to get in the frame. But fortunately it was still early enough that I managed it.Lighting
The moon, definitely the moon. One of the main reasons I was not expecting to get anything useful out of the evening's outing is because the moon was VERY bright. Under bright moonlight, the stars and dust lanes get washed out. But I still went out because I wanted to test potential compositions at this new spot for later "proper" shoots! As it turned out, the moon popped in and out of some low clouds behind me, which meant I was still able to get some nice details in the galaxy. And to add to it, the moonlight produced the night blue colour in the sky (whereas a moonless sky would usually show up as more dark blue-grey). In hindsight, the partially obscured moonlight actually created a somewhat unique look to the scene than if it had been a "proper" moonless night!Equipment
Equipment used was a Canon 5D2 with a Canon 16-35/2.8 lens on a Giotto's tripod. I hadn't replaced my broken remote trigger, so I used MagicLantern to fire off several frames. The base frames were shot at 16mm, f/3.5, 20s, ISO3200 (more details in processing below).Inspiration
I'd always been interested in astronomy and space, and I'd seen other images from this location. Many astro images can be somewhat abstract, a bit removed from the everyday. But I wanted to make a more direct connection between ourselves and the stars -- and the radio telescopes were perfect for that, because they are our way of communicating with outer space. I wanted to make the connection from us here on the ground to the stars and beyond. I'd also recently re-watched astronaut Chris Hadfield's rendition of "Space Oddity" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo), and that was on my mind -- this was Ground Control calling Major Tom, somewhere up there in the vastness of space.Editing
Astrophotography almost always requires quite a lot of processing, and this image was no exception. The image is actually made up of 15 separate frames (twice!). I shot 15 frames, each at 16mm, f/3.5, 20s, ISO3200. I first stacked them using DeepSkyStacker, which aligned and stacked the stars -- that gave me my "Sky Stack", a very clean, almost noise-free sky and Milky Way. Unfortunately, because DSS aligned the stars, the ground was all smeared. So I loaded all 15 raw frames in Photoshop as separate layers and reduced opacity and changed the blend mode to create a clean, noise-free foreground -- this obviously made the stars all smeared. This was my "Ground Stack". I then loaded the "Sky Stack" on top of this "Ground Stack" and used layer masks to combine the sky from the "Sky Stack" and the ground from the "Ground Stack". After that I made some adjustments in Lightroom. Mainly white balance, darkening the rest of the sky (to make the Milky Way shine more), and some selective adjustments to reduce the impact of a stray light from the farm around the corner.In my camera bag
Obviously my camera body, the Canon 5D2. Beyond that, it really depends on what I'm going to shoot. If I don't have anything particular in mind, my Canon 35/1.4 and Canon 70-200/2.8 II always come with me. If I'll be doing more landscapes, I don't go without my Canon 16-35/2.8, ND filters, and tripod. If I'll be more on-the-go (e.g. travel, urban, people), then I may swap out the 16-35 and instead pack my Canon 50/1.4 and/or Sigma 85/1.4. But if you held a gun to my head, I'd be happy with just my 35/1.4 and 70-200/2.8.Feedback
Astrophotography, especially wide-field starscapes, are a LOT easier than many people think. And the biggest misconception is that you need specialized gear to do it -- you don't. Gear & settings: Most modern cameras are sufficient. Even a point-and-shoot on which you can manually set focus (infinity/far), ISO (1600 - 3200 minimum), and shutter speed (15" minimum), you can shoot good starscapes. Set lens to widest angle, and use the 500 rule (maximum exposure time = 500 / focal length (in full-frame equivalent)). Use a 2-second delay and shoot away. Location and time: Use a free software like Stellarium to locate the Milky Way (especially the core, around the constellation of Sagittarius). Use LightPollutionMap.info to find out good dark areas nearby. A dark sky is absolutely critical, and makes all the difference in the world. Dress warm and be prepared for long sleepless nights out in the middle of nowhere because chances are, you'll soon be addicted!
