Star Chasing
Currimundi Beach is reasonably secluded with only a little light pollution. This time of year the Milky Way rises just after sunrise. The Ocean and the Stars al...
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Currimundi Beach is reasonably secluded with only a little light pollution. This time of year the Milky Way rises just after sunrise. The Ocean and the Stars always draw me to them. The solitude and the view always clams my soul.
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Jun, 2018Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
As a Landscape photographer on the east coast of Australia, I have alway worked around the fringes of the day, the golden hours, predominantly sunrise as the sun rises over the ocean but also twilight in the hinterland. I had been inspired by some work I had seen to shoot the Milky Way but either the clouds or the location had thwarted my previous attempts. This photo was taken at Currimundi Breach on the Sunshine Coast with the Milky Way rising in the East South East. Currimundi is set well back from housing developments and freeway which helped ensure the light polution was reduced and allowing for a clearer colour cast across the sky.Time
The image was made just after sunset. At this time of year the Milky Way rises almost directly after sunset meaning that i didn't have to spent half my night in the cold and dark waiting for it to lift its head above the horizonLighting
At night the light is the light, It's about ISO and Exposure and trail and error after setting your camera to get the cleanest and most pleasing composition.Equipment
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with a Canon L series 17-40 F4 lens at 17 mm. I always use a tripod, Velbon with a manfrotto head where possible and with a 30 second exposure, it was essential to my ability to make the image.Inspiration
I have seen a lot of Milky Way shots on-line, Viewbug, Instagram as it is Milky Way season. I hadn't previously attempted too much night photography so tried to capture an image i had imaged previously in my head.Editing
I try to get the image to be as close as I can to how I want it in camera but always work it in Photoshop and Lightroom, mainly colour corrections, luminance adjustment and noise reduction. A blast of vibrance and a little dehire to really make the stars pop.In my camera bag
I am a Canon user so a 5D Mk IV and 5D Mk II, Lenses - All F4 (I try to minimise the weight) 17-40mm, 70-200mm, 24-105mm. Tripod, Cable release, Manfrotto head. All carried in a Lowepro Trekker Backpack.Feedback
Get your settings right before you go and then just adjust them slightly to suit. Doing this before it gets dark will give you a good starting position. Make sure your focus is set to infinity, try focusing manually with live view on a bright star and once it is sharp everything will be sharp. Look at your possible compositions in the light and then go back and set up where you have scouted. To reduce your trial and error with compositions, push your ISO up all the way and take 1 and 2 second exposures to get your composition right before putting your settings back to the required one's to make your image. Make sure you wrap up warm as you could be waiting a while for clear skies.
