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AntonioPedroniPhoto

Nuraghe Piscu by night

Milky way over nuraghe Piscu. Nuraghe are the most evident testimony of the nuragic civilization that lived in Sardinia during the Bronze Age (around 1800-600 B...
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Milky way over nuraghe Piscu. Nuraghe are the most evident testimony of the nuragic civilization that lived in Sardinia during the Bronze Age (around 1800-600 BC)
Read less

Aperture 18/10 ISO 2000 Shutter 20/1

location

Suelli, Sardegna, IT

upload_date

Aug, 2022

Views

1447

Likes

+240

Awards

Honorable Mention in Glowing Nights Photo Contest

Honorable Mention in Monthly Pro Photo Contest Volume38

Peer Award

+419

Absolute Masterpiece

+19

Top Choice

+13

Superb Composition

Magnificent Capture

Superior Skill

Outstanding Creativity

All Star

Emotions

Impressed

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Behind The Lens

Location

I took this photo in Sardinia at the Piscu nuraghe located in suelli. Nuraghe are ancient megalithic structures built by the mysterious Nuragic civilization during the Bronze Age. The nuraghe Piscu in particular dates back to the 15th century BC. Fortunately Sardinia is not densely populated, which makes it possible not to have an excessive amount of light pollution (which would make it impossible to take these photographs) and has allowed the conservation of these structures (there are many of them all over the island. about 7000, although those well preserved like this are a few hundred). Even today it is not known exactly what function these structures had, we can only make hypotheses.

Time

Of course the photo (or rather the series of photos, since this is a panoramic shot) was taken at night, on a moonless night (crescent but set moon phase)

Lighting

There is nothing to say about the light, I only used natural light in this case. To capture the stars it is clear that the less light the better. The nuraghe is still visible because it is not an area completely devoid of light pollution, there was however a slight background glow that in post production can be rendered in this way.

Equipment

To take this type of shots a good tripod is essential, in this case I used my manfrotto 055 with a panoramic head. The camera is the sony A7iii which has an excellent yield with high ISO. The lens is the samyang 24mm f1.8 AF FE which was conceived by the Korean house precisely in function of night shots. For this type of shots I prefer not too wide-angle lenses and then make a union of several shots in post production, which gives the image a higher quality and low digital noise. To give an idea, here are 20 shots at 24mm joined together, the resulting file is gigantic and there is a little work to be done, but the result usually rewards the effort. You can find many shots taken with this technique in my feed.

Inspiration

I had been planning a photo like this for years, that is the entire arc of the Milky Way above a nuraghe and finally this year I managed to make it. In reality you can do even better, finding a nuraghe in a darker place (in reality that glow that you see on the right under the core is the city of Cagliari which is about thirty km from here). So what inspired me? I don't know, I've wanted to do it for years and I finally succeeded. If I try again it will be in an even darker and more isolated place, to get an even better result.

Editing

Photos of the Milky Way always need post production. In this case the first thing is the union of the shots that can be done with photoshop or with special software that only take this step. After that you have to enhance the Milky Way and give a nocturnal aspect to the rest, treating the colors according to your taste. There is no right post production as the human eye does not see the things that are in this photo, at least not so, the human eye does not have these capabilities, and it is the same for any astronomical photo.

In my camera bag

To take this type of photo the equipment is always the same: sturdy tripod, panoramic head (not essential but very comfortable), a camera that holds up well to high ISO, a fixed and speedy lens, preferably medium wide angle (I use the 24mm ). For general landscape photography instead I bring with me an extreme wide angle (10-18 venus laowa) and finally my little drone dji mini2 with which you have a completely different vision of the world.

Feedback

Photography of the Milky Way must be planned, there is no hope of coming up with something like this without careful planning. First find the suitable location, where it is dark at night, where the Milky Way is clearly visible and where there is an interesting foreground. According to know exactly the day to shoot, that is to watch the cycle of the moon. Fortunately, in all these phases today there are mobile applications that can help us, such as photopills. What I can say is that it is not an easy genre and it is very technical, difficult but not impossible.

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AntonioPedroniPhoto

AntonioPedroniPhoto

Nuraghe Piscu by night

Milky way over nuraghe Piscu. Nuraghe are the most evident testimony of the nuragic civilization that lived in Sardinia during the Bronze Age (around 1800-600 B... Read more

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow AntonioPedroniPhoto

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Milky way over nuraghe Piscu. Nuraghe are the most evident testimony of the nuragic civilization that lived in Sardinia during the Bronze Age (around 1800-600 B...
Read more

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