Skip navigation

Tag Archives: milky way photography

Milky Way Panorama

I have been working on my night photography skills for a couple of years now and finally, have made my first successful panorama of the full Milky Way arch! I’ve watched videos, gone to classes, read articles and ebooks, trying to learn as much as possible. Many things I learned meant I needed another piece of equipment but I think now, I have it all put together. This is not perfect, that’s for sure but it makes me happy.

And I did it from my own home. I did not have to drive somewhere a long ways away to find the needed dark skies that makes seeing the stars possible. Of course, the foreground is not all that attractive. There are all the lights on the hills from the ever increasing populations of our valley, the local airport, some cars on the dirt roads after midnight, lights from the nearby church and a power pole. It is where I live and I am happy to be here.

This image is made from eight images stitched together and represents about 180° to capture the entire arc of the Milky Way.

I have more to learn but I feel like this is a big step forward!

Out in the Dark

The girls and I recently returned from an adventurous fifteen-day roadtrip to Nevada and Utah. Did you know that eastern Nevada has LOTS of really high mountains? Like 10,000 feet and higher? Really an amazing landscape. And it’s so large, we barely saw any of it. And it’s remote. Really remote. Sky had a medical emergency on a Sunday and I managed to get a large animal veterinarian on the phone and he said, ‘Lady, you are in the middle of nowhere. No one here can take care of your dog. You need to go to Vegas or Salt Lake City.’ We ended up going to Elko, but that’s another story. Thanks to the wonders of modern veterinary medicine, Sky is fine now.

Our destination was the Nightscaper Conference in Kanab, Utah. Ken flew down to explore the sights and wrangle the dogs while I was filling my brain with more information than it could ever hold.

Here are a few images from the trip down there.

Outside After Dark

I chose my campsite for its potential to have very dark skies without artificial lighting. I was right. It was terrific for seeing the stars. These were made during two different nights, shot around 2:30 to 4:00 am. They are single shots. I am always amazed at the colors of the night sky.

Social Distancing After Dark

In the wee morning hours, I went outside and tried to learn some new techniques. Let’s just say, I have a long ways to go. Still, I came back with some pretty pictures. I also need a new place to practice my night photography. I was looking forward to spring travels but now, all that is cancelled. We were supposed to go to Florida this Saturday and to Utah in May. I wonder when we will get a chance to see new, or old favorite, places again. Yes, I am feeling very sad but grateful for my health and grateful that I have my husband and two dogs to share my life. I hope all of you are well and taken care of.

I started and finished here
Neighbor’s house
Blue hour sneaks up on me.
A small plane took off from the airport during the blue hour before dawn.
I started and finished here

Night Skies

The girls and I camped for five nights at Natural Bridges National Monument. It has a tiny campground, is off the beaten path and is truly a dark skies place. There was no lighting visible from the campground or the tour loop around the natural bridges except for an occasional distant car driving on highway 95. There were lots of aircraft flying overhead and sometimes I had to wait for the jets to get out of my planned image. Once, two planes flew parallel to each other, going the same speed and direction. I wonder what that was all about. Anyway, I am still learning how to do this and how to process the image files so these are works in progress.

%d bloggers like this: