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La Palma

James

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James

James

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I just got back from a two week trip to La Palma, the first week was hot, wet and very dusty which did have me wondering if I'd ever see a clear sky there but the wind shifted in the second week and the skies cleared :)

I spent a couple of nights up at the Roque de Los Muchachos armed with a couple of DSLR's and a Vixen Polarie and have umpteen Gb's of data in the form of timelapses to go through (very hard after a week of no sleep!) but thought I'd post a few individual pics in the meantime.

We stayed in two places, the second, Hacienda La Palma,  is at an altitude of about 4,500ft and is well above the clouds and other stuff in the air - in fact the views there were usually about 95%+ as good as up at the Roque de Los Muchachos (as far as I could tell!). It was a little surreal being on an island where, most of the time, you're above the clouds!!!

Hope you like the pics, the timelapses are probably going to take weeks to process and I already know I'm going to have to go back to redo a couple and get a few more done that I wanted to but couldn't due to the weather... All the images are through a Canon 6D, 30 second exposure at f/4 through a Samyang 14mm lens. They're all jpg's... when I get the time I'll repost as png's for better quality :)

The Gran Telescopio Canarias on the Roque de Los Muchachos with the Milky Way behind. The foreground is illuminated by a 4 day old crescent moon off to the right. Dust from the Sahara is present which is illuminated by light pollution from towns to the west of La Palma approx 15km away.

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The view from a lookout up on the Roque de Los Muchachos looking south over the Caldera de Taburiente. The towns of El Paso and Los Llanos illuminate a layer of Saharan dust.

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The view from the roof of the villa I was staying at at the Hacienda La Palma, near Puntagorda, La Palma. At an altitude of 4500ft the air is extremely clear and there is very little light pollution.

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The view from just behind the villa I was staying at at the Hacienda La Palma, near Puntagorda, La Palma. At an altitude of 4500ft the air is extremely clear and there is very little light pollution.

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James

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James

James

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loving your widefields James. looking forward to the timelapses :)

Thank you - they are taking time though...

...You'll need another holiday to recover all the sleep lost though imaging!

..

I told my wife that and suggested another week on La Palma would be just the ticket... she didn't fall for it though.. :(

I have a couple of still shots from a couple of failed time-lapses which I like. These were both taken with a modded Canon 650D, 30 sec exposures again, through a Sigma 24-105mm lens at the 24mm end, f/4.

Auriga,

from a failed time-lapse - this is the constellation Auriga rising through some Canarian Pine trees. The California Nebula in Perseus is visible towards the top and various DSO's are visible in Auriga.

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Orion rising in the east very shortly before dawn. From an otherwise failed time-lapse various DSO's are obvious such as M42, Flame nebula. Barnards Loop is also faintly visible...

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There's something a little strange (to a UK resident) about imaging winter objects in shorts and a t-shirt... although I learned that the mossies get you quickly if you don't cover yourself in repellent!!

James

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AndyUK

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An absolutely superb set of photo's, James - The Milky Way almost looks like a smoke column in a couple of those...!  It's incredible to believe that these are just 30s exposures...  (Just for completeness, can I ask what ISO...?)

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AndyUK

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Thanks James - I have a 100D (Digic 5), so hopefully I may also get away with ISO3200 :).  I have a trip to somewhere near Fort William shortly... (although I didn't plan it very well - It's going to be pretty much full moon :()

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James

James

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Andy - I could get more out of these images despite (or because of) the ISO, I'm hampered by my knowledge on processing being of the deep sky variety - for these I need to be using Photoshop properly, on loading one of these images up in Photoshop I got considerably more out of the image without noise being a problem and without really knowing what I was doing.... which begs the question, how come I couldn't get the same out of Lightroom? Oh well... just goes to show, it's not always the data, more the photographer/imager :)

james

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James

James

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Timelapses really do take forever! Whilst waiting for an otherwise pretty powerful computer to crank out Gb after Gb of images here's some standalone ones I've played with in the mean time... A bit of a mix and to the proper photographers out there I apologise for where I've made a glaring error or two (I've messed up a chunk of the Milky Way on the bottom right of my Sagittarius Milky Way shot... for example). Otherwise... I like 'em :)

First up Sagittarius and a chunk of the Milky Way... needs no introduction; plenty of DSO's in there!!!

10x  2 min @ISO3200, Canon 650D, tracked using a Vixen Polarie, 24-105 Sigma lens at f/4 at 35mm.

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Cygnus is next, or rather a section of the Milky Way going from Vulpecula at the bottom left up through Cepheus on the top right...

5x  2 min @ISO1600, Canon 650D, tracked using a Vixen Polarie, 24-105 Sigma lens at f/4 at 24mm.

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A crescent moon setting over La Palma from the north facing side of the Roque de Los Muchachos. The astronomers accommodation is visible to the far right of the picture and clouds down near sea level (about 6000ft lower) reflect the moonlight. The Milky Way is coming into view on the left of the picture. A single picture can't give you sound (yet) but at this spot the sound of the cicada's was almost deafening unlike a few hundred yards the other way in the caldera where the sound of the mosquitos is almost deafening...

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Finally, a sunset shot... we had several fantastic sunsets, mostly missed by me setting up other kit or eating/driving up the mountain. If I ever get the chance to go again I will definitely be concentrating on some sunrise/sunset photos!! From that point the sea is almost 4500ft beneath us..

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Just got to persuade my wife to let me go back....

James

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