FenlandPaul

8 hours ago, The Admiral said:

Promising development Paul, even if it is a bit nail biting! I'm sure you will buff it into shape, but I guess as always you need plentiful opportunities to hone the skills. Hope we get them.

Ian

Thanks Ian. Hopefully this NLC season we get some opportunities!

A few months ago I had the slightly unhinged idea to create hyperlapses (moving timelapses) of the northern lights and night sky from a drone.  I wanted to capture the majesty of the aurora above grand landscapes with sweeping parallax movements contributing to the sense of scale.  Scanning the usual places on the internet, I'd not come across any examples of this sort of photography, which surprised me a little, and then excited me.  It never really occurred to me there might have been good reasons why no-one had tried it!

When we were last in the north of Norway in February, following quite a lot of trial and error in the UK, we gave it a go and, despite distinctly sub-optimal aurora conditions and only one clear night in our week-long stay, I think we managed to prove out the concept.

I made a video of the whole shenanigans and I very much hope it'll be the first in a few as I try to move from this "beta" test to the vision I have in my mind's eye.

I would be very interested - those of you that also have drones - whether you've tried anything similar at night?  I'm particularly excited to try this with noctilucent clouds just round the corner - I think that would have a similar potential (with more moderate consequences if things go wrong!!).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the video - something a bit different!  Normal service will resume shortly...

Paul. 😊

Absolutely love this, Paul. A stunning image. Those pillars just look so tall!!

32 minutes ago, AstroNebulee said:

Let Cornwall be the new Norway 

Two of my favourite places in the world, so I’d be well up for that!!

He's on fire!!! 🔥

Great work, Lee.  Fantastic to get two nights out of three.  That's better than I did in Norway in February!! 🤣🤣

Oh yes. Now that’s awesome. The reflection is 👌 and I love the sky. Definitely a winner and worth the effort of iteration.

11 hours ago, Gerr said:

Great video and lovely images Paul.

I love the peace and tranquillity of the night when there is no wind and you only hear the sounds of Nature. So peaceful and serene it is a tonic to the soul. Sometimes Dawn comes too soon!

I especially like the lake with reflections of the trees and stars. The cool blues and pale yellow horizon also makes the shot stand out.

Hats off to you for getting out there when you have work next day. I struggle to do this admittedly and need a good forecast to venture forth. I had opportunity for early MW core a few days ago but had just returned from Tenerife having already got a great shot of it so I stayed in bed!! 😂

Keep up the excellent work and am looking forward to your next adventure and astrophotography.

Geraint.

Thanks Geraint - appreciated. It’s hard - I think we’re all wracked with a completely self-induced (and unnecessary!) guilt when it’s clear and we don’t get out. Important to remember it’s meant to be a pleasure!!

I enjoyed your printing video - learned some very useful tips to help with my home printing (which hitherto has been very hit and miss!).

Absolute legend, Lee - that’s fantastic!! Really well done. Great image and Timelapse. So chuffed for you. 👏👏👏

16 minutes ago, clarkpm4242 said:

Added an Instagram version...

 

Yep that’s the one for me. Nice crop. 👍

I think you need to give the folk at Bamburgh a light painting lesson! Given how tough it is, I think you’ve done a great job. Nice sky and foreground, and when you zoom in on the castle it’s clear you’ve controlled things really well there too.

It grows on me the more I look at it. 👍

4 minutes ago, AstroNebulee said:

 

I just want to say a huge thank you for your journals, advice given on them and your enthusiasm for Widefield astrophotography that keeps me going and I'm sure many others of 

 

Really appreciate that, Lee - thank you. It means a lot.

I think Last Resting Place is my favourite too. Still can’t fathom how the boat managed to get there. I’m sure there’s a story there somewhere.

13 hours ago, clarkpm4242 said:

Mud!

Welcome to East Anglia!!

Superb image, Gerr!! Envious of how dark and star-studded the skies must have been! Also slightly amused by how long the 14 seconds of your selfie exposure must have felt as you stood there, precariously on that outcrop!!

Very nice, Paul. Bet it gets windy up on those fells! Leo’s always a cracker as a Sky subject. And nice to do a bit of Galaxy hunting.

1 hour ago, davew said:

Wonderful once again Paul.

Those shots bring back nice memories of North Norfolk during the Kelling weeks.

Thanks Dave - I'd love to get to Kelling one of these years!

 

3 hours ago, josefk said:

They are lovely pictures Paul. I know that area well (in the daylight). 👍

Thanks Josef - I would like to have explored it properly during daylight first!

Over the bank holiday weekend I was feeling rather sombre, having learned on the Friday about the sudden passing of Alyn Wallace.  I just wanted to be on my own under the stars.  I had a few people message me to ask if I wanted to head out shooting on the Saturday night, when we were expecting some decent skies in part of East Anglia, but more than ever I needed the solitude so I politely declined (always feel bad about that, and I don't mean to be unsociable, but I don't think I would have been particularly entertaining company anyway).  If you're one of those people - sorry.

So a couple of hours before dusk I started the 2 hour drive up to the North Norfolk coast to Brancaster Staithe, the marshy harbour separated from the majestic Brancaster Beach by a complex web of tidal creeks, marshland topped with tufts of grass, and mudflats.  I'd visited only very briefly at night before, to suss out the harbour area, but never been on the marshes, so some intense Google Earthing earlier in the day had indicated some potentially promising areas from which to shoot, albeit I wasn't entirely sure how the Spring tides would impact access.

As with many of these coastal locations, I was accompanied through the night by the most amazing sounds of the wildlife - exotic sounding birds and, at one point, a sustained gurgling noise whose origin I couldn't fathom.  Clouds came and went, but that didn't matter as I wasn't after any award-winning shots - I just wanted to be immersed under the heavens, taking it all in and allowing the previous day's news to slowly sink in.  

In the early hours of the morning I noticed some pinks on camera towards the north, and sure enough we had a brief aurora display, which I was able to timelapse; it looks like I missed the best of the display by 20 minutes or so, but I was pleased to have captured something at least.  I'm amazed how many times I visit north Norfolk and end up with capturing a display - I think my hit rate for that is well over 50%!  I began to head home at about 2am, through thick fog all the way.  I was tired, yet completely restored.

As always, I'm grateful for your comments and CC on the images, and if you fancy coming along for the adventure vicariously I made a video of the night, linked at the bottom.

Clear skies!

✨Last Resting Place✨

📷 Canon 6D (astro-modified) with Sigma Art 24mm f/1.4 lens and Skywatcher StarAdventurer tracker

🔧 Sky: 11x 120s exposures at ISO800 and f/4. Foreground: 2x 30s exposures at ISO1600

🎞️ Sky stacked in Sequator.  Edited and blended in PhotoShop and Starnet++

✨The Creek✨

📷 Canon 6D (astro-modified) with Samyang 14mm f/2.8 lens
🔧 Sky: 54x20s exposures at ISO2000 and f/2.8.  Foreground: 120s and 60s exposures at f/4 and ISO2000
🎞️Sky stacked in Sequator.  Edited and blended in Photoshop and Starnet ++

✨Time and Tides✨

📷 Canon 6D (astro-modified) with Sigma Art 24mm f/1.4 lens
🔧 Sky: 92x 18s exposures at ISO6400 and f/2.8.  Foreground 2x 60s focus-stacked exposures at ISO 6400 and f/3.5
🎞️ Sky stacked in Sequator. Edited and assembled in Photoshop and Starnet++

✨Depth✨

📷 Canon 6D (astro-modified) with Sigma Art 24mm f/1.4 lens and Skywatcher StarAdventurer tracker
🔧 Sky: 11x 120s exposures at ISO800 and f/4.  Foreground 1x 30s exposure at ISO 6400 and f/3.5
🎞️ Sky stacked in Sequator. Edited and assembled in Photoshop and Starnet++

✨The Buoy and the Aurora✨

📷 Canon 6D with Samyang 14mm f/2.8 lens
🔧Single 20s exposure at ISO4000 and f/2.8
🎞️ Edited in PhotoShop

✨The Jetty and the Aurora✨

📷 Canon 6D with Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens
🔧Single 6s exposure at ISO6400 and f/1.8
🎞️ Edited in PhotoShop

Very nicely done, Dave - and good opportunistic shoot. Lovely and sharp.  But can we talk about the plain chocolate hobnobs?  This a technique with which I'm not familiar....

4 hours ago, clarkpm4242 said:

Really enjoyed your video @FenlandPaul

I prefer the 'Teasel Core' image.  You can get detail in  Rho Ophiuchi!

Cheers,  Paul.

4 hours ago, AstroNebulee said:

I too enjoyed your video Paul. I admire your dedication and to be rewarded with your beautiful images and that amazing Dawn chorus sunrise with a hot drink. What makes it all the more special. 

Take care and clear skies. 

Lee 

2 hours ago, Carbon Brush said:

@AstroNebulee I couldn't have said it better!
 

Thanks all - really appreciate that. 
 

@clarkpm4242 yep I love the detail in Rho. Never quite gets high enough for my liking though!

A couple of weeks ago we had a forecast for clearing skies from around 1am, with the moon setting at 2am.  That left around 2 hours for some dark-sky goodness and hopefully my first Milky Way core action of 2024.  The only challenge was that it was a Sunday night, ahead of a busy week at work.  But I set the alarm for 1.15am anyway, and dragged myself out of bed only to see broken cloud in front of the moon.  20 minutes of should I / shouldn't I later, and I headed down to our local nature reserve, not entirely sure if I'd made the right choice but knowing that I would torture myself if I stayed at home wondering what might have been.

I only had a few compositions in mind after visiting earlier that day - nothing dramatic or epic, but some simple Fenland scenes of wood piles, dead trees and still pools.  As the morning drew on, the cloud shifted and I was treated to the rising Milky Way and a sky full of stars.  I was so glad I made myself go out, with the ultimate reward of watching the dawn surrounded by the wonderful sounds of the local birdlife.

Aside from the images below, I made a video of the night over on my Nightscape Journals YouTube channel - linked at the end if you're interested.

Thoughts and comments always welcome and hugely appreciated!

✨Cut Down✨

📷 Canon 6D with Sigma Art 24mm f/1.4 lens
🔧 1x 10s exposure at f/2 and ISO2000
🎞️ Edited in Photoshop

✨Teasel Core✨

📷 Canon 6D (astro-modified) with Samyang 35mm f/1.4 lens with SkyWatcher StarAdventurer tracker
🔧 Sky: 41x 30s exposure at f/2.8 and ISO800 (+ dark frames). Foreground: 1x10s at f/4 and ISO1250
🎞️ Stacked in Sequator. Edited and assembled in Photoshop and Starnet++

✨Scorpius Aquae✨

📷 Canon 6D with Sigma Art 24mm f/1.4 lens 
🔧 Sky: 24x 15s exposure at f/2.8 and ISO2000. 
🎞️ Stacked in Sequator. Edited in Photoshop 

✨Logpile✨

📷 Canon 6D with Sigma Art 24mm f/1.4 lens 
🔧 Sky: 74x 13s exposure at f/1.8 and ISO1600. Foreground: 1x13s at f/1.8 and ISO1600
🎞️ Stacked in Sequator. Edited and assembled in Photoshop and Starnet++

Nice one, Lee.  Love how you've got the brighter stars really popping. I know what you mean about lots to remember!

Nicely done, Lee! No-one minds that kind of photobombing! 👌

Very nice. Lovely and clear for most of the night in Norfolk last night. 

I find it both surreal and heartbreaking to write this.

As some of you may now have seen, the astrophotographer Alyn Wallace has tragically passed away, cruelly early with so much ahead of him.

Alyn was an incredibly talented landscape astrophotographer, pushing forward and popularising the art through his wonderfully produced YouTube videos. He was generous with his time and knowledge, encouraging many (including me) to pick up a camera and give it a go. His epic and beautifully printed book Photographing the Night Sky, published by FotoVue, is encyclopaedic and will be picked up by astrophotographers for years to come. The legacy from his tragically short life will endure for years to come.

Paul

9 hours ago, Second Time Around said:

Wow! Those last few minutes from 2023 were spectacular!

My wife is hopefully having a knee replacement shortly, although the date has already been changed 3 times.

Because of this we plan to go on a cruise to see the aurora as she won't be fully mobile after the op.

Depending on the date of the op we plan to go late autumn or early Spring.

Thank you - yes it was an amazing night!

All the best to your wife - hope the op is a success and life returns to its fullness. Those are great times to go - never been on a cruise but I imagine it encourages a much more relaxed approach to aurora watching - something I could learn from!!

Paul

45 minutes ago, Tommohawk said:

Hi all. Just planned a 12 day trip to Norway for November - so I'm properly in Northern Lights mode!

And with all the recent geomagnetic activity I'm seeing on my app, I was just musing re the prospect of seeing the NL from the UK. Regarding cloud cover, just how much clear sky to the North is required? For example, will cloud over Scotland impact the view from, say, the South of England? (I appreciate London light pollution will likely kill any chance of viewing from the South East)

Royal Museums Greenwich says lower part of aurora typically around 80 miles above Earths surface but top may extend several thousand miles. Which  implies that distant cloud may not obscure the view. I cant do the maths and my little sketch isnt helpful. Anyone got any thoughts on this?

 

Exciting-sounding trip!!

It’s unlikely that cloud over the horizon will impede your view. If it’s kicking off, the it’ll be a lot higher than any tropospheric cloud so if you’re clear reasonably locally you stand a good chance of catching it, if the auroral oval is sufficiently far south.

In the biggest displays of the last 12 months, it’s regularly been seen / photographed from Kent so London isn’t necessarily an issue for you. You’ll have seen that it’s now becoming quite common for people to pick it up on camera in Norfolk, with relatively dark skies over the North Sea - remarkable really!!

1 hour ago, Tommohawk said:

Hey, that a lovely video!. Some great images and nicely narrated. We're off to Norway in November, will stay 5 days in Grotfjorden just north of Tromso - fingers crossed!

Thank you - very kind. Exciting you’re off to the north! I’d love to get over there again and very much hope we can, though likely next year now. Great time of year to go - good luck!