FenlandPaul

I absolutely love that landscape, Paul. 👌

Very nice, Paul. You really found the perfect hill for the arch!

How have you found the Astro-mod?

Looks superb. 

Wow, you’re on fire at the moment @Gerr!!

I love the foreground and the balance, especially with the colour contrast between the comet and Mirach. Is that a hint of comet reflection there in the lake too?

magical stuff.

3 hours ago, clarkpm4242 said:

Made the most of that opportunity!!  Thanks for all the background and tech. info.  Paul.

Got to make the most of things this year!! ☁️ 

23 minutes ago, AstroNebulee said:

Beautiful Paul. They are so sharp and stunningly detailed images. 

Definitely love the merlin and Orion image. 

It sounds as though you had fun with the WhatsApp group and lovely to get so up close and personal with merlin dish. 

Keep them coming. 

Lee 

Thanks Lee -really appreciate that. I did indeed have fun, which surprised me as I’m usually a solitary shooter. So I learned something about myself!!

30 minutes ago, Mick J said:

Nice as usual Paul, also paging down to jump from Merlin against the sky to the windmill added something.  Thanks

Thank you, Mick. I sometimes get a bit blasé about the windmill as it’s so familiar to me. But it is a lovely structure!

A couple of weeks ago we had a forecast break from this perma-cloud that seems to have descended across the UK.  It was a Sunday evening, with an early start for work on the Monday, but I couldn't let the opportunity go to waste, especially as the aurora data was going bananas (very impressed envious by all the images caught across the north and west of the UK that night).

An initial trip to a location I'd scouted a few weeks earlier ended up being a dud, as I decided (possibly unfairly) that the lone tree was also not a particularly attractive tree.  So I headed a couple of miles away to another of the dishes at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory outside Cambridge, somewhere I'd shot earlier in the year.  This time I was at the impressive 32m dish that's part of the Merlin array (along with Jodrell Bank), which is still in-use and on the night was whirring away as it collected data from distant sources.  Unusually for me, I ended up meeting up with a few other astrophotographers from a local WhatsApp group, one of whom had obtained permission for us to enter the grounds of the observatory to get more favourable compositions.

A stubborn frontal cloud dissected the sky for much of the night, leaving a decent window from the north west to the south east; unfortunately the north remained obscured for most of the evening, and none of the outstanding parts of the aurora display were visible (though I caught the weak remnants at the very end of the night on the way home).  But that meant we had a great view of Orion from a site that was surprisingly dark given it's only 5 miles from the centre of Cambridge (although not immune from poorly directed security lights!).

My focus was on some simple compositions including the magnificent dish; definitely somewhere at which I'd like to spend more time.  I also made a Nightscape Journal of the night, which you can find linked at the bottom.

As always, I'd welcome feedback, suggestions and comments!  Ordinarily I'd give my images a name, but I've really struggled with these so if you have any suggestions I'd be all ears! Enjoy. 😊

✨MERLIN AND ORION✨

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

🔧 Sky (tracked): 6x60s exposures at f/2.8 ISO 800.  Foreground: 1x10s exposure at f/4 ISO 2000 (LENR on)

🎞️ Sky stacked in DSS.  Edited and assembled in PhotoShop.

✨MERLIN AND ORION (UNTRACKED)✨

📷 Canon 6D with Sigma Art 24mm f/1.4 lens 

🔧 18x10s exposures at f/2.2 ISO 2000.  

🎞️ Stacked in Sequator.  Edited and assembled in PhotoShop.

✨MERLIN AND THE LION✨

📷 Canon 6D with Samyang 14mm f/2.8 lens

🔧 Sky: 1x20s exposure at f/2.8 ISO 2000 with Kase Starglow filter. Foreground: 1x20s exposure at f/2.8 ISO 2000

🎞️ Edited and assembled in PhotoShop.

✨DYING BACK✨

📷 Canon 6D with Samyang 35mm f/1.4 lens

🔧 Single 10s exposure at ISO3200 and f/2.8

🎞️ Edited in PhotoShop.

Just now, davew said:

Sounds like a rare chance to spend a night out there and it's very good of you both to run it.

I doubt I'll be able to get there but wish you luck with it. Please report back on how it went ( Another video in the offing ? )

Dave.

Thanks Dave - very kind. The priority is the guests but I hope I’ll be able to capture a low-key video to give a glimpse of what it’s like there. Super excited.

Love it, and love the aggressive crop. Great capture - one that’s evaded me on account of stubborn clouds to the north!

(Mods please remove or move if not appropriate here)

Hi all, @Cjg and I have been asked by the National Trust to guide an overnight astrophotography experience on the unique shingle spit at Orford Ness in Suffolk on Saturday 13 April.

Home to Europe’s largest expanse of vegetated shingle, Orford has a fascinating history as a secret weapons testing facility and was, until relatively recently, completely off limits to the public. The unique collection of structures from its days of military use create compelling foregrounds that cannot usually be accessed at night (on account of the risk of unexploded ordinance and whatnot!).

If you are based in East Anglia and would like to learn more, you can find details on the NT website below, or otherwise don’t hesitate to contact Chris or me directly (tickets must be purchased from the NT, however). It promises to me a fantastic adventure - I’m certainly excited about it!

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/suffolk/orford-ness-national-nature-reserve/events/f3ec5cfc-44a7-451a-baf8-8b31cac9a4fe

(Full disclosure: Chris and I are not being paid to guide the experience, but the NT have waived our own “ticket” price for the night).

All the best

Paul

Great gig, Paul. Wish I could turn out lighting as I see fit!!

That’s a superb image. Your client is going to be super pleased with that! Glad you caught it well. 👍

Nicely done, Lee!! So glad you caught it. Just awesome that it could be seen so far south. What a treat. 👍

Props for the inclusion on the BBC, @Gerr 🙌🙌

Definitely a “proper” aurora show and just mind boggling how phones have come on show that kind of goodness. Nice one - hope you got to enjoy the show too!

Nice one, Geraint. You guys over west definitely had the best of the weather. The crucial parts of the sky never cleared up for us until it was too late - but seen some amazing images from as far south as [checks notes] Cornwall!!

Absolutely awesome!! I think a few people may have been there this evening. Well done - they’re keepers, for sure. 👏👏

Just now, clarkpm4242 said:

my astro modded DSLR arrived two days ago  Paul

Super excited to see the images from that, Paul!  (Sorry to hijack your thread @Gerr)

These are fantastic, Ger. My favourite is the selfie, for the human element, but each is great. The processing on the Cygnus MW is lovely.

Interesting that PS did something better than PTGui! So far for me it’s been the other way round (although sadly neither can help correct a missed area of sky in a mosaic!!).

Paul

1 hour ago, clarkpm4242 said:

I like the drone imaging!

Thanks Paul - there would have been precious little photography without it! 

48 minutes ago, mareman48 said:

I've been chasing it for years in Scotland, but so far have not managed to get a look in.

Your video has encouraged me to pull the trigger on take my chase to Norway.

Thank you. All the best with the trip planning. It’s a stunning place regardless, but all the more magical with the aurora!

Last week we were fortunate enough to head off for our third Norwegian trip to the oft-overlooked island of Langøya within the Arctic Circle.  During the last couple of trips we've been blessed with sensational aurora - bright arcs, dancing pillars, overhead coronas - even punching through bright moonlight and at one point casting distinct shadows on the ground.

This time, I took my whole family and some dear friends, excited by the prospect of showing them the magic of the northern lights, safe in the knowledge that as we edge ever closer to solar maximum - and with the spell-binding displays over the whole of the UK on numerous occasions last year - we'd be guaranteed a spectacle.  Because that's the way it works, right?

Hmmmm, maybe not.  Find out more 👇

Great, Paul. I very much enjoy your light painted stuff, which is done so elegantly. But I love long exposure FGs at the moment for the slightly flatter look - but flat in a good way, more understated. This is superb. 👌

So much lovely crisp star detail when you zoom in, Paul - love it.

I think I could do with precisely that kind of night right now. 
 

Thanks for sharing.

1 hour ago, John_D said:

The star trail is amazing. I noticed the slight shift in camera position in the video when you changed the battery. That must have added to the processing fun! I've been looking for a way of powering my DSLR from an external USB battery pack but not come up with a cheap & reliable solution yet.

( That big radio telescope is unused you say. It would be just the thing for cloudy weather. Do you know how well it's bolted down? 😁 )

Thanks John. Good spot - you can see the jump in the timelapse. It was VERY frustrating! In the end I did 2 star trail images (before and after the jump) and then overlaid them to offset the slight move. It was fiddly but thankfully salvageable. Unlike the mosaics. 🤦‍♂️

6 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Tremendous. (Also nice to see the Seagull with Orion.)

Olly

Thanks Olly. Appreciated.

54 minutes ago, Alan White said:

Great images Paul and interesting to read your journey in achieving them.

As a visual only observer I always enjoy the wonders imaging can produce. 
 

 

Thanks Alan. I love being out under the stars as a visual observer too!

14 minutes ago, WolfieGlos said:

I’d dread to think how long that took you to stack! But it was worth it, that is a stunning star trail image. It almost looks like you have some Aurora at the bottom with the greens too? 

Thank you - very kind. It was the cleaning up that took the time rather than the stacking - so many planes, satellites and other stuff up there! I think the green hue is just local light pollution that’s come out that colour after the way I’ve edited the stars. Shame because I’d love ti get aurora over this one day - on the list for this year!!