Bears at Twilight

[Space Ranger]

Ursa Major & Minor just before the sky became completely dark. Taken at Loch More Caithness last weekend. ISO800, 30s, f/3.5

[StarlightKnight]

Good shot

Looks so good it could be a painting .

Don

[baggywrinkle]

Beautifull. Worth entering in the Sky at Night mag...

Nice area too, I did two 10 week stints training at Douneray and living in Thurso in the 70's.

[Space Ranger]

Good shot

Looks so good it could be a painting .

Don

Thanks Don. There's a good reason this scenic location is a well photographed, both during the daytime and at night.

Beautifull. Worth entering in the Sky at Night mag...

Nice area too, I did two 10 week stints training at Douneray and living in Thurso in the 70's.

Glad you like it baggywrinkle. I suspect quite a few things will have changed since your visits in the 70's, but the rural parts will still have the same wild beauty.

This is an excellent dark spot and a great place for viewing the night sky in all it's glory (just look at Saturn5's recent Milky Way pics from the same evening). Although I have many photos from this location showing deep sky objects, the complex dust lanes in the Milky Way, aurora and zodiacal light, this photo with its simplicity ranks up there as one of my favourites. And what sophisticated equipment did I use? A DSLR and standard photographic tripod - who says astrophotography needs to be complicated ;-)

[zicklurky]

Wow that is stunning! Beautiful!

[baggywrinkle]

I like your concept of keeping it simple....results like yours show that it is fully doable with todays range of DSLR's.

I did one stint in the summer and properly saw the white nights up there and another in the winter (January) when the daylight was over in a very short time. Nice to know it is still a dark skies area.

[Space Ranger]

I like your concept of keeping it simple....results like yours show that it is fully doable with todays range of DSLR's.

I did one stint in the summer and properly saw the white nights up there and another in the winter (January) when the daylight was over in a very short time. Nice to know it is still a dark skies area.

It is certainly nice and dark at Loch More - with a Unihedron sky quality meter I've recorded a light level of 21.9 at this location (see the excellent website www.mydarksky.com/map.aspx and www.mydarksky.com/LocationDetails.aspx?ID=5706 in particular for this remote spot).

For completeness here's a vertical panorama of the Milky Way I took the same night....

Again it was taken with a DSLR on a tripod (30s at ISO6400 and f/3.5). A bit noisy, but not too noticeable at screen size. I always think it's a good sign when you look at a widefield Milky Way shot and struggle to pick out the bright star Deneb.

[Pete Presland]

what a lovely image, looks so tranquil with the loch. the milky way shot is suoperb as well!

[rob0971]

That's a fantastic shot. One to be proud of.

[baggywrinkle]

Stunning shot of the Milky Way

[bm1980]

Very nice image, love the colours and the compisition is spot on,

also love the milkyway, very nice for just a 30 sec exsposure.

Regards

Ben

[Space Ranger]

Thank you all - glad you liked the pics. I certainly enjoyed the few hours spent that night with a few fellow skywatchers taking photos and enjoying the view.

Gordon

[saturn5]

Cracking shots Gordon .Bet you wont get that pov of the bears in the winter,unless you have a wetsuit  ;-)

[Space Ranger]

Cracking shots Gordon .Bet you wont get that pov of the bears in the winter,unless you have a wetsuit  ;-)

.......or maybe ice skates?

Either way I won't be trying it!

[Robny]

Wow, both are great shots - need to stop making this astrophotography to complicated and key it simple, love it!