Great run of clear evenings in South Devon - Milky Way & Meteors

[John Baker]

We seem to be having a great run of clear nights at the moment, ties in nicely with the Perseid Meteor shower as well as great views of the core of the Milky Way.

I managed to get two very late nights/early mornings. The first night I went down to Burgh Island at Bigbury on Sea, this has the famous Art Deco hotel used by Agatha Christie and Noel Coward. The first shot was an astro selfie while we waited for some of the lights to go off on the island. The second shot is a panorama of the island with a nice meteor.

Next pair are some wide Milky Way shots, the first (vertical) was Tamron 15-30 at 15mm, 30" f2.8, ISO 6,400 nice meteor passing Andromeda, the wide shots was same lens at 20mm, 20" f3.2 and ISO 5,000 both single shots..

The second night I went over to East Devon. We started the evening at Ladram Bay, the tide had turned but was still a bit too high, also the Milky Way was too far to the south, but always a nice location, the main beach is illuminated by the light from a local holiday park. The next pair are of the River Otter at Budleigh Salterton, low tide and stood in the river, both shots on the 15 - 30mm at 15mm. Again nice to see Andromeda and the Pleiades .    The final location was the Geoneedle at Orcombe Point at Exmouth, while the Milky Way was way to the South West at this point it was still nice to get a streak which I think is possibly a Meteor?

A great couple of nights and worth the loss of sleep....

[Alien 13]

What a stunning set of images well worth any lack of sleep.

Alan

[StargeezerTim]

My goodness... what a fabulous set of images!

They are all great but the first one, the selfie, is stunning... You should definately submit that for publication.

Well done!

[orion25]

Crackin' set of images, John. I agree with Stargeezer Tim, that first one is a classic! Definitely worth losing some sleep.

[Tzitzis]

Wow... Great images... All of them... I can't single one out to be my favorite...

[Tonynexevo925]

Excellent images - first and fifth are my favourites ??

[Ruud]

Magnificent images! You are a true artist.

[Pete Presland]

A great set of images, dark skies really are worth asking out.

[Aussie Dave]

All great John as usual. Your camera and skills really capture the night skies well and a bonus with those meteors.

[Tommohawk]

Recently got a wide-ish angle lens for my DSLR to have a go at milky way and hopefully Perseids. Had a quick search on "Milky Way" hoping to get some tips... and blow me the first thread I found was this one. Never mind a few tips... more like a master class. Not sure which I envy most - the technical skill, artwork...or just all that clear sky! Fabulous pics, thanks for posting.

[John Baker]

14 minutes ago, Tommohawk said:

Recently got a wide-ish angle lens for my DSLR to have a go at milky way and hopefully Perseids. Had a quick search on "Milky Way" hoping to get some tips... and blow me the first thread I found was this one. Never mind a few tips... more like a master class. Not sure which I envy most - the technical skill, artwork...or just all that clear sky! Fabulous pics, thanks for posting.

Hi Tom, good luck with your shooting, the trick is to get out find some decent locations and give them a go. We do struggle in this country with cloudy skies, but I am amazed at the recent run of clear night - hopefully out again tonight, but I must admit it is starting to catch up with me...

Many thanks for all the kind comments, I was really pleased when these shots were used by several of the UK National papers, as always they did not get the detail quite right, but at least they are showing some astro photos which has to be good...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3729323/Stunning-images-shooting-stars-Devon-annual-Perseids-meteor-shower-lights-sky.html

[nmoore6]

5 hours ago, John Baker said:

Hi Tom, good luck with your shooting, the trick is to get out find some decent locations and give them a go. We do struggle in this country with cloudy skies, but I am amazed at the recent run of clear night - hopefully out again tonight, but I must admit it is starting to catch up with me...

Many thanks for all the kind comments, I was really pleased when these shots were used by several of the UK National papers, as always they did not get the detail quite right, but at least they are showing some astro photos which has to be good...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3729323/Stunning-images-shooting-stars-Devon-annual-Perseids-meteor-shower-lights-sky.html

Hey awesome shots! Just wondering, did you take two separate shots of the foreground and milky way and then merge them, or are these a single exposure?

[John Baker]

4 hours ago, nmoore6 said:

Hey awesome shots! Just wondering, did you take two separate shots of the foreground and milky way and then merge them, or are these a single exposure?

These are all single shots, apart from the second which was a panorama of 4 shorts which were then blended.  For the first shot a friend pressed the shutter, as it allowed me to get in the right position. I occasionally blend shots where I follow the 500 rule for the sky, but then do a long exposure, especially  where I have a very dark foreground which is a long way away. For close objects I do quite a lot of light painting, normally with a small flash gun as it gives white light and I can adjust the output - I find it is easy to darken things post processing than to try and pull back details which are not there

 

[nmoore6]

4 hours ago, John Baker said:

These are all single shots, apart from the second which was a panorama of 4 shorts which were then blended.  For the first shot a friend pressed the shutter, as it allowed me to get in the right position. I occasionally blend shots where I follow the 500 rule for the sky, but then do a long exposure, especially  where I have a very dark foreground which is a long way away. For close objects I do quite a lot of light painting, normally with a small flash gun as it gives white light and I can adjust the output - I find it is easy to darken things post processing than to try and pull back details which are not there

 

Thats awesome! do you mind me asking what your camera settings are for foreground shots when you do separate photos? I'm having trouble nailing that down. And do you use photoshop to blend them together?

[laudropb]

Another great set of images. I envy those skies you've captured so well.

[John Baker]

3 hours ago, nmoore6 said:

Thats awesome! do you mind me asking what your camera settings are for foreground shots when you do separate photos? I'm having trouble nailing that down. And do you use photoshop to blend them together?

I use Photoshop and as long as you end up with the different images on separate layers it is then quite easy to blend them together. Re exposing the foreground it is very much trial and error, so if I am using the 500 rule for the sky (divide 500 by the focal length of your lens) so with a 15mm lens - 500/15 = 33 seconds, rounded down = 30 seconds, I then add a couple of stops, so to add 1 stop would be 30seconds x 2 = 1min, then to add a second stop = 1min x 2 = 2 mins - so I would try exposing the foreground for 2 mins. The other option is  to try light painting, I have tried using torches but due to working at very high ISO 6,400/8,000 or 12,800 this has not been very successful. I do quite a lot of painting with a small flash, I use a Nissin i40 this has variable power output from full power down to 1/256th, takes 4 batteries so recharges very quickly. I also use a snoot (basically a cardboard tube) to stop the flash spilling across the frame, I will use multiple short bursts to build up the detail and put the light exactly where I want  -  i hope that helps