Ribblehead Viaduct Nighscapes

[GordonH]

Last night I went back to one of favourite haunts to shoot some time lapse, star trails, animated star rails and some nightscapes. It sounds like a lot but all of these are done from the same data. I got to Ribblehead station at about 2:30pm which left me plenty of time to have a cup of coffee at the Station Inn before setting off for the viaduct where I was based for the night. In all I shot 6 time lapse clips from which I also made a couple of animated star trails, star trail images and some single image nightscape shots. I was using a Sony A7Sii with a Samyang 12mm f2.8 fisheye lens and all the exposures were 40 seconds at f2.8 with ISO varying between 1000, 6400 and 8000. For the other clips I used my Sony A7iii with Samyang 24mm f1.4 and all exposures were 20 seconds at f1.4 and ISO 1000 and 6400. Even though the cameras aren't astro modified I found that on the one clip showing the milky way moving across the viaduct I could easily make out the North America Nebula as well as Andromeda galaxy which I thought was pretty good for a 20 second exposure. In all I took a total of about 2,600 images between 5:30pm and 5:30am. It was very clear with no wind during the night but very cold and frosty, during one of the clips you can actually see a puddle in the foreground icing over. From downloading all the data from my cameras to uploading to youtube took me about 6 hours.

 

The video can be seen at the link below and it is available in HD and 4K (4K is much better)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OmT577aEwk

[andy fearn]

Wow . stunning video. lovely part of the country, have been over and under the viaduct. need to get back up there soon. Thanks for sharing.😀

[tooth_dr]

Those were great! Thanks for sharing. 

[Craney]

Oh yes.  Great stuff.   Fantastic piece of engineering to enhance the natural beauty of the skies.... and backing music that compliments the action as well.

Are you the only time-lapse photographer there. Your videos are so good I'm surprised you have not started some sort of 'flashmob' of the Dales.

Remarkably cloudless as well considering the weather we have been having of late.  I'm tempted.

[Alan White]

That was stunning, even my wife thought so too and she is very much a non Astronomer.

Has set me wondering about the imaging side of things and that is quite something to achieve.

[GordonH]

1 hour ago, Craney said:

Oh yes.  Great stuff.   Fantastic piece of engineering to enhance the natural beauty of the skies.... and backing music that compliments the action as well.

Are you the only time-lapse photographer there. Your videos are so good I'm surprised you have not started some sort of 'flashmob' of the Dales.

Remarkably cloudless as well considering the weather we have been having of late.  I'm tempted.

There are a few people who do single nightscape shots up here but I haven't seen anybody else doing all night time lapse sessions. Probably the reasons for this is 1. You need extra thermal gear to keep you warm for 12 hours or more, not just half an hour or so 2. Dew heaters are essential, there was a bloke at the same site for about 2 hours shooting nightscapes and the milky way and he didn't have dew heaters and he was wiping his lens every 5 minutes or so (not a good idea) 3. You need to make yourself as comfortable as possible, I use an inflatable bed roll on top of a ground sheet and I wear a down suit that is rated to -50c. 4. You need food and drink and finally 5. You need to be slightly unhinged to want to stay out all night in freezing temperatures

More kit is needed for an overnight session such as this than say a two hour shoot, as I don't drive and I have very bad joints in my legs (arthritis, artificial knee) from years of high impact sports I can't carry all my kit any more so I invested in a hiking trailer which will carry up to 40kg of gear which is a real bonus as it will fit on a train and then I hike the rest of the way to where I do my shoot. It does take a bit of planning and a serious amount of dedication especially in the winter but the results are worth it

Best wishes

Gordon

[Craney]

Thanks for the info Gordon.

Yes, there is a lot of dedication and skill  in evidence here, and the results are as good as anything I have seen on the web.   I must invest in some form of small dew heaters for my lenses, it is such a game-stopper to be faced with aggressive condensation when you are in the back of beyond.

The length of the exposure runs are truely impressive. 

I have layers of natural insulation from years of eating pies to ward off the chilly temps.... , but yes, one has to be slightly 'passionate' for ones hobby to do it, or even to prepare to do it when the forecasts are so variable and clear nights so rare.

Excellent work.

 

Sean.