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AstroLandscapes #72 - Waterfalls and Stars


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In the middle of August, we had our family holiday in the Ligurian Alps, in the north west of Italy, just over from the border with France. As we were up in the hills, we explored various rivers and valleys for interesting swimming spots, one of which was a stunning spot above the picturesque village of Rocchetta.  About a 20 minute hike up from the village was a lovely pool into which spilled a waterfall.  Swimming to cool down in the late afternoon became a pattern we enjoyed and it was particularly good fun to jump off the waterfall.  I caused a lot of amusement doing this as my physique (it's not just my camera that's full frame) and many years of honing my cannonball technique seemed to be the perfect match for the occasion.

One evening I decided to head up to the waterfall to make a couple of images.  The hike up, with 16kg of camera gear on my back, was fairly tough, with plenty of hands-on-rock action, and back and forth to take b-roll shots for the video, ensuring that by the time I arrived I was soaked through and very hot.  But it was wonderful to be there at night, with the constant roar of the waterfall drowning out all but the loudest nocturnal wildlife.

My first image was a star trails shot above the waterfall.  I had in mind a fantasy-like shot emphasising the tree-lined valley, the lush vegetation and rocks behind the waterfall and the flow of the water.  While that was shooting, I headed further down the ravine, mindful that the rocks were sometimes exceptionally slippery, in order to capture the Milky Way as it stood vertically between the steep valley sides.  Conscious that it wasn't the sort of place where I could easily get help, I let discretion be the better part of valour and when the rocks started to get more challenging, and the consequences of a slip more painful, I opted to take my shot from further up the valley than would have been ideal.  In this location, the Milky Way was not quite lining up in the same way it would 50 yards downstream, so I battled briefly with my conscience before electing to make a composite image.  Given the valley sides were so steep that I couldn't see Polaris, I had to move to another location to take my tracked sky shots in any case.

After making that second image, I had about half an hour before I'd gathered as much star trail data as I wanted, so I decided to take a nighttime dip under the waterfall.  Lying on my back in the water, with the white noise of the waterfall, staring up at the beautifully dark sky above my head was one of the most wonderful experiences - the very essence of the adventures I seek in the landscape at night, and a fantastic way to cool down.  

I made a film of the whole night, which you can find here - do pop over and check out my other Nightscape Journal videos too if you like that sort of thing!

Thanks, Paul. 😊

Whirlpools

20240808Whirlpools.thumb.jpg.4540aa6de04356a420e2dc9116b21d80.jpg

📷 Canon 6D with Samyang 14mm f/2.8
🔧 Sky: 382x20s @ f/2.8 and ISO800 | Foreground: 1x120s @f/4 and ISO3200

🎞️ Edited and assembled in StarStax and Photoshop

 

The Silver River

20240808TheSilverRiver.thumb.jpg.71e2edb503bb1805dc5b04bed4b23571.jpg

📷 Canon 6Da with Sigma Art 24mm f/1.4 lens and MSM Nomad tracker
🔧 Sky: 12x120s tracked @ f/4 and ISO800 | Foreground: 3x120s @f/2.8 and ISO6400 - 3 shot vertorama

🎞️ Sky stacked in Sequator. Edited and assembled in Photoshop, Lightroom and Starnet++

 

 

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Wow! I’m very much impressed with all  that.  I felt as though I was there! I was most impressed by the realisation  that you not only did the night photography but you also film yourself doing it. How you go about doing that would be very interesting  - though that would need to be shot from a second perspective.   I know if it were me I have enough trouble wrestling with the photography task itself let alone filming myself doing it. Well done. Excellent. Nice resultant pics too.  

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14 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

Wow! I’m very much impressed with all  that.  I felt as though I was there! I was most impressed by the realisation  that you not only did the night photography but you also film yourself doing it. How you go about doing that would be very interesting  - though that would need to be shot from a second perspective.   I know if it were me I have enough trouble wrestling with the photography task itself let alone filming myself doing it. Well done. Excellent. Nice resultant pics too.  

Thank you 😊. As it happens I've often talked with other people who do these nighttime videos about making a video about how we make the videos.  But we'd concluded that the audience would be very much niche-within-a-niche-within-a-niche!

When I first started making them, it was very distracting and disorganised and definitely interrupted the flow of photography. But I now apply the mindset that I'm going out primarily to make a film about the adventure under the night sky, of which photography is a part - somehow changing that mindset means I find the hassles of making the video much more palatable and I'm more likely to be willing to climb up a hill, set the video camera up, go back down the hill, and then walk back up it all to get just 3 seconds of video in the final edit!  If I didn't approach it that way, I think I would have given up by now! 🤣

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I’m definitely in the niche within a niche group. 😀  

4 minutes ago, FenlandPaul said:

somehow changing that mindset means I find the hassles of making the video much more palatable and I'm more likely to be willing to climb up a hill, set the video camera up, go back down the hill, and then walk back up it all to get just 3 seconds of video in the final edit!  If I didn't approach it that way, I think I would have given up by now!

Yes, I can see that.   That’s what struck as I watched it. You had to set the shot up. Walk past the camera. Come back. Check it was OK presumably. Shoot it again if necessary.  And on your own presumably. No film ‘crew’. 

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8 minutes ago, AstroNebulee said:

One word Paul - STUNNING! Can't say anymore than that. Thank you for such a wonderful description and video (which I'm about to watch). 

I hope you had a lovely holiday 😊

Cheers 

Lee 

Thanks Lee - very kind of you. It was an awesome holiday, thanks, and I'm looking forward to sharing the next video, which ended up being one of the best astro adventures I've ever had!

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After an hour long video of shots walking through streets, across meadows, wading through stream, swimming across lakes, climbing up cliff faces , in and out of caves, you arrive at your perfect planned location to start taking the astro shots. Soaked disheveled with a few cuts, the camera pans up and you're breathing is heavy and you utter the words " oh [removed word] it's clouded up" 

Edited by scotty1
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