Milky Way Practice

We're getting ready to go on another cross-country trip by rail, from coast to coast, so the past few days have been very busy.  We still have a few loose ends to tie up, mostly related to medical stuff, but other than packing we're just about ready.

Part of this stage of preparation has been getting my photography gear in order.  Well...  first, I needed to decide which photography gear I want to carry across the country.  We had some exceptionally heavy bags with us on our last cross-country trip with two of the grandchildren so I've been hoping to travel a bit lighter this time.  Unfortunately, this trip is a bit longer and the weather a little cooler so we'll need some additional clothing and some of that clothing will be slightly bulky outerwear.  I want to limit my photography gear because that is, without a doubt, the heaviest thing in my bag(s).  

I've narrowed this down for the most part but I still might make some last minute changes.  For instance, I'm still undecided about whether I should pack a microphone for video.  I could simply use the in-camera microphone but an external microphone makes the sound so much better.  Putting aside the microphone option, I wanted to get outside to test some gear so I could narrow down my lens and camera body choices.

During this long trip, we'll be visiting Crater Lake National Park and I definitely have a few specific photos I hope to capture while we're there.  Of course, I hope to capture some nice landscape photos, perhaps some wildlife photos if we see anything different than we have on the east coast, and some photos of us hiking.  One specific photo I'd like to attempt to get is a photo of the Milky Way in the night sky over Crater Lake National Park since the skies should be darker there.   The seeing should be better there due to the very high altitude so I don't want to pass up this opportunity.  Until tonight, I have never tried this type of photography with my current photography gear.  Every now and then I upgrade my gear with used gear I find at photography retailers and it just so happens that, at the moment, I'm learning to shoot with some very "different" gear so I could use some practice.

So, I wandered to the backyard this evening among the bears and skunks to do some practice.  If this didn't work well, I had already decided that I'd change some of my gear for more appropriate gear.  After a bit of practice, however, I believe the gear I chose will work just fine.  This photo, at right, is what I easily captured tonight from our backyard.

In hindsight, I should have climbed up onto our roof to capture this photo.  Maybe I'll do that tonight if the skies are clear again (a rare occurrence for us).  We have a tree blocking the biggest and brightest part of the galactic core.  On top of this tree's silhouette, we have the top end of my sailboat's mast protruding upward into the sky.  If I had been up on our roof, I would have had an easier time getting more of the Milky Way in my view so I'd like to try that next time.  Or, maybe I'll drive to a better location nearby.

This was a 30 second exposure and, at this size, it looks pretty good.  At larger sizes, however, it is easy to see that the stars are slightly streaked due to the rotation of the Earth during this 30 second exposure.  For pinpoint stars, I'd be better off limiting my shutter speed to the 15-20 second range.  I did capture quite a lot of stars though which was a very pleasant surprise!

Ideally, I wish I had a more appropriate lens for this type of photography but this lens is sharp and the results are definitely acceptable.  It's also my best lens for landscapes so it is the lens I want in my bag (even though it is very heavy).  

I am using a small travel tripod for this night sky photography and that seems to be working well.  This little tripod and tripod head is adding a bit of weight to my bag but it is a necessary piece of gear.  On the positive side, this small travel tripod is a lot lighter than my usual tripod and it seems to be stable enough for long exposures.

I first went outside at around 8:15pm.  The sky was still a bit blue in long exposures and I had difficulty finding exactly where the Milky Way was located in the sky!  To make matters worse, we had clouds constantly obscuring my view.  

About an hour later, I had better luck when the clouds cleared the area and it was easier to see the Milky Way with my naked eyes.  I was able to see the Milky Way stretching all the way across the entire sky from the horizon to the south where the galactic core was illuminating the sky, arching upward directly over my head, and then to the northern horizon.  It was an unusually clear night for us!  We had a few moments when the sky was clear so I captured that photo above and then immediately headed indoors.  I was hearing some animals in the brush around me and I was smelling skunk so I did not want to linger any longer than necessary!

I'll close this blog entry with a photo I captured just a few minutes before I captured the above photo.  In this photo it is easy to see the problems I had with clouds.  Additionally, the number of satellites and aircraft streaking through the sky is ridiculous!  Just a few minutes later, I was able to capture the above photo.  But again, I really should have climbed up onto the roof to capture that photo.