Island Astrophotography Trip - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

07/01/2009 11:04:22 AM · #1

Last week, a friend (and fellow photographer) and I had the trip of a lifetime. We were hosted by the National Parks Service to stay on one of the Apostle Islands for a five day stay. We actually got to stay inside the historic lighthouse, which has no water, electricity, or amenities. Basically camping indoors. The purpose of the trip was to capture some shots highlighting the dark skies in this remote location. We chose to shoot the milky way over the lighthouse.

Here are a few shots from the trip:

The light station and a storm over Lake Superior.

The bug suit tells you everything you need to know about Wisconsin's state bird - the mosquito. I lost a lot of blood on this trip. On the day of the bug suit shot, it was 84 degrees and humid. I was on a 5 mile hike to an abandoned logger's camp. Note the gloves, sweats and net hat.

Always a sucker for sunsets.

The money-shots. Both of these babies still require a lot of cleanup before they can be printed. This type of astrophotography is hard!

DrAchoo

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

07/01/2009 11:08:06 AM · #2

How dark was the area on the Bortle scale? Those are some great shots! No stacking on the milky way stuff?

Message edited by author 2009-07-01 11:08:19.

kirbic

Canon EOS R5

Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L IS

07/01/2009 11:10:24 AM · #3

Aha! I was wondering how your trip went... I see you gave a pint or two ;-)

Here's hoping we can get together soon.

07/01/2009 11:11:17 AM · #4

The skies are a solid 2 on the B-scale. The only thing preventing a bump to 1 is the fact that we're a "sea level" on a lake. Pristine skies are usually reserved for above 5000 feet in dry climes. That said, it's a great location.

I didn't stack the MW shots. They are one exposure sky (drive on) one exposure land (drive off) to give sharp sky and terrestrial features. I haven't mastered registering wide field shots with lots of stars. ;-(

Fisher Price Kid-Tough Digital

07/03/2009 05:58:53 PM · #5

Final edit of our alternate shot, the "Wednesday" shot:

Bugzeye

07/03/2009 07:08:49 PM · #6

Hey John, I had a look at a few of the trip photos on your facebook page. Some nice work. I especially like the one of you with the Banana. haha.

Bugzeye

Fisher Price Kid-Tough Digital

07/03/2009 07:11:11 PM · #7

I experienced really dark skies while flying to Milwaukee from LA the other night, The sky was crystal clear could see millions of stars from the plane.

Originally posted by strangeghost:

Intelli

Nikon D300

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED

07/03/2009 07:14:46 PM · #8

What do you use to track?

Apple iPhone 5

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ED

07/03/2009 07:17:03 PM · #9

Originally posted by Intelli:

What do you use to track?

That's what I'm curious about too...

Intelli

Nikon D300

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED

07/03/2009 07:31:05 PM · #10

Originally posted by JH:

Originally posted by Intelli:
What do you use to track?

That's what I'm curious about too...

Just read comments on the final edit--- " so the camera (mounted on a telescope) cancels the earth's rotation, allowing the milky way to be captured in sharp detail. "

So you mounted the camera on the telescope? with what? tape? I have a tracking telescope.. I'm wondering how this could be done.

07/03/2009 07:32:15 PM · #11

Originally posted by Intelli:

What do you use to track?

The camera rides on top of my telescope, which has a sidereal drive. Here's a pic of my friend's medium format film camera in this configuration years ago. Just picture a digital SLR instead: