Posted by Rob Graham on April 20, 2014 at 11:12 PM
04/15/14, 2:45 am, Barton County, KS. This 16(2 rows of 8) image panorama has a field of view of ~200 degrees. The brightest light is a town of ~15K that is 10 miles away; the rest of the towns in the photo are 10-30 miles away and 1.5-4K in population. The moon is totally eclipsed, and Mars is the next brightest object to it. The brightest portion of the light pollution was easily visible in the field, but the full extent of the light pollution became apparent during processing. Stars can be seen inside the light bubble, but no where as easily as the Milky Way. This low resolution image does not due justice to the number of stars visible away from the light bubble. I replaced the moon with an image taken at the same time to bring a little more detail to the eclipsed moon. 7D, ISO 1600, f/2.8, 13 sec, 14mm Rokinon, stitched with PTGui. C&C always welcome and appreciated.
I caught the astrophotography bug this winter, big time :). It has been a lot of fun, but cold.
Posted by Darren Huski on April 21, 2014 at 7:13 AM
Well done! Great idea on how to photograph the eclipse in a different way.
Count me as another one doing more night photography these days. I look at it as a way to photograph on the clear sky times.
On a side note, it is amazing how little and far away towns have a huge impact on dark sky.
Posted by Ken Bachman on April 21, 2014 at 1:20 PM
Great job, Rob. That is an interesting take on the eclipse. I was amazed at how bright the stars were, but never thought of trying a shot like this. It is amazing how even in central Kansas it's hard to get away from lights.
My attempts at Monument Rocks didn't turn out too good, I think I was out of practice and it was too freaking cold to try and be creative.
I like your presentation - and the stitch turned out nicely. It always boggles my mind to think about the Milky Way...and to see the light from every sunrise and sunset on earth at once is just amazing.
Like Ken, I was a little chilly to be very creative. I'll try to put more effort into it in October
Posted by Rob Graham on April 21, 2014 at 10:20 PM
Thanks guys. It was only in the low 20s, that isn't cold :). Even after going back to bed for a while, and a hot shower before work that morning, I still had to grab a couple of blankets from the warmer at work to finally shake the chill. I have been doing these kinds of panoramas all winter, though it wasn't until I saw the Milky Way that I considered it that night. I have shot several, including a couple of 360 degree panos, but they are time intensive to stitch, so completing them all hasn't happened yet.
Discussion
4 repliesI caught the astrophotography bug this winter, big time :). It has been a lot of fun, but cold.
Count me as another one doing more night photography these days. I look at it as a way to photograph on the clear sky times.
On a side note, it is amazing how little and far away towns have a huge impact on dark sky.
My attempts at Monument Rocks didn't turn out too good, I think I was out of practice and it was too freaking cold to try and be creative.
Like Ken, I was a little chilly to be very creative. I'll try to put more effort into it in October