In the Horizon

24 frames stacked and blended : In the Horizon

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Alignment is Key

After playing around trying to get his scope aligned with the stars my cousin finally got it done and we were able to see some stars. But this was not before clouds rolled back into the frame. How it was shot: Sky was shot on an IOptron skyguider PRO star tracker 9 shots at EXIF: ISO 640/ f/2.8/ 480 sec, each frames. This was then stacked in Sequator and finally edited in Photoshop CC and Lightroom LR. Foreground 3 frames - ISO 1000/ 30 sec/ f/2.8 Gear: Canon 5Dmkiii, Sirui tripd head, Manfrotto CX540, Ioptron Sky guider PRO, Case air remote.

Mara Beach Pano

Seeing it in person

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Mara Beach Single Frame

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Outback at Core

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Sprinkled

Pedernales Falls State Park, Park Road 6026, Johnson City, TX

Right off the road

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Bridged Across

STORY: Matagorda is a pretty well known beach here in the gulf area. Its about 2 – 2.5 hours from Downtown Houston driving south west on HW288 and a few smaller roads to hit the beach front. My coworker and I took this drive last Friday on August 30th after work . It was a new moon night and had 10% cloud cover based on the weather reports. On reaching we quickly realized the main areas to photograph were either accessible over an older pier and then rocks or by driving through the sand. Without much experience we resorted to walk over to final location. It around a quarter of a mile but the wind and salty air feels great. The location clearly falls under the blue and dark blue zone on the light pollution map but with some many heads with head lamps and some with larger halogens the scene does get polluted real soon. We were only lucky for the first hour or two when this shot was taken. Right under the bridge there are huge pink granite boulders to break the waves. I walked over them and got under the bridge as far as I could as at this point the tide had started to rise. Hoping to not wet my gear or myself I was a little shaky but finally landed up doing a multi image Pano for the shot. TECHNIQUE & EXIF: Pano, Stacked & Blended • Canon 5D mkiii + Tokina 16-28 f/2.8+ Sirui tripod + Yongnuo trigger and remote • All images shot in landscape format with the sky composed of 6 frames @ 15 seconds each, f/2.8, ISO 4000 • Blended with foreground of 3 frames @ 70 sec f/2.8, , ISO 800.

Ledge

The Edge of the Ledge

In the distance

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Rest

Stargazing

Pedernales Falls State Park, Park Road 6026, Johnson City, TX

An Outback

We went out on a new moon night around 11pm with the core near the horizon. Clouds in the horizon roll in as we frame the shot. How it was shot: Sky was shot on an IOptron skyguider PRO star tracker 7 shots at EXIF: ISO 640/ f/2.8/ 480 sec, each frames. This was then stacked in Sequator and finally edited in Photoshop CC and Lightroom LR. Foreground 3 frames - ISO 640/ 120 sec/ f/2.8 Gear: Canon 5Dmkiii, Sirui tripd head, Manfrotto CX540, Ioptron Sky guider PRO, Case air remote. Gear: Canon 5Dmkiii, Sirui tripd head, Manfrotto CX540, Ioptron Sky guider PRO, Case air remote.

Between the Trees

Milkyway Between the trees

Purple haze

Pedernales Falls State Park, Park Road 6026, Johnson City, TX

Subaru Outback 3

Embracing the Galaxy

Panorama 5

Horizon Yellow

Panorama 4

Watching from the Fern

9 Frames stitched horizontally

Milkyway Core ... Outback and the power lines tell a story

Panorama 6 E

The glow in the dark

Story: This image was shot at The Old Rock Church up in Waco, Texas. Its a beautiful church by day and an even better location to see the stars by night. Visiting this place on a clear night with 0% humidity would make for great milkyway sighting for sure, but I was there and wanted to capture what was visible. In the distance the near by city lights bleeds into the pristine night sky creating a bridge between reality and dreaminess…. Composite/ Stack Sky – 10 frames, Foreground 3 frames

We are all alone

5 images shot vertically and stacked for sky, blended with fore ground which is a single image. That is me in the foreground contemplating about life. The Milkyway never disappoints me. It is always there and will always remind me how we are all part of a system yet alone!

Rocks

Composite-Edit

RED Spiral

Panorama 7

Two Brothers and the Milkyway

Shot at Palo Duro Canyon State Park.

Brothers

During the lock down my Cousin and I drove down to the nearest beachfront and shot some Milkyway on half moon lit night. It was exciting as this was the first time I was shooting on a moonlit night. Clearly it gave an advantage as the fore ground was nice clean and brightly lit. The skies were clear for the entire night and we got to photograph the milkyway in its full glory.

White blur in the sky

Panorama 2

Shelter in Place

The beach has some really great concrete shelters that accommodate visitors. With no ambient light they make for great subjects at night. Clearly look like some alien structures.

Three Brothers

We had been dodging clouds for atleast 2 hours and finally we get a window of clear skies. My cousin was tracking planetary bodies on his Celestron Telescopes and we were huddled in one place as we discussed current political conditions and our existence compared to the what stood in front off us.. How it was shot: Sky was shot on an IOptron skyguider PRO star tracker 9 shots at EXIF: ISO 640/ f/2.8/ 480 sec, each frames. This was then stacked in Sequator and finally edited in Photoshop CC and Lightroom LR. Foreground 3 frames - ISO 1000/ 30 sec/ f/2.8 Gear: Canon 5Dmkiii, Sirui tripd head, Manfrotto CX540, Ioptron Sky guider PRO, Case air remote.

Silo under the star

Watching the silos under the night sky on a clear night was unreal. The light pollution in the background however was extremely real. Sometimes shooting in semi remote areas can present its challenges but you to make the most of it.

The spiral behind me!

Lighting Painting Spiral

Seated

After a long night of photographing the mighty milkyway we sat to catch the inspiring sight...

Milkyway at Fort Boggy State Park, TX

Parking Lot views

Gaze

Brought a friend along to see the Milkyway and he liked it. He stood at the edge of the rocks with a headlamp as I composed the frame in the series. Exif: Sky Frame - 2 rows of 5 across ISO 4000, 15sec, F/2.8 Foreground - 1 row 5 across ISO 800, 75sec , f/2.8.

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Subaru Outback 2

Fort Boggy State Park, TX

Parking Lot Vertical

Bridge 1

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Trucks Under Core

CATEGORY: Stack/ Tracked/ Blended Composite Story: Living in a city has its drawbacks. We have all the comforts and loose sight of the larger forces. With light pollution as a normal darker skies are hard to come by. Having little to no access to darker skies near where I stay I decided to have some fun shooting composites. The areas which were once under blue and green zones are now under orange and yellow and in the next decade will likely be a white zone with heavier light pollution. Found some road widening in progress in what use to be largerly a farming town few years back, so I decided to stop and shoot some foregrounds.The milkyways very visible but clouded by the polluted sky. I had alreaddy planned to shoot the foreground and procceded to do so. I went back the following night a few miles further from the foreground location and shot the Milky Way. Industrial areas near by caused the heavy light pollution near the horizon. This was a good excercise to create composites. EXIF: Canon 5Dmkiii, Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 Shot at f/2.8, Manfrotto tripod, Sirui ball head, Ipotron Skyguider pro. Sky- ISO 320, 7 frames, 210 sec @ 28mm [ Vertical Panno stitched in PS] Foreground ISO 100, 5 frames 178 sec @16mm Stacking tool - Sequator. Edited in LR CC and PS CC

Beyond the Fence

The Milkyway rising beyond the fence...out of reach

Crop duster plane out for maintenance

CATEGORY: Stack/ Tracked/ Blended Composite Roy IG: https://www.instagram.com/pgroyphotography/ Roy FB: https://www.facebook.com/pgroyphotography/ Kevin IG: https://www.instagram.com/114kev/?hl=en Story: Crop duster plane out for maintenance In one of my previous posts I had mentioned the need to preserve the night skies and expressed my feelings about how lots of areas are now being polluted due to developing cities and smaller towns. I was on one of my rants as I spoke to a fellow Milky Way chaser from California. Kevin and I go back a year, when we shot together when I was visiting San Jose, CA. I was taken aback with the amount of dark skies at his disposal and the tremendous potential at various locations both in terms of foregrounds and skies. Fast forward one year and I was talking about my views about Houston, Texas skies. He sent me the foreground which he shot on one of his drives near his home town. We decided to collaborate to create a few images where I would use his foreground with the Milky Way shot here in Texas. This is the first one from the series. YES it’s a composite and to some this is blasphemy. But I consider this as a practice of masking, blending and the usual LR/PS processing of night sky imagery. So here it is. Crop duster plan out for maintenance EXIF [this will be tricky] Sky: Free port, Texas - Photographed by myself. Canon 5Dmkiii, Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 Shot at f/2.8, Manfrotto tripod, Sirui ball head, Ipotron Skyguider pro. ISO 320, 7 frames, 210 sec @ 28mm [ Vertical Panno stitched in PS] Stacking tool - Sequator. Edited in LR CC and PS CC Foreground: Woodland, CA - Photographed by Kevin. Sony A7ii, Sony Zeiss Distagon 35mm, ISO 400, single frame 1/25 @35mm, F/1.4, no tripod used.

Milkyway Chasers

5 Frames for sky stacked and single frame for fore ground.

Trucking Under the Milky Way Core

CATEGORY: Stack/ Tracked/ Blended Composite Story: Living in a city has its drawbacks. We have all the comforts and loose sight of the larger forces. With light pollution as a normal darker skies are hard to come by. Having little to no access to darker skies near where I stay I decided to have some fun shooting composites. The areas which were once under blue and green zones are now under orange and yellow and in the next decade will likely be a white zone with heavier light pollution. Found some road widening in progress in what use to be largely a farming town few years back, so I decided to stop and shoot some foregrounds.The milky ways very visible but clouded by the polluted sky. I had already planned to shoot the foreground and proceeded to do so. I went back the following night a few miles further from the foreground location and shot the Milky Way. Industrial areas near by caused the heavy light pollution near the horizon. This was a good exercise to create composites. EXIF: Canon 5Dmkiii, Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 Shot at f/2.8, Manfrotto tripod, Sirui ball head, Ipotron Skyguider pro. Sky- ISO 320, 7 frames, 210 sec @ 28mm [ Vertical Panno stitched in PS] Foreground ISO 100, 5 frames 178 sec @16mm Stacking tool - Sequator. Edited in LR CC and PS CC