My photo tour group and I had a clear sky here in New Zealand's South Island tonight, and we were able to capture the Milky Way arcing above the famous Church of the Good Shepherd at the edge of Lake Tekapo. To add a bit of color to the stone church, I used a small LED light that looked faint to my eyes but provided enough light to embellish the image. I captured this image with the Sigma 14mm f/1.8 wide angle lens, and because of its incredible light gathering ability, I was able to lower the ISO as well as shorten the exposure time. This meant that the stars were pin points of light instead of appearing oblong due to the rotation of the earth. My settings were 15 seconds (most astro-photographers shoot with a 30 second exposure which is too long in my opinion), f/1.8, and ISO 1600.
6 Comments
Apr 13, 2018, 10:36:01 PM
Jim - Hi Barbara, Thank you for the compliment. I painted the building with the red LED light, but there was also light coming from a parking lot to the right of the picture. So, you are seeing the effect of both light sources.
Apr 13, 2018, 10:02:20 PM
Barbara Vickers - Wow! Beautiful photo! Jim, did you "paint" the church with the small LED light or did the light illuminate the complete building?
Apr 13, 2018, 9:37:13 PM
Jim - Hi Bill, Yes, very lucky. We are going to shoot it again tonight, and again the sky is incredibly clear. Other places in NZ right now have quite a bit of rain.
Apr 13, 2018, 7:26:17 AM
Jim - Thank you for appreciating my work, Vera, and for the kind blessing.
Apr 13, 2018, 6:51:03 AM
Bill - Outstanding shots from NZ Jim. Really enjoying these.
You were lucky to get such clear skies. We had only 1 in 3 weeks during February due to the cyclone.
Apr 13, 2018, 6:20:53 AM
Vera - Heavenly Beautiful. It brings joy, peace, love an de hope. There is so much beauty in this world. Thank you Jim. God Bless you.