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Milky Way & Light-Painted Ironwood Tree
Aug 31, 2021 16:39:18   #
Wilderness Images Loc: Apache Junction, AZ.
 
This photo of the Milky Way over Superstition Mountain, and the Ironwood Tree was taken late on a moonless night on May 9th of 2021 as I was just becoming familiar with Astrophotography.

Taking the Picture

I spent several hours researching the Milky Way and when it would be in just the right position to lay across Superstition Mountain as shown in the photo, but I wanted more than just the Milky Way over the Mountain. The Ironwood Tree is a favorite subject of mine, situated alongside a well-used foothills trail, and I look forward to the short period each spring when it’s in full bloom.

The semi-translucent, bluish-purple blossoms of the Ironwood Tree are on display for only a short period, so timing is of the utmost importance in the making of this photo. Of course, the outstanding color of the blossoms are only visible during the daylight hours, so I was determined to bring along some flashlights to “light-paint” the tree as I was exposing for the mountain and the Milky Way.

I tried each of my LED flashlights in turn but wasn’t satisfied with the results, until I grabbed my trusty mini-mag light from my bag. The Mag Light uses a filament type bulb, and the batteries were half used, but the light being reflected from the Ironwood tree was soft and lit up the tree nicely.

As the magic hour arrived and all was ready, I began taking a series of ten shots, each with a fifteen-second exposure time. I repeated this for several groups of photos, just in case one series was better than another. In all, I wound up with fifty photos to take home for extensive in-depth editing.

Editing the Picture

Because of the light painted tree and the dark sky, the dark mountain, and the dark foreground, I was unable to come up with an acceptable final photo that I felt I could use for a quality print. So, I had to separate the sky from the foreground and process each part separately. When I was finished with each part, and was satisfied, I then re-combined those two halves into the final image that you see.

The photo was edited in Affinity Photo
Jack Olson’s Images in the Wilderness.


(Download)

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Aug 31, 2021 16:41:05   #
PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago
 
Wilderness Images wrote:
This photo of the Milky Way over Superstition Mountain, and the Ironwood Tree was taken late on a moonless night on May 9th of 2021 as I was just becoming familiar with Astrophotography.

Taking the Picture

I spent several hours researching the Milky Way and when it would be in just the right position to lay across Superstition Mountain as shown in the photo, but I wanted more than just the Milky Way over the Mountain. The Ironwood Tree is a favorite subject of mine, situated alongside a well-used foothills trail, and I look forward to the short period each spring when it’s in full bloom.

The semi-translucent, bluish-purple blossoms of the Ironwood Tree are on display for only a short period, so timing is of the utmost importance in the making of this photo. Of course, the outstanding color of the blossoms are only visible during the daylight hours, so I was determined to bring along some flashlights to “light-paint” the tree as I was exposing for the mountain and the Milky Way.

I tried each of my LED flashlights in turn but wasn’t satisfied with the results, until I grabbed my trusty mini-mag light from my bag. The Mag Light uses a filament type bulb, and the batteries were half used, but the light being reflected from the Ironwood tree was soft and lit up the tree nicely.

As the magic hour arrived and all was ready, I began taking a series of ten shots, each with a fifteen-second exposure time. I repeated this for several groups of photos, just in case one series was better than another. In all, I wound up with fifty photos to take home for extensive in-depth editing.

Editing the Picture

Because of the light painted tree and the dark sky, the dark mountain, and the dark foreground, I was unable to come up with an acceptable final photo that I felt I could use for a quality print. So, I had to separate the sky from the foreground and process each part separately. When I was finished with each part, and was satisfied, I then re-combined those two halves into the final image that you see.

The photo was edited in Affinity Photo
Jack Olson’s Images in the Wilderness.
This photo of the Milky Way over Superstition Moun... (show quote)


Jack, You did great!

Reply
Aug 31, 2021 16:44:17   #
Wilderness Images Loc: Apache Junction, AZ.
 
PixelStan77 wrote:
Jack, You did great!


Thanks for your comment PixelStan77.

Reply
 
 
Sep 1, 2021 09:53:48   #
Rileychas Loc: San Diego, California
 
Well done

Reply
Sep 1, 2021 10:41:33   #
alberio Loc: Casa Grande AZ
 
I would like to see the same shot only from a different position, maybe further back or to the left or right. The tree tends to block the beautiful Superstition mts. You did an excellent job catching the Milky Way.

Reply
Sep 1, 2021 12:29:55   #
Wilderness Images Loc: Apache Junction, AZ.
 
alberio wrote:
I would like to see the same shot only from a different position, maybe further back or to the left or right. The tree tends to block the beautiful Superstition mts. You did an excellent job catching the Milky Way.


Thanks alberio, this project was primarily to get the tree into the shot. I have other Milky Way shots with the Mountain as the primary subject. I'll be posting them a bit later.

Jack Olson

Reply
Sep 2, 2021 12:03:37   #
Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California
 
Wilderness Images wrote:
This photo of the Milky Way over Superstition Mountain, and the Ironwood Tree was taken late on a moonless night on May 9th of 2021 as I was just becoming familiar with Astrophotography.

Taking the Picture

I spent several hours researching the Milky Way and when it would be in just the right position to lay across Superstition Mountain as shown in the photo, but I wanted more than just the Milky Way over the Mountain. The Ironwood Tree is a favorite subject of mine, situated alongside a well-used foothills trail, and I look forward to the short period each spring when it’s in full bloom.

The semi-translucent, bluish-purple blossoms of the Ironwood Tree are on display for only a short period, so timing is of the utmost importance in the making of this photo. Of course, the outstanding color of the blossoms are only visible during the daylight hours, so I was determined to bring along some flashlights to “light-paint” the tree as I was exposing for the mountain and the Milky Way.

I tried each of my LED flashlights in turn but wasn’t satisfied with the results, until I grabbed my trusty mini-mag light from my bag. The Mag Light uses a filament type bulb, and the batteries were half used, but the light being reflected from the Ironwood tree was soft and lit up the tree nicely.

As the magic hour arrived and all was ready, I began taking a series of ten shots, each with a fifteen-second exposure time. I repeated this for several groups of photos, just in case one series was better than another. In all, I wound up with fifty photos to take home for extensive in-depth editing.

Editing the Picture

Because of the light painted tree and the dark sky, the dark mountain, and the dark foreground, I was unable to come up with an acceptable final photo that I felt I could use for a quality print. So, I had to separate the sky from the foreground and process each part separately. When I was finished with each part, and was satisfied, I then re-combined those two halves into the final image that you see.

The photo was edited in Affinity Photo
Jack Olson’s Images in the Wilderness.
This photo of the Milky Way over Superstition Moun... (show quote)


Very nice image. One way to intensify the milky way would be to mount the camera on a small guiding head on the tripod (e.g. something like a sky watcher star adventure or other brand), then take longer shots of the milky way and potentially use a lower iso to remove noise. Then take separate shots of the tree with the guider off and add the milky way into the shot of the tree after the fact (which it sounds like you did anyway).

Reply
 
 
Sep 2, 2021 15:58:45   #
Wilderness Images Loc: Apache Junction, AZ.
 
Ballard wrote:
Very nice image. One way to intensify the milky way would be to mount the camera on a small guiding head on the tripod (e.g. something like a sky watcher star adventure or other brand), then take longer shots of the milky way and potentially use a lower iso to remove noise. Then take separate shots of the tree with the guider off and add the milky way into the shot of the tree after the fact (which it sounds like you did anyway).


Thanks for the response Ballard, I've seen the guided units on some of the video's and don't have any plans to get that deep into Astrophotography. I'm fairly satisfied with the results from my Canon M-6 lll, and the sensor is pretty responsive with an 800 ISO. There's some Macro's that Affinity has come out with for shooting the Milky Way that I need to study further as they can go a long ways to clean up the sky.

Jack Olson

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