Stars

Stars above swedish cottage

Stars above swedish cottageIn the autumn we went to Karlskrona in Sweden with some of our friends. At night the clouds cleared and with no moon I took a few shots at the sky.

What did I learn?
I learned that when it is so dark, you can’t really focus. You have set the lens to manual focus mode, and then learn by heart where the focus ring must be positioned.

About the processing
The photo consists of 9 HDR photos, but the sky comes from only one shot. The reason for that, is that the stars actually move surprisingly fast. An exposure of more than 15 seconds, will show stars moving. It’s really fascinating.

Lake Tekapo by Night

Lake Tekapo in New Zealand lies in 700m above sea level. The lake it self is the oddest blue color, though you can’t see it at night. It sits very beautiful between snow covered mountains. Lake Tekapo and the observatory on top of Mount John (which is right behind me when I took the photo) is trying to become the worlds first UNESCO World Heritage Starlight Reserve. One criteria for that, is that all lamps point down, to avoid ‘light pollution’. So I thought a night shot from Lake Tekapo was appropriate.
This shot is a single exposure taken during a full moon, which explains the light on the stones.