Starry sky above the alps

Posted on Juni 27th, 2014

This shot I didn’t took with my wide angle lens, but with a standard 50mm f/1.4 from Canon. Normaly a good lens, but it is not so adequate for starscape images. In the corner of the image you can see a strong coma, though I had closed the aperture one f-stop down to f/2. Therefore I stayed with my Canon 16-35mm lens.
But also there is a coma, some of you may anyway not realized it, I think this image is not so bad, because with 50mm are the mountains a nice piece closer.

Looking for the Milky Way – Part 3

Posted on Juni 19th, 2014

Today on the third part will come to the final end with the starscape image. on the first part I showed you the requirements for the best sight and on the second part I wrote about hiking up to the destination.

The work begins

As everything looked great I quickly went back inside toput on warm clothes, because outside was a nasty, cold wind. Bubu the little rascal was quite restless, as he was the whole evening. I think in the restaurant it was just too loud for him and he could not lie down to sleep.
But now we went out and walked the short path to the lookout hill next to the building. Backpack on the bench, Bubu bound to the bank with the 10m leash, and off you go.
Build tripod, put camera on it, and take a test shot at 6400 ISO with 30 seconds exposure time, to see what there is to see.

Wow, there it was, our galaxy, the Milky Way. It was still a little far in the east, but in the end, it should be directly above the Säntis at 2 o’clock. Right now, it could not be seen very bright because of light pollution in the region of Lake Constance. But we still have plenty of time.
Camera back down and mount the tracking device for the real shots. Bubu is still whining. So, camera back on and off you go with a long time recording over 120 seconds.

Unexpected events

While waiting, I noticed that my little furry friend still whines and shivers. What is his problem? Also caressing and cajolingdid not help. If he continues this way, it’s going to be a problem.
Wow, cool, I see it, the Milky Way. Still a little far to the left in the light pollution, but really good to see. And yet another shot, this time for the foreground without tracking. And Bubu is still unhappy. I start realising that this dog isn’t really suited for mountain trips.
But I’d like to have at least one more nice picture. So I change the lens and mount the Samyang 14mm on the camera.. Now another 3 pictures of about 3 minutes. Slowly Istart worrying about my little friend.

He’s still whining, so we start packing our stuff quickly and head for our two-hour return trip. Aaaand behold, as soon as we are walking on, everything seems to be absolutely OK for this little stinker! I think this little rascal had just been bored.
After two hours we were back at the car. Thanks to my good hiking shoes my feet kept dry, but Stefan has gotten a big load of water and dirt inside as he stepped into a mud hole.

Conclusion

Nearly everything was correct, the weather was exactly as it should be, even at the right time. The viewing angle was also perfectly chosen. Were it not for someone who didn’t like the whole thing. Well, next time might probably stay at home. For sure!

So I wasn’t able to get as many pictures as I wanted, and the ones I’ve got are not as perfect as they could have been an hour later, but … just look at the results. No more words needed…

Ah yes, my furry monster spent the next 24 hours sleeping, except for a really short walk he didn’t want to do anything else

Looking for the Milky Way -Part 1
Looking for the Milky Way -Part 2
Looking for the Milky Way -Part 3

 

Grass in the wind

Posted on Juni 7th, 2014

In the center of the image you see a smeary thing. These are grass blades moving by the wind, while I made a long time exposure image. It’s interesting to see only a strange smear… what do you mean? You do more like the rest of the landscape? Okay, I see – it’s also very nice
I shoot this image on the peak of the Mythen, you know, where I missed the sunset and made other images of the fog of sea. Ah by the way, this is only moonlight and not sunlight. Okay technically it is also sunlight…

A summertime evening walk

Posted on Mai 24th, 2014

A beautiful summer night in the medieval town of Weinheim. It was mild, clear and the people enjoying the evening outside in a restaurant. The castle in the background completed the image of this picturesque village.
This image a perfect example for a nice relaxed summer night. Can you already feel the summer is coming?

A starry night

Posted on Mai 17th, 2014

It was one of my first try to catch the Milkyway. First I waited for a night without moon and second I waited with a night without moon and no clouds. And for better seeing conditions I was driving on a place in the alps where I have a good sight without too much light pollution.
I choose my favorite Waegital and this was my first visit there. I was starting at home about 8 o’clock in the evening and reached this point at 10pm. Took some images and left it short before midnight.
I never saw the milkyway so clearly and for central Europe it is really impressive how good I could see it.
Now I’m waiting for the next moonless night without clouds to take more of these awesome Milkyway shots.

The swampy lake

Posted on Mai 3rd, 2014

You know the nice pictures with the mirrored mountains in it? It will not work, if it is windy, like here. Not strong, but strong enough to get a dull surface.
Instead of a mirror lake I’ve got a slight view of the northern part from the milky way. It is not so clear, but you can recognize it. I couldn’t get nearer to the lake, because it was too swampy and the danger was I could become wet feet again.

The careless painter

Posted on Mai 2nd, 2014

I belief there was a painter and he was painting some stars. After he finished the last star, he wanted to step back to get an overview, but he forgot his color bucket, it tilted and the color was splashing in the space.
Watch it exactly the form of the Orion Nebula – “Splash!” And can you see the painter? He’s running away right above the SPLASH!, the running man.
I think if an accident happend, you can stand like a man! It’s always the same with craftsmen, it’s possible to find some good staff.

Stars over the sheep mountain

Posted on April 26th, 2014

Why sheep mountain? I don’t know why, they called this mountain ‘Schafsberg’. This is one of my first nightshot with only two images.  I used an astronomical tracking and so I could make an image with an exposure time of 120 seconds. Therefore I could shoot with only 800 ISO and I get a much more crisp image, with a lots of details in the landscape.
Ah btw, this is the same place where I had wet feet last time. But this time I was wearing better shoes and there was anyway no snow anymore

The moonlight paragliders

Posted on April 25th, 2014

It was a cold winter night, I was lying in the snow on the top of a mountain, ready to take some starscape images of the alps. As suddenly behind me a chatter was going on.
I thought to me, what’s going on and turned me around and saw a bunch of people. And you won’t beliefe it, they were folding out their parachutes and not a long time later the first crazy guy was starting and left the peak on the air. There must be about 30 paragliders up there and all of ‘em took the way back over the air.
Oh boy, and I thought I am the crazy guy, at night on the peaks with my heavy photo gear, how I was wrong.

The closed peak hut

Posted on April 19th, 2014

The idea was to get up to this nice mountain and make first some beautiful sunset images, followed by the great dusk images and finished with the awesome nightshots.
But Mr. Fear was too late to see the sunset. I was nearly running the last part and missed the sun hiding behind the horizon. So I had enough time for all the other images, I want to take and I was staying up there until about 10 o’clock pm and walked down in the dark night.
This mountain path up to the Mythen is closed from end of October until May when the snow is gone. I was at the very last day up there, before the snow was coming. The peak hut was already closed for the winter and I was maybe the last person on the peak until the spring. On the other hand, who knows what other crazy guys are doing