As the days become shorter here in the UK, the nights become darker, making it perfect conditions for some astrophotography.
Perfectly clear nights were forecast around new moon this week so it were as if all the stars had aligned (excuse the pun) and the conditions were ideal.
Around 10:30pm on Wednesday 28th August, I headed out in search of a photograph I’d wanted for a while; my new car underneath the Milky Way. As I was at work the next day I hadn’t planned to venture too far and living relatively in the countryside with less-intense light pollution was an advantage. Druridge Bay was my target and the turning point at the bottom of the road was clear - perfect!
Using my widest-angle lens I set up the camera on the tripod and took a test shot, using PhotoPills to align the Milky Way. Gradually adjusting settings to capture as much of the sky as I could without over-exposing the image. Once I was happy with those, I dialled in different settings to enable me to light paint the car with a torch. Some trial and error was involved here to get the right amount of torchlight in the right places.
Back into Photoshop, these two exposures were blended with layer masks to give the final image.
The Milky Way, visible over an Audi A1 Sportback S Line Competition.
After Wednesday night’s success, I was over the moon to look at the forecasts for Saturday night and find clear skies again. This time, I planned to travel further into darker skies territory. I opted to go to Breamish / Ingram Valley - a place I used to visit a lot when I was younger. The Valley is a part of Northumberland’s National Park and is even listed on their dark skies website as a place to stargaze.
Driving into the Valley in the pitch black darkness was surreal, it’s not something I’d done before and not being able to see the river to the side was odd. However, it didn’t disappoint. Once I’d carefully made my way to the rivers edge and set the camera up for a test shot, I knew it was a lovely location. The River Breamish came into the frame bottom right and lead beautifully up to the Milky Way.
Again, the foreground was illuminated using torchlight and a longer exposure with some trial. This image was then layer mask blended in Photoshop with the exposure for the Milky Way to create, in my opinion, the best photograph of the Milky Way I’d taken to date.
There was a forecasted viewing of the aurora borealis too. However, the show was sadly poor but it’s very early in the season so I have my fingers crossed for some good solar storms soon!
The Milky Way, photographed over the River Breamish in the Breamish Valley, Northumberland.