0jewels, night, astrophotography, milky way, stars, sea, tower, sky, reflections, seascape, sardinia, italy, nature

Jewels of the night

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2021/08/31 Claudio Beffa / / / / / / / / / / /

Jewels of the night

“Jewels of the night”. Pixinnì watchtower and Cala Segreta, southern Sardinia. The darkness of the night and the clear sky (Sardinia is the Italian region with the least light pollution, i.e. dark nights) offer two jewels: the clearly visible core of the Milky Way and the transparencies of the crystalline waters enclosed among the rocks of the cove.

This nocturnal landscape required, in addition to the usual planning, the use of two distinct techniques: to capture as much light and details of the Milky Way as possible, without having to deal with massive digital noise (due to the high ISO sensitivity) I took 18 shots of the sky, subsequently aligned and merged in post production. As for capturing the foreground (rocks, sea and tower) I’ve shot a single exposure, adding a bit of light painting withe use of a LED “magic wand” set with a suitable color temperature, thus illuminating all the details that can be seen in the photo. Using Lightroom and Photoshop, I then proceeded with the editing and the adjunstments of colors and brightness of the foreground and sky.

EXIF:
Camera: Pentax K-3
Lens: Samyang 16mm F2 ED AS UMC CS
Focal lenght: 16mm
Shutter time: 18×13 s + 70 s
Aperture: F/2.2 + F/3.5
Sensitivity: ISO1250 + ISO400
 

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0Gate to the other side, watchtower, astrophotography, milky way, night, stars, sea, tower, sky, reflections, seascape, sardinia, italy, nature, blue hour, sunrise

Gate to the other side

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2021/06/19 Claudio Beffa / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Gate to the other side

“Gate to the other side”. What would the sky look like if you could see celestial bodies even during the day? This is my interpretation of a seascape at the first light of dawn, under an imposing Milky Way that shines through the gradient of colors of the sky, towards the end of the blue hour.

To create this “time blending”, that is the fusion of two different moments, I kept the camera in the same position for about an hour and a half, without changing the composition and the focal length. This is because, keeping the terrestrial elements of the landscape unchanged, I was able to capture first the Milky Way and, later, the light and the colors of the blue hour. Specifically, the shots for the Milky Way were taken around 3:45 am, while the blue hour at 5:15 am. Although this is a “composite”, the peculiarity of this shot is that the Milky Way has actually “passed there”, but an hour and a half earlier than this light condition.

EXIF:
Camera: Pentax K-3
Lens: Samyang 16mm F2 ED AS UMC CS
Focal lenght: 16mm
Shutter time: 15×13 s + 121 s
Aperture: F/2.2 + F/5.6
Sensitivity: ISO1250 + ISO100
 

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0cosmos, watchtower, astrophotography, milky way, night, stars, sea, tower, sky, reflections, seascape, sardinia, italy, nature

Cosmos watchtower

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2021/06/18 Claudio Beffa / / / / / / / / /

Cosmos watchtower

“Cosmos watchtower”. Southern Sardinia. An ancient coastal watchtower looks out over the night sea, under a majestic Milky Way that cuts the sky in half.

To achieve this night landscape it took some planning, to be in the right place at the right time, with the Milky Way in a vertical position, high enough over the horizon and aligned with the tower. After that, in order to capture as much light as possible, while keeping the stars point-like and at the same time containing the unevitable digital noise, a mix of shooting and post-production techniques became mandatory: multiple exposures with different shooting parameters for sky and earth, darkframes to map the digital noise, subsequent alignment and editing of the resultants, thus obtaining the final scene. All performed with common photographic equipment, without specific tools such as a star tracker.

EXIF:
Camera: Pentax K-3
Lens: Samyang 16mm F2 ED AS UMC CS
Focal lenght: 16mm
Shutter time: 15×13 s
Aperture: F/2.2
Sensitivity: ISO1250
 

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0Milky Way, core, stars, Jupiter, night, rocks, stones, pillars, sea, astrophotography, nightphotography, sardinia, italy, landscape

Pinnacles of stars

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2020/07/05 Claudio Beffa / / / / / / / / /

Pinnacles of stars: the Milky Way in southern Sardinia, Italy.

“Pinnacles of stars”. During a perfectly clear night, the Milky Way rises just above the sea stacks of Sparrow’s Nest, in the small island of St. Antioco in Sardinia, Italy. The favorable weather’s conditions helped me in capturing the bright core of the galaxy and a great amount of stars.

EXIF:
Camera: Pentax K-3
Lens: Samyang 16mm f/2 ED AS UMC CS
Focal lenght: 16mm
Shutter time: 13 s
Aperture: F/2
Sensitivity: ISO1250
 

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0Milky Way, core, stars, Jupiter, night, rocks, stones, astrophotography, nightphotography, sardinia, italy, landscape

Stones and stars

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2020/07/05 Claudio Beffa / / / / / / / /

Stones and stars: the Milky Way in southern Sardinia, Italy.

“Stones and stars”. Above a rocky stretch of coast in the southern part of Sardinia, the Milky Way rises in the clear sky of the night, showing the bright core in all its beauty.

EXIF:
Camera: Pentax K-3
Lens: Samyang 16mm f/2 ED AS UMC CS
Focal lenght: 16mm
Shutter time: 13 s
Aperture: F/2
Sensitivity: ISO1250
 

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0Milky Way, core, stars, Jupiter, night, sea, rocks, pinnacle, astrophotography, nightphotography, sardinia, italy, landscape, seascape

Pointing to the core

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2020/06/29 Claudio Beffa / / / / / / /

Pointing to the core: the Milky Way in southern Sardinia, Italy.

“Pointing to the core”. First photograph of the Milky Way of the summer 2020, taken in the south of Sardinia on a particularly clear and serene night. The island is one of the places in Italy with the least amount light pollution, making particularly easy to catch the faint light emitted by the Milky Way.
In this shot the planet Jupiter shines bright on the left of the Milky Way’s core and its light is reflected on the surface of the sea.

EXIF:
Camera: Pentax K-3
Lens: Samyang 16mm f/2 ED AS UMC CS
Focal lenght: 16mm
Shutter time: 13 s
Aperture: F/2
Sensitivity: ISO1250
 

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1Dark mirror, night, sky, milky way, mirror, water, sea, rocks, astrophotography, seascape

Dark mirror

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2020/03/04 Claudio Beffa / / / / / /

Dark mirror: Milky Way mirrored on a pond in South Sardinia, Italy

Dark mirror, Southern Sardinia, Italy. In a perfect night of new moon, the Milky Way shows the bright core in all its magnificence. A faint reflection of it is perceivable on the still surface of a little pond, separated from the sea by a thin edge of rock.
Technically speaking, this is a fairly basic shot to execute. However, since the APS-C sensor of my camera and the lens I use are not exactly the best in class to shoot the Milky Way, I resorted to a “trick” which allows to improve the final image quality. Specifically, in order to capture as mush light as possible without incurring in an excessive noise penalty and avoiding at the same time the star trailing, I’ve blended 10 exposures for the sky, plus 4 for the foreground, with the addition of the dark frame.

EXIF:
Camera: Pentax K-3
Lens: Samyang 16mm f/2 ED AS UMC CS
Focal lenght: 16mm
Shutter time: 13 s
Aperture: F/2.5
Sensitivity: ISO3200
 

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0Milky Way, Stars, Sky, Night, Universe, Nightscape, Sardinia, Italy, Vertorama, Across the universe

Across the universe – Vertorama of the Milky Way in Sardinia, Italy

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2018/03/21 Claudio Beffa / / / / / /

Across the universe. Vertorama of the Milky Way in Sardinia, Italy.

Across the universe. A view of the Milky Way over the southern coast of Sardinia, in summer. This is a 6 shots stitched vertorama used, in conjunction with a simple post processing, to convey a realistic sense of wonder, that can be felt while looking at the sky, during a dark summer night.

EXIF:
Camera: Pentax K-3
Lens: Samyang 16mm f/2,0 ED AS UMC CS
Focal lenght: 16mm
Shutter time: 15 s
Aperture: F/2.5
Sensitivity: ISO1600

 

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