Lunar and Astro Photography (6)

Milky Way
Sony a6000, Rokinon12mm f.2
Sonora Pass, Sierra Nevada elev. 10,000ft
Exp: 25 sec   ISO: 3200 f.2: 12mm


Milky Way taken at Sonora Pass Sierra Nevada's California by Coast

Earlier in the day it had been raining, there are major fires thru out California. There was no smoke, no clouds, very calm. No light pollution at all and no moon! I think it was as good as it gets.
TFV        Coast

Svjetlana, thank you so much for this reply and advise. I thought for a while on this answer because it was a special night. This one photo is at the extreme on my pp. I tried to get colors, although the Milky Way was totally white in a totally dark night. So I understand where you are coming from, hopefully some of my shots in these albums exhibit some better depth dimensions.

I have around 80 photos posted in these 2 albums
https://flic.kr/s/aHskibr7Hf
https://flic.kr/s/aHskifB9NU

I was at a pretty high ISO, yet I never did see the Milky Way in my LED. I had bought the Rokinon especially for this shoot. When I was there I realized a fisheye would have been better because the Milky Way was overhead from horizon to horizon. It was a new lens at the time as was the a6000. I probably would not have gotten as good aperture w a fisheye.

My 1st photos were taken at Mono Lake (eastern side of Yosemite) but it was too dark, I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. I left there after a few photos and went up 2 or 3 thousand ft to the top of the Sierras were I took the majority of my photos.

Up there was one of the most magical times I've had. You seemed to have surmised that.
It was absolutely breathtaking, the sky was full of stars much like the photo. At 10,000ft elevation and midnight each shone like a diamond. The Milky Way was up overhead from horizon to horizon in all its Majesty. I was truly in Mother Nature Grand Cathedral. The whole time I thought, How lucky humans are to be able to witness such beautiful natural wonders, How lucky I was.

I got into the "zone" and didn't stop, didn't leave until the moon started coming up, taking away the dark. I hope everyone has a special moment like that, in whatever form it takes.

Thank You Svjetlana. You seem to know how "priceless" these are🌹________Joseph



Edited by Coast - 14 January 2018 at 08:47

Just a single shot taken while waiting for the Australia Day fireworks to start. Wasn't being serious but was happy about how it turned out especially the sharpness. Heavily cropped from 400mm.


a99ii + 70-400Gii

Lovely Steve!   

I think the eclipse won’t be visible in Europe but there’s a good chance in Australia and west USA. It runs from about. 11:00utc to 1500utc

There will be a nice big moon here in the uk but no eclipse.   Maybe a chance for some artsy “moon over buildings”’photos?

mikey2000 wrote: There will be a nice big moon here in the uk but no eclipse.   Maybe a chance for some artsy “moon over buildings”’photos?

With the current weather forecast here I probably have to catch a plane to shoot the moon over some clouds today

Some shots taken during the total eclipse of the blood red super (blue) moon on the evening of 31st January 2018 from my garden in Melbourne, Australia.
All a99ii with Minolta 500mm f8 AF Reflex, and cropped. Exif embedded. C&C welcome.

1.
Super moon start of eclipse by Joe Lewit, on Flickr

2.
Eclipse progressing by Joe Lewit, on Flickr

3.
Nearing total eclipse by Joe Lewit, on Flickr

4.
Total eclipse, blood red super moon by Joe Lewit, on Flickr