Date: 26th Janurary, 2020
Location: Sugarloaf Rock, Cape Naturaliste, Western Australia
Time: 9 PM
Equipment:
Nikon D850
Nikon 20mm f/1.8G
Gigapn Epic Pro
Godox V1 Speedlight
In Jaunuary 2020, I had a chance to capture an astro portrait for a good mate of mine, Liam and his partner Jenni. The original plan was to conduct the photoshoot at the Pinnacles as it is a location I am very familiar with . However, the weather was not cooperating on the day the shoot was planned for and the Plan B had to be executed instead. For once, the Margaret River region had less cloud cover than the Coral Coast region. We decided to head down to Sugarloaf Rock instead.
I have known Liam for a decade and we have had several astro adventures together throughout the years. His familiarity with my astro technique and etiquette made the entire photoshoot very smooth and enjoyable. Not to mention that Jenni use to work as a wedding photographer and has a strong understanding of long exposures and camera angles.
I directed Liam and Jenni to a location along the rocky shoreline where I had been to several years before. The early season Milky Way rising towards the South-East, stretching northwards. A combination of elements that I am unfamiliar with as I do not regularly shoot during the early astro season from the months of Decemeber to March.
We captured a total of 3 “photographs” that night, each photo containing 35 individual frames and stitched into a 360 degree photosphere. I used a Gigapan Epic Pro panorama mount to ensure consistency between each photograph.
My style of astrophotography is to capture ultra-wide open vistas with the full milky way arch framing the foreground. The challenge with this style of photography is that the location becomes the most important part of the image. The entire field of view of my panoramas is in the range of 270 to 300 degrees, meaning that it is impossible to isolate a small section of the landscape to photograph. Therefore, the beauty of the location is the most important element of a dramatic, wide angle astro panorama.
There was zero cloud cover on this particular night. And as night fell, the wind died down, giving way to a crystal clear and serenely calm night.
We practiced a few poses but ultimately, the landscape dictated the possible compositions. As we tracked along the shoreline, several opportunities presented itself. I several spotted possible compositions based on the shape of the landscape around me and the direction of the milky way arch across the night sky.
The goal was to create a dramatic, sweeping foreground that captured the scale and elevation of the rocky terrain in the foreground. Precariously, I set up my camera along edges of the rock fissures and started to capture the night sky.
It took a total of 7 minutes to capture the entire night sky with a 20mm lens and the couple had the chance to soak in the views and count shooting stars.
After 7 minutes, it was time to capture the foreground where the couple was sitting.
As I mentioned above, the couple were familiar with my technique and knew how to pose with the Godox V1 speedlight. Liam and Jenni took turns to hold the speedlight in separate images and had to hold the pose for approximately 1 minute during the entire sequence. I captured the bottom half of the photosphere containing the foreground and the couple. Upon completion, I reviewed the images and saw that they were in focus and well exposed. We packed up and made our way back to the car.
We had one more good look at the night sky before starting our 3 hour drive back to Perth, arriving home extremely tired… but fulfilled.
I have to say, that was a great night.
