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Well here’s something a little different from me. Creating an image of the night sky has been on my list all year but clear skies are as uncommon at night in Ireland as they are during the day. When I looked out the window of my home on Sunday night and saw a perfectly clear sky I knew this was my chance. And even though my home was lovely and warm and outside was very cold I didn’t let that put me off. I packed my gear, put on my winter clothes and headed for the Wicklow Mountains. One thing I didn’t realise when I headed out was just how windy it was. Being exposed on the mountain side in the pitch black at 1 deg celsius while the wind was gusting by was a recipe for an accident and so I decided against trying to capture my original envisioned location and face being blown off the side of a cliff. I instead researched another couple of spots I had in mind and this image is the location that really worked for me.
As I mentioned above Night Skies are not something I have a lot of experience with. However, I did all my research and made a few trial runs throughout the year during less then ideal conditions to better understand the technical aspects. This is the first image I have produced that I believe is both technically strong and meets my artistic vision. Shooting at ISO2000 was very scary for me, ISO 100 or 200 being much more the norm. However this was what is needed to capture the stars, and post processing is a must to manage the resulting noise that is created. I plan to continue with shooting the night-sky next year so stay tuned for more.
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
Exposure: 25 sec
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 17mm
ISO Speed: 2000
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