Milky way at Stanley Lake, Idaho

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Wink Jones

Wink Jones

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I had the great pleasure of going on a three day photo trip with two friends a few years ago. This one is a composite of four photos, one of the foreground at dusk, another with the exact same location shot several hours later, and two as I moved the camera to higher and higher to follow the milky way up. My lens was an 18 - 55 mm shot at 18mm with f 3.5, requiring a 30 second exposure, hence the very short star trails.

I now have a 20mm 1.8 prime lens that shoots wonderful star captures at 10 seconds at ISO 3,500. Someday I would like to go back to Stanley and take a similar photo without the trails.

Sawtooth Late Sunday.jpg
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Here are two shots from a different spot on the lake, about 400 yards to the right of where the Milky Way photo was taken. This is relatively early in a perfect morning, absolutely no wind, magnificent reflections of the Sawtooth Mountains, and it was here that one of my companions, Scott DeHart, taught me how to grab the wonderful sunburst by shooting the picture with an F-22.

Stanley Lake day-2.jpg
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Funny side story. I printed the above picture, metallic 20 x 16 and could not figure out what the (expletive deleted) dark spots in the sky were. I quickly went to the computer and pulled up the original and realized I was looking at the picture upside down and it was the logs on the bottom of the lake that looked like they were in the sky. It looks easy to see which is which in this 150 PPI shot, but in the 300 PPI print, the reflection and the mountain look identical except for the logs on the bottom...

Stanley Lake day-1.jpg
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airestudiosmt said:
A very photogenic location. I was there in November of 21 about 5 feet to the left (recognize the rocks). You will really like the 20MM 1.8 for astrophotography.
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I already do, I got a couple of nice shots last Spring near Zion, but the moon came up before the Milky Way so I have some nice stars, the moon rise and what we think was a falling star which we did not see until I processed the shot the next day. The stars at ten seconds were sharp and crisp and I am hoping to get the chance to shoot another Milky Way this summer.
 
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Wink Jones said:
I had the great pleasure of going on a three day photo trip with two friends a few years ago. This one is a composite of four photos, one of the foreground at dusk, another with the exact same location shot several hours later, and two as I moved the camera to higher and higher to follow the milky way up. My lens was an 18 - 55 mm shot at 18mm with f 3.5, requiring a 30 second exposure, hence the very short star trails.

I now have a 20mm 1.8 prime lens that shoots wonderful star captures at 10 seconds at ISO 3,500. Someday I would like to go back to Stanley and take a similar photo without the trails.

View attachment 36101
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Awesome photo👍👍👍
 
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Wink Jones said:
I already do, I got a couple of nice shots last Spring near Zion, but the moon came up before the Milky Way so I have some nice stars, the moon rise and what we think was a falling star which we did not see until I processed the shot the next day. The stars at ten seconds were sharp and crisp and I am hoping to get the chance to shoot another Milky Way this summer.
Click to expand...
It is pretty crazy the number of meteors that you do not see until you look at your photos after a night out shooting. I have been out a number of times thinking I did not get any meteors but was surprised at the number that show. Same thing with the Northern Lights. The camera picks up far more than we can see. Maybe try some full moon photography.
 
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airestudiosmt said:
It is pretty crazy the number of meteors that you do not see until you look at your photos after a night out shooting. I have been out a number of times thinking I did not get any meteors but was surprised at the number that show. Same thing with the Northern Lights. The camera picks up far more than we can see. Maybe try some full moon photography.
Click to expand...
 
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I am supposed to go on a two week cruise from England to Norway with the specific goal of shooting the Northern Lights. Just depends on what Covid is doing, and of course if we are in WWIII or not...
 
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airestudiosmt said:
If your cruise is a go, I hope you have a wonderful time and wish you safe travels.
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I appreciate your kind wishes. I wish I had made the time to take these trips with my wife when we were both much younger. Now we are determined to make some of these trips we have always wanted to take.

The nice thing is, both of our children make way more than we ever did, so there is no regret or guilt over spending their inheritances... ;)
 
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