The Blinky Way Galaxy (Original Photography)

Howdy,

Sometimes you see a good photo and take it. Other times, it can involve a little planning. Yesterday, I posted a few photos of fireflies that I took near a little graveyard in a spot I know fairly well. Last night, though, I did a little planning.

Pouring over an online light pollution map and Google Maps satellite images, I located a spot with relatively low ambient light, a nearby river, and a field. I headed out just as the sun was setting, so that I'd have time to do a little driving around to pinpoint a good location.

... and here it is!

^{Nike Cloud?!}

Unlike in previous night photography runs, nobody called the police on me this time! The area was remote enough that only two vehicles even passed during the few hours I was working. I even found a service driveway for some electrical box, so I wasn't in the road. As the last light of sunset slowly faded away, the fireflies began sparkling and the Milky Way, little by little, became visible in the southern sky.

^{Galactic Bugs}

Here's a multiple-shot long exposure. My camera can't run for more than about three minutes anymore, or it locks up, so I took muultiple shorter long-exposures and used Photoshop to merge them. I didn't bother removing the airplane that flew through. There were a lot of other things blinking, after all. The image is about equivalent to fifteen minutes' worth of exposure.

The next two photos are similar to each other, but I wanted to include them both. They are both single 15-second exposures. As if the Milky Way and fireflies weren't enough, look cloesly at the top-right corner of this photo and you'll see a shooting star!

^{The Green Stars Move}

And finally, my absolute favorite photo of the evening. At ISO 3200, I was pushing my camera beyond it's technical capability and did a lot of post-processing in Lightroom and even a bit in Photoshop. The result was worth it, though!

^{The Blinky Way}

The mosquitos, as anticipated, were awful! I wore jeans and a long-sleeved shirt and used two types of bug spray. It probably helped, but I still have itchy bites everywhere they could stick their little needle-beaks. It was worth it, though!

Thank you for taking a look! If you enjoy my work, please click the upvote button. Comments are also greatly appreciated.