Starry Night
Last night was one of the clearest nights I've ever seen in Wellington - not a single speck of cloud in the sky at 7:30pm. I got far too excited and dragged Maurizio out to a hill in the middle of nowhere, thinking that we could catch the sunset and then photograph the night sky as well. Little did I know that it actually takes ages for the sky to get dark!
We got there at about 8:30/9:00pm and it was just after sunset so you could see a bit of a glow along the horizon.
I stood around testing out exposures until the night sky got dark enough at about 10:00pm to get a few shots.
Unfortunately I've only got a 35mm f/2 at the moment as I can't decide which wide angle to go for (10-24mm vs 14/16mm), it's a tough decision but I'm leaning towards the 10-24mm at the moment as it's lighter and more suited to travel. Our trip to Scandinavia next year, in particular to Iceland to see the Northern Lights is a major factor in my decision.
Anyway, I've only got the 35mm which is not quite wide enough to capture the full Milky way, but it was good to get the camera out and play around with it a little and get used to the functions. I had to take several shots and then stitch them together manually in PS as the built in feature wasn't working for me, I guess I didn't leave enough overlap between the photos but this is the first time I've had that issues :(
All in all, it was a good night, not a complete waste of time! I'm looking forward to exploring some of Wellignton's coastlines more at night. While we were in Queenstown we drove past a place that I can't recall the name of, but there was a 'Dark Sky Reserve' which sounds pretty cool - I wonder if I can find one closer to home?
