Rodney Campbell's Blog

We are in dark skies territory now and it was not more evident than when I walked outside after sunset… it’s incredible just how many stars you can see when you’re not in a light polluted area.

The nearest “town” south of where we were was probably Alice Springs – over 1000kms away to the south and a little east!

Vince Connoly Crossing

NIKON D750 + 14.0 mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm, 36.00 sec at f/2.8, ISO 5000

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

I knew I would have the opportunity to shoot some decent Milky Way and star trails whilst on our trip through the remote north west of the country. Who knew it would come up on our first night of travels.

As it happened it was the night before the new moon so conditions could hardly be better.

Sydney’s light pollution makes seeing the stars let along good Milky Way shots pretty much impossible. The other factor besides the moon phase which makes things tricky when photographing the stars is having to also wait for clear skies at the right times.

Up here in the north during the four month long dry season we basically have no clouds…. ever…. want stars – bonus!…

So here I am at a rest area literally in the middle of nowhere and somewhat lacking in foreground interest…

Thankfully the highway next to the rest area ran primarily north-south right here, and we had a massively long stretch leading south into the distance.

I setup in the middle of the road and set to work…

Star Drive

NIKON D750 + 14.0 mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm, 36.00 sec at f/2.8, ISO 6400

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