Anatomy of a Composition - they're still on

Spring in the Rockies is just as unpredictable as any other season. Sure, it is going to be sunny and warm, sure it’s going to have snow and cold, but when and where and in what combination we can never quite know?! So with the new Moon approaching it’s always worth taking the time to check for clear and dry skies in order to capture the Milky Way. And since it is still early in the Milky Way season, shooting a panorama still offers the opportunity to capture the full arch of the center portion of our galaxy. I shot a similar composition about this time last year, and while in the past few years I’ve made multiple trips to this spot for just such a sight, this was my first trip into the Mosquito Range to capture the night sky.

The night sky was not perfectly clear, but it was much lower in humidity than in previous trips. The Milky Way reaches into the night sky around 11:30 pm and stays that way until about 4 am, when the sun starts to fill the eastern horizon. This gave me plenty of time to set up on camera for a longer time-lapse and to hike a little higher, just past 12,500 feet, in order to get the full arch of the early season Milky Way. The result is this image, with a bit more light pollution than I’d hoped, but much less of the blue and green airglow that from last year’s attempt. Hoosier Pass and the Town of Breckenridge lie off to the north, the entirety of South Park and Pikes off to the east.  This image has some imperfections, but I will continue to read and practice the ways to improve, and I’ll keep planning for the next night out.

A total of 35 images were used to create the panorama - images were shot in a single row made up of 7 frames, with 5 images in each frame to reduce noise. Final images size is close to 75MB. Images were batch edited in Lightroom, then stacked in Starry Landscape Stacker.  Final edits were made both in Photoshop and Lightroom.

May, 2021 - As always, thank you for joining me on this adventure.

For more thoughts on some of these images, head over to www.wordpress.com/alma175w  

ISO 12800 | F/2.8 | 15 sec. - 16mm - Sony a7riii & Sony FE 16-35GM - 35 images stacked and stitched together to create this Milky Way Panorama.