Tag: Milky Way

Milky Way Landscapes Everglades National Park

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I took advantage of the new moon last week to head out to Everglades National Park to try my hand at capturing some unique Milky Way Landscape shots. Everglades National Park is one of the few dark sites here in South Florida where one can actually see the Milky Way with the naked eye. I wanted to try and use the Milky Way to compliment the overall scene.

To accomplish this I took two (2) photos with an aperture at f/2.8. One focused on the foreground subject and the second focused on the night sky. I then combined the two (2) images together to ensure that both my foreground subject and the Milky Way were sharp and in focus. The exposure times were around 25 seconds. I used a handheld flash to illuminate the foreground during the exposure.

Click on Thumbnails for full image.

Milky Way Over Rare Cowhorn Orchid in Everglades National Park

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There is a Cowhorn/Cigar Orchid in Everglades National Park that is growing out of an old tree stump. The orchid is a very rare specimen as it is more than 5 feet wide and 8 feet tall. It is one of my favorite orchids in the park to see in full bloom. I have been trying to capture a captivating image of this rare Cowhorn Orchid in Everglades National Park for the last three (3) years. However, each time the images come out boring or to busy.

This year I decided to get creative with my efforts and visit the orchid in the middle of the night. I envisioned using the dark starry sky as my backdrop to contrast the vibrant orchid and cause it to stand out in the image. I used a flash to illuminate the orchid and some of the foreground. I was also rewarded in that the milky way was positioned in an ideal location to compliment the scene.

I am happy with this effort and believe I finally got a photo of this orchid that is unique and captivating. I also captured a few sunrise photos before I left, however I had a little problem with my lens fogging up right before the sun rose above the horizon.

A Surprise Milky Way Sighting on the Beach

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This past weekend was my wife and I’s 5th Wedding Anniversary and we decided to celebrate by getting out of town for the weekend.  We opted to stay on Palm Island on the West Coast of Florida.  Palm Island is a secluded island only accessible by ferry and once there all transportation is by golf cart instead of automobile.  As a result, the trip was very peaceful and fairly private, only encountering a handful of people each day on the beach.

I of course brought my camera with me and envisioned grand sunsets.  Unfortunately for sunset photography, but fortunately for enjoying the outdoors, a cold front came through on Friday and sinking air made for a cloudless sky.  With no clouds the photos seemed flat and uninteresting.  After the sunset, my wife and I took a walk down the beach to enjoy the cool weather.  By the time we had started making our way back the sky had turned completely dark and to my surprise the milky way was faintly visible out over the gulf.  Prior to this weekend the only time I had been able to see the milky way was when I was out in the middle of the Everglades.

I grabbed my camera and went back out to capture what I hoped were some unique shots of the milky way over the beach.  I managed to capture a few images I liked.

On the beach chair photo I did not get the focus right and the beach chair is sharp and in focus but the stars and milky way are a little blurry.  For the majority of the images, I tried to use the boardwalk and the pathway as a leading line taking the viewer into the scene and then connecting with the vertical milky way.  For one boardwalk image I chose not to center the boardwalk to give the image more depth.  I am not sure which boardwalk version I like better.

Comet 209P/LINEAR

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I read about the earth passing through the Comet 209P/Linear dust trail and the prediction that it would to be a meteor storm with potentially up to 1000 meteors an hour.  Of course I decided to grab my camera and plan a trip out into the Everglades to find a nice dark site to witness this once in a lifetime meteor shower.  Unfortunately, the meteor shower was a complete dud.  I might have witnessed 5 meteors the whole night.  However, one of the meteors was the best single meteor I have seen to date.  It lit up the sky like a fireball and remained very vibrant for at least 10 seconds before exploding as it neared the horizon.

The bad news was that I had my camera pointed in the completely opposite direction.  Either way it was still fun to get out of the house and go see the stars and the milky way.  I took a couple of images of the milky way before heading home around 4:00 AM.

Everglades Milky Way