[Click image to view in a lightbox.]

I went out again last night to experiment more with Milky Way photography. (If you haven’t read it yet, check out the post I wrote yesterday about my first go-round.)

Instead of my backyard, I set up this time at Mt. Angel Abbey, a Benedictine monastery where I am an oblate novice. Located one town up the road from us, I can see the abbey from my front yard. I knew I’d still be dealing with a fair amount of light pollution, but I didn’t want to drive far while I’m learning the basic techniques of Milky Way photography…and as I try out my new-to-me-just-came-in-the-mail Tamron 17-35 mm f/2.8-4 landscape lens.

I want to share three images that kind of worked from last night.

I took the photo above from an abbey parking lot that overlooks the valley. The lights in the distance are my town of Silverton. I’m reasonably certain the streak in the top left corner is one of the Perseid meteors, distinguishable by their half-pink, half-green tails. The streak also doesn’t appear in any of my subsequent images, which you’d expect if it was a plane or satellite. I’m 100% lucky that the meteor just seems to be cruising down the Milky Way.

By the way, this image is a composite of several photographs I crudely merged in Photoshop to reduce digital “noise.” (I really don’t know what I’m doing in Photoshop. I need to learn.)

The second shot below — you can click on it to view in a lightbox — isn’t necessarily a Milky Way photo. It’s “just” a sky full of stars above two beautiful sequoias. I was walking back to my car when I noticed how the sidelit trees stand out crisply against the starry canopy.

The final photograph is one I took on the way home. The country road I was driving on was very dark. I checked the PhotoPills app to see where the Milky Way was, then set up my tripod in the middle of the road. I only regret I didn’t get a decent exposure of the road that I could then blend with an exposure of the night sky. Instead I had to increase the exposure of the road in Lightroom, creating extra noise. Oh well. A good lesson for next time.

And there will be a next time (tonight?) because this is just too fun.

Main Image

Location: Mount Angel, Oregon

Exposure: 20 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 6400

Focal Length: 17 mm

Gear:

• Camera: Nikon D850

• Lens: Tamron 17-35 mm f/2.8-4