Third time’s the charm they say. This is my third attempt at Pharaoh Lake in the Adirondacks, aiming for a Milky Way panorama reflecting off the lake. The first trip was in June, when marsh waters were too high to cross due to a broken bridge. Not wanting to give up, I tried again in August, but we got rained on despite models forecasting 0% cloud cover.

Fast forward to mid-October to one of the clearest weekends I’ve seen, with no clouds within 100 miles. In fact, all of NY was basically cloudless. Not wanting to miss this chance before it snows, my roommate and I drove 6 hours from Buffalo to meet my friend at Pharaoh Lake. We arrived just before sunset and were nervous the camping spots near the peninsula would be taken, but sub-freezing temps deterred most campers. We ended up cowboy camping in a nearby lean-to.

Super glad I made this trip because my God, was it clear. Felt like a little kid on Christmas seeing thousands of bright stars twinkling. I started my side project around 1:30 AM and planned to shoot the main panorama at 2:00 AM. My star tracker died right when I started the H-alpha (Hα) frames, and I shot the whole thing before noticing they were trailing. Luckily, my friend had his tracker, so I swapped it out since it was the same model. Unfortunately, by then, Cygnus had fallen too far below the horizon, so I used old Hα data for that part. Orion was nice and spicy though.

Finally finished around 4:00 AM, a little before sunrise, and quickly headed to sleep with a hot Nalgene bottle in the sleeping bag. I wanted to take sunrise photos, but I was slumped and cold, and couldn’t be dragged out of bed.

Creating this panorama felt like a huge milestone since my first Milky Way panorama a year and a half ago because it’s my first time successfully combining all the new techniques and workflows I’ve learned, like multirow panoramas and H-alpha integration, into one beautiful Milky Way arch.

From envisionment to presentation, I present this massive 593 MP panorama.

📸 Shot on my Astro-modified Canon R+ EF 24-70mm f/2.8 II

Sky: R2 | 9 frames | 60s | f/2.8 | ISO 1600
R1 | 9 frames | 60s | f/2.8 | ISO 1600
Hα: 2 panels | 4 frames stacked | f/2.8 | 240s | ISO 3200
Foreground: 9 panels | f/2.8 | 180s | ISO 1600

Processed using Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, Pixinsight, Auriga Registar, and ASTAP

Check out more of my work on my Instagram and website!

Remember to Leave No Trace :)

*Hα data was from Lac Blanc, Nominingue, QC (Bortle 3)

Fujifilm XT-5 with Viltrox 13mm F1.4 at F1.4, total integration/exposure time ~4 hours, ISO 1600.

Edited in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom.

The Milky Way stretches over an overlook on the Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire. Shot on Nikon Z5ii with Z 20mm F 1.8s lens. 10 panel panorama. 5 panels each of the foreground and of the tracked Milky Way. Sky is composed of 10, 30 second stacked images: F 2, iso 1200. Processed with Pixinsight, Light Room Classic and Photo Shop.

This Milky Way mosaic is a collection of Sky and Land frames taken at the same spot and night at Big Meadows in Shenandoah National Park, back on June 1, 2024. Finally got around to putting the image together. I had planned for a much wider mosaic, but the frames did not stitch together, so a lot of images were thrown out and what was left is this.

Technical. Canon 6DM2, with a Samyang 135mm F/2 Lens. In-camera white balance used to preserve close to natural color image. All images were 30-second exposures were made at f/2, ISO 1600, tracking with a Fornax lighttrack ii.

Big Meadows, in SNP, is likely a Bortle 4 area, but there was a lot of airglow and light pollution domes in this direction, some of which was subtracted (kept most airglow).

Raws were processed in Rawtherapee for full calibration, then exported 16-bit tifs into PTGui to stitch the sky and land images, rnc-color-stretch (astro-color-stretch python) to stretch the sky, photoshop to crop and combine imagines and make final curve adjustments.

Have always wanted to get a shot of Orion with its beautiful red H-alpha (Hα) emission. Usually, my schedule doesn’t line up well for the winter Milky Way season because of the frigid temperatures and college, but this weekend the clear skies and perfect conditions were too tempting, so I drove 6 hours out to shoot this beauty. And I’m super glad I did. 

Now this is my first time capturing Orion the way I’ve always envisioned it. When I first got into astrophotography, it was during the winter of 2024. Orion was one of my first targets I shot, and I always wonder how people shot those red burning flames surrounding the constellation. I kept trying to get that shot with my stock Canon R6, and it would never work out. Little did I know, it required using a modified camera and an Hα narrowband filter to get that signal fully.

Looking back now, I’m glad I was faced with all those dead ends and kept learning. I wouldn’t have appreciated the craft if I knew all the answers right away. The most fulfilling part of astrophotography is that it’s an endless masterclass that always brings me back for more. 

So now, I present to you Orion, in all its glory, reflecting off Pharaoh Lake in the Adirondacks.

📸 Shot on my Astro-modified Canon R+ EF 24-70mm f/2.8 II

Sky: 2x3 panels| f/2.8 | 60s | ISO 1600
Hα: 4 frames stacked | f/2.8 | 240s | ISO 3200 
Foreground: 3 panels | f/2.8 | 180s | ISO 1600

Processed using Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, Pixinsight, Auriga Registar, and ASTAP

Check out more of my work on my Instagram and website!

Remember to Leave No Trace :)

Snapped in the southern hemisphere. Looking at the Large Magellanic Cloud (non-spiral galaxy) in the upper right.

Nikon d610 24 mm (14.0-24.0 mm ƒ/2.8)
Shutter: 30 sec
Aperture: ƒ/3.2
ISO: 3200
Edited in adobe Lightroom

The Milky Way above Usk Reservoir in South Wales, UK.

My friend and I ventured out into the dark for some deep sky observation and photography, but I went on a little wander and caught this lovely view with the lights from wild campers reflecting across the water.

This was taken with a Sony a6700 and the Sony 11mm f1.8 lens, untracked, 8 seconds ISO 6400.

Nikon z7
Nikkor Z 20mm
f2.5
ISO 640
210s
Tracked with asterra z
5 stacked images in Astro panel

Foreground: nikkor z 35mm (f1.4), f16, 30s, iso 100

I saw this composition with the milkyway one night and liked how different it was with the horizontal milkyway straight above the arches. Let me know what you think. Roast it if you want!

Shot on Sony a7riii(astro modified), Sony 20mm

Foreground:

2min, f1.8, iso 640

Sky tracked/ stacked:

28x 1min, f2.8, iso 640

Single 60sec shot with Canon 60D on barndoor tracker 17mm lens f2.3 processed with pixInsight, Photoshop CS5

This is my very first astrophotograph so any feedback would be great! Had a blast doing it!

Nikon Z50 ii, 16 mm f/1.4, 2-3 s exposure (can’t remember exactly, was playing around with different exposures and took several pictures), 3200 ISO.

Sony A7RIII + Sony 16mm 1.8f FE G lens. 14sec exsposure 3200 ISO

Taken with Sony A7RIII, 16mm Sony G lens. 30 second exsposure, 1.8f and 100 ISO. Had an almost full moon rising to the left of this photo which allowed me to use a very low ISO.

This was taken on 7/4/26 while I was on Paulina Peak at Newberry Volcanic NM in Central Oregon. I was up there to shoot star trails. I did not know there was a chance of Aurora's that night.

The location this photo was take is at an elevation of 8,000ft. The two lakes below are twin volcanic crater lakes called Paulina & East Lake. They are the same type of lakes as Crater Lake. In fact, this Monument almost became a National Park before Crater Lake was ultimately chosen

S25ultra f1.8

Iso 800

Poses simples de 8 à 15s

Non traitées

It wasn't supposed to be windy last night, but a slight breeze started blowing late and turned the blades of this windmill in a pasture on the edge of an oak woodland. Foothills of the Diablo Range, California.

Canon 600D, Rokinon 14mm f/4, ISO 800, 25 sec x 160, StarStax, Lightroom. Planned with Noctography, an excellent new tool.

Foreground
F16 30 sec, 30s, iso 100, 20mm f1.8 Nikkor z on Nikon z7 body

Sky
F3.5, 260s. ISO 320 with asterra z tracker. Blended in photoshop

The dark horse on one of it's final rides of the season. Captured on the south end of Ocracoke Island, NC this past Monday night. This area of the Outer Banks is particularly dark and perfect for shooting the Milky Way however the light pollution from the Morehead City area in very visible on the horizon.

9 images stacked and processed using DxO Pure Raw 6, Lightroom, Starry Landscape Stacker and Photoshop. Nikon z6iii / Sigma 14-24mm / 14mm / f2.8 / ISO 6400

First time getting Astro shots. Sony a6300 - Sony 15mm 1.4 iso 3200 with exposure around 8 seconds

Single exposure. Sony A7 III Sigma 14mm 1.4 ISO 2500 5 seconds @1.4

18th of June 2025 @00:01 Mid season shot of the southern hemisphere’s view of the Milky Way. Lake Wānaka, New Zealand.

Had taken multiple shots, and tried stacking but was never happy with the result. May try again, just to get the trunk and foreground in focus.

Went to South Africa for my honeymoon and took some night sky pics of our “tent” and across the lake.
The Milky Way is located behind the tent and two non-spiral galaxies: the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are across from the Milky Way - across the lake and only visible in the southern hemisphere!
(Taken on Nikon d610, 14-24mm f2.8, exp time 30s, ISO varies by photo 800-10159)

Fuji X-E3, Samiyang 12mm F/2 lens

Sky: 15 sec single exposure at ISO6400

Foreground: 60 sec exposure at ISO4000

Post processed in Adobe Photoshop