Under the Milky Way

Uluru – Northern Territory June 2016 (9 photos)

One of the photography sessions I looked forward to in particular was a night time shoot of Uluru framed by the stars and The Milky Way, taken at the sunset viewing area. These shots are from the second night I was there. There was dense cloud cover earlier that afternoon. Thankfully, the clouds dispersed by about 6pm and after dinner we made the decision to head out for a night shoot.

Because we were there to coincide with the full moon rising at Uluru at the same time as sunset, the caveat was that the stars would not be as bright as at a different phase of the moon cycle. These photos were taken around 10pm. The full moon was just to the left of frame, carefully excluded from the shots to expose properly for the stars.

I didn’t miss the opportunity to turn around and shoot backwards, away from the moon for a better view of the stars.

Sometimes when this place gets kind of empty
Sound of their breath fades with the light
I think about the loveless fascination
Under the Milky Way tonight

Lower the curtain down in Memphis
Lower the curtain down all right
I got no time for private consultation
Under the Milky Way tonight

Wish I knew what you were looking for
Might have known what you would find

And it’s something quite peculiar
Something that shimmering and white
Leads you here despite your destination
Under the Milky Way tonight

… “Under the Milky Way” is a single by Australian alternative rock band The Church, released in 1988 on their album Starfish.

Even the carpark looks less ordinary under The Milky Way.

In my previous post, Catch a Falling Star, I mentioned that manual focus is essential in this situation as autofocus is mostly useless.

Another difficulty is composition and framing. The viewfinder and live view will be black. Getting the right composition involves taking a photo and then reviewing and repositioning until you get it right.

The same applies to the exposure settings. Keep it under 30 seconds to avoid movement blur of the stars.

Above I tried a 3 minute exposure: the start of star trails. If only I had all night and didn’t need to be up in less than 6 hours for the next dawn shoot.

Under The Milky Way – simply a magical experience.