We'll start at the beginning.
Driving to Coles Bay on a very wet and windy day, it seemed all hope of a clear sky for an early morning shoot had disappeared. But I set the alarm anyway. The conditions didn't even allow me time to scout out a great location. But by 5.00am there was not a cloud in the sky and all was calm. Working quickly is the key. The light begins to change so rapidly.
In this shot we can just make out the first inkling of the dawn. The silhouetted landscape reminded me of a Japanese print I had once seen, so that was confirmation enough of a good spot. So I took the shot on manual focus (it's just too dark for AF) and hoped for the best.
Years ago I was a member of an amateur astronomical society and used to know the Southern Sky like the back of my hand. I was glad that I still recognised the key features. The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (dwarf galaxies neighbouring our own Milky Way). The Southern Cross (Crux) is there, although more difficult to make out in the pristine sky unaffected by city lights. And most pleasing of all to me is how clearly the Coalsack Nebula showed up.
The Coalsack Nebula is the most prominent dark nebula in the skies, visible to the naked eye as a dark patch obscuring a brief section of Milky Way stars as they cross their southernmost region of the sky just south of Crux. I even had a couple of shooting stars during the exposure - you'll see one here in this shot.
The choice of black and white was simple in the end. It provided a clarity that the colour version lost as the emerging dawn light tended to overshadow the real stars of the show (pardon the pun).
[I've tagged the key astronomical features for you. I tried to keep the exposure as short as possible so that the stars remained points of light and didn't show the earth's rotation. At the same time I wanted to minimise my ISO to reduce noise. In the end ISO400, f/4 and 15 seconds was my compromise.]
Tags: Luminosity7 Nikon D850 Launceston Tasmania Australia B/W Black and White Monochrome Night sky Pre-dawn Southern Sky over Freycinet Silhouette Light and Shade Milky Way Large Magellanic Cloud Small Magellanic Cloud Long Exposure Coalsack Nebula
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Just a few minutes after taking my previous shot, much of the Southern Sky was being turned blue by the acute angle of the rising sun. As you're aware, this is the wavelength of light that breaks through the atmosphere at this particular angle. Rays on the blue end of the spectrum have shorter wavelengths (400-500 nms) and more energy. So they light the sky first.
Many of the stars are still quite visible, and again I am pleased even to be able to make out the Coalsack Nebula (a space seemingly devoid of stars) below the Southern Cross. But now the interest begins to shift to the landscape and those rocks emerging in the light.
Tags: Luminosity7 Nikon D850 Launceston Tasmania Australia Coles Bay Coles Bay Blues Blue hour Dawn Starry sky The Hazards Silhouette Rocks Long Exposure Freycinet Peninsula Light Blue Seascape Landscape
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The Freycinet Peninsula is one of the first places in Tasmania to welcome the morning sun. In fact the municipality to the north of this one is known as "Break-O-Day".
The major geological feature of this region is known as The Hazards, a rocky mountain range that I'll introduce to you tomorrow. But beyond this little beach in the foreground we can just see the sun lighting the rocks on Mount Mayson and Mount Amos. In the centre of the picture is a light coming from an eco-lodge. It was very cold.
Those with a keen eye will spot the yellow kayak sitting off to the left of the beach.
Tags: Luminosity7 Nikon D850 Launceston Tasmania Australia Coles Bay Freycinet Peninsula At Break of Day The Hazards Dawn light Sunlight Rocks Beach Long Exposure Seascape Landscape Sea
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The little town of Coles Bay stands at the entrance to the Freycinet National Park. Across the water lie The Hazards: A rocky outcrop that consists of five small mountains. They are from the right, Mounts Mayson (415m), Amos (454m), Dove (485m), Baudin (413m) and Parsons (331m).
The black and white long exposure and the effects of the wide angle lens gives this spot an otherworldly appearance.
www.discovertasmania.com.au/about/national-parks-and-wild...
Tags: Luminosity7 Nikon D850 Launceston Tasmania Australia Freycinet Peninsula Coles Bay B/W Black and White Monochrome Long Exposure Early morning light The Hazards Rocks Landscape Seascape Nature
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The morning has broken and the sun's rays can be seen illuminating the pink granite rocks on Mount Mayson just across Coles Bay. In the foreground we see some rusty coloured rocks and even a bit of orange lichen.
Tags: Luminosity7 Nikon D850 Launceston Tasmania Australia Freycinet Peninsula Coles Bay Red Rocks and Pink Granite The Hazards Mount Mayson Long Exposure Seascape Landscape Orange Lichen Early morning light Nature
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