I often miss looking up at the stars at night when I was a kid. After I grow up and study and work, I have forgotten the last time I looked up at the stars.
The video "Prosperous China" released by 8KRAW during the 2019 National Day, the starry sky time-lapse in it amazed me, and I will never forget it.
During the epidemic, I stayed in my hometown and went up to the rooftop to enjoy the cool air on clear nights. Although I couldn’t see the Milky Way due to light pollution, the starry sky made me reflect on how far it had been since my last stargazing. How long had it been since I had looked up again? I was always busy There is no quiet time to appreciate the beauty of the night sky while working.
I just had the weekend to go back to work and wanted to try photography, so I started to learn about cameras, starry sky photography and other related knowledge. In June last year, I bought my first camera, A6400+18-135+Sigma 16 1.4, in order to shoot stars.
June
Guangxi is located in the south of the mainland and has a changeable climate, with sunny days, less rain and more foggy days, and relatively fewer opportunities to shoot stars.
A little more than a week after I got the camera in June, the next two weekends happened to be favorable shooting times. I chose the Sanniang Bay scenic spot I had visited through coincidence. The weather happened to be perfect on one weekend, so I immediately packed up and set off.
This is the first time I have a deep memory. I saw the Milky Way with the naked eye, and the faint light strips streaked across the sky. I took my first starry sky photo in the sea breeze, and it was also my first photo. , I was in a hurry and took 32 composite photos.
This trip left me with a lot of regrets, but the beauty of the Milky Way also attracted me to start chasing stars. (The post-production was really bad at the beginning, and the first ship was rebuilt later.
July
It was a pity that I didn't catch Comet Xinzhi in July. I thought I couldn't take pictures here, so the last picture was not released. Because I don’t have a car, I can only move around the city. The light pollution is so bad that I can’t get enough photos.
In addition, I am busy with my work and have no time to go to other places. I can't find a star shooting partner, so I can only do it alone. After many attempts, I gradually became familiar with the preliminary work of shooting, and took many detours. However, the later stage was still not ideal, and I did not study the post-production ideas well.
I went to a nearby scenic spot to climb a mountain. I didn't expect that the mountain was filled with solar street lights. People were dumbfounded. The stone lion statue was photographed in a suburban park. The surprise was particularly revealing on that day.
August
The Perseid Meteor Shower in August falls on a working day, and the entire Guangxi is covered with dark clouds. I don’t have a chance, and I really want to take pictures of stars. So I happened to be invited by a photography kid I’ve never met in Guangxi. After checking the weather, I immediately bought a ticket to go to Yangming, Hunan over the weekend. Mountain shoots stars (see previous post).
Because it takes an hour to get to the top of the mountain, my friend didn’t bring a tripod on the first night, so I could only lend him mine. I met two families camping and took some starry sky photos for them. I wanted to take a extended trip on the second night. At that time, there were also surprises one after another. The weather was originally forecast to be good, but it almost rained.
For the first time, I felt the night sky under low light pollution (Level 2). It was bright and charming, and the Milky Way light band was clear and dense, clearer than before. At the same time, I felt that one camera position was completely insufficient, and I could only choose between shooting time-lapse and single shots.
Then I came back to edit the photos and found that I had made a very serious problem. The photos I took were not completely horizontal, and some of them were extremely tilted. As a result, several of the photos I took were all ruined. It took me two months to realize that sadly. I'm so stupid. Please make sure every photo is level when taking photos.
(To be continued...)