This image had been something we had imagined for years, being able to combine the large trees in the middle of the Gil Weir with the Galactic Centre low in the sky.
Before we had apps like PhotoPills the aligning and planning of shots was not as simple to get right.
Going out and hoping for the best wasn’t cutting it for this shot.
We realized very early on in the planning that it would have to be late in the Astro season to have the Galactic Centre on the correct side of the sky during the night.
A new moon was going to be necessary to capture the Galactic Centre through the haze of being low in the sky, but wouldn’t make capturing the foreground easy.
Using PhotoPills we planned the time of night to be there, we took plenty of Speedlight’s and batteries for lighting knowing it would be very dark with no artificial light at the Weir as well as the new moon providing zero light.
A few months before planning this image we had captured a similar tree on a dam and loved the reflections that can be created with the right type of lighting, we wanted to recreate that but this time with the Galactic Centre.
Well as everyone knows, nothing that is special comes easy. Despite all the planning, we had cloudy weather for all the days around the new moon as well as the new moon night.
After waiting patiently for the conditions to be the way they needed to be and the new moon to come back around, we finally captured the image we have always imagined.
Nikon D850, Nikkor 14-24mm,
Manfrotto Tripod
Camera Settings: 25” | f/2.8 | ISO 5000 | @22mm
If you are interested in browsing more of our fine art photography or purchasing prints, please feel free to browse our website and follow our Facebook and Instagram