July 2022, and with a clear sky forecast overnight at the time of the new moon, conditions were just right for a spot of night time star photography.
Here in North Wales we have some reasonably dark skies away from the towns and villages, and on a clear night the milky way can be clearly visible arcing across the heavens overhead.
July and on into August is the best time of year to see and film the milky way, as the sky has just returned to full darkness in the middle of the night (it stays light all night around midsummer here at 53°N) and the colourful galactic centre is still visible just above the horizon.
But where to go to capture the beauty of the night sky in all its glory?
Well, I live right next to the Clwydian Range Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), a series of hills and valleys stretching north to south through northeast Wales.
At the moment, the Clwydian Range AONB is on a mission to gain official status from the International Dark Sky Association (IDA), so where better to head than just down the road!
But this involved a further bit of planning, as the galactic centre moves across the sky from the southeast to the southwest over the course of the night, which meant that I needed a view looking south for my astrophotography foray.
I also needed to be high up, as the galactic centre would be hidden behind the hills if I just stayed at low level in a car park.
So with all these factors in mind I decided my best course of action was to climb to the top of Moel Famau, the highest peak in the Clwydian Range, and photograph looking southwards using the ruined stump of the Jubilee tower on the summit as a suitably dramatic foreground element against which to set the movement of the stars above.
Now that's quite a climb, especially with a fully laden LowePro on your back, and I finally arrived at the summit both sweaty and breathless.
So having recovered from the climb a bit I carefully set up my astrophotography time lapse gear, including the very important lens warmer to stop condensation forming on the glass front element, and took a few test shots to check my composition, exposure and focusing.
Once I was happy I'd got everything set right and the milky way was in the right place to start shooting the hundreds of still images needed to create just a few seconds of time lapse video, I simply set the camera off on its multiple shot setting and left it to happily click away for the next four hours while I took in the magnificent views from my elevated vantage point.
At around 3.30am, with the sky visibly lightening from the east, the stars disappearing and a fog bank rolling across the top of Moel Famau, I finally turned the camera off and packed everything back into my rucksack for the climb back down to my car, far below.
What an amazing way to spend a night, watching and filming God's handiwork spinning around like clockwork and displaying His wisdom for all to see.
Filename - clwydians stars timelapse 03
Camera - Canon EOS 6DMK2
Lens - 14mm prime
Exposure (start of sequence) - 15 secs @ f/2.8, ISO6400
Exposure (end of sequence) - 15 secs @ f/2.8, ISO6400
Filters - None.
Shooting interval - 15 seconds
Software - Adobe Lightroom, LRTimelapse and Premiere Pro
Music - Kiss the Sky - Aakash Gandhi
Location - Moel Famau, Clwydian Range, North Wales
This clip - HD 720p, 30fps (4K and 1080p HD formats also available)
Clip duration - 29 seconds
All content copyright © Howard Litherland 2009-2023 unless otherwise stated.