I just learned that my photo, Buffalo Jump Into Eternity, has won the best in show award in Fusion Art's 2nd Annual International Skies Competition in their digital and photographic category. This is one of my favorite pictures, which makes the news even sweeter.
People often ask me if these Milky Way photos are "fake." The simple, truthful answer is, "Not at all." I use a 35mm lens on my Nikon camera, mounted on a motorized, equatorial mount which, when properly aligned, moves at the same rate our Earth spins in relation to the stars. This allows me to capture a night image in excess of 3 minutes without getting the "trailing" present on stars which would be apparent without this mount. It also allows a lower ISO which translates to less image noise and greater detail. I take one image with my mount turned on, and then immediately, without moving my camera, take another with it turned off. Because my camera is moving slowly for the first image, everything on Earth is slightly blurred. In the second image, the foreground is sharp and blending the two together is very easy since the overall image contains the same sky and foreground.
You can view or purchase this image in my New Releases or Night Skies section.
Mariquita Harris
This one is incredible. It’s easy for me to get lost in this picture looking at all the fine details in the sky. The work you must put into setting this up certainly pays off.