Astrophotography

South American trip (6) – Salar de Uyuni – Salt Desert in Bolivia

The experience there at night leaves you speechless. I could say magnificent, galactic. I was in an area of the desert flooded with water about 10-20 cm from the “permasal”. I got rubber boots and went down to the pictures. The water was very very cold and you could feel it even through your boots and 3 pairs of socks.

Photo credit: Attila Munzlinger

We managed to take magnificent pictures. I didn’t manage to get exactly the mirrored galaxy effect in the water, because there were still a few gusts of wind that stirred the water a bit and distorted the reflection in the water mirror a bit. But the pictures turned out super amazing anyway and the Galactic experience, the sky being extraordinarily clear, without light pollution.

South American trip (5) – Moon Valley and Flamingos

About the Valley of the Moon, what can I say? It was yet another transcendental experience.

We stayed all night to take pictures of the starry sky and the rock formations in the valley of the moon park. And a funny incident or adventure. The park is closed at night as is normal. But we, that is, me and Valentin Grigore, after taking pictures and exhausting the potential of the belvedere observation point on the side of the road, we decided to enter the park anyway.

Well don’t imagine that belvedere point was right on the side of the road I did some climbing and stayed for hours at that point. But it wasn’t enough for a whole night, was it?

Valparaiso, Solar Eclipse and the Penguins

Let me tell you about the mega trip of about 6,000 euros for a month in South America, the trip where I visited Buenos Aires in Argentina, Chile, saw the solar eclipse in Chile, went to the desert, took night photos, I saw petroglyphs in the desert but also Easter Island in the Pacific 3,500 km from the coast, I was in the salt desert of Bolivia with its cacti island, I saw Machu Pichu, Nazca and the old pyramids of Caral. Really fascinated.

Most of the South American trip took place in Chile for a two-week period, half of the trip. In Chile we also achieved our final objective, that of observing and photographing the Solar Eclipse 2019 and also in Chile we took the most night photographs in fascinating, interesting, strange places such as the Hand of the Desert monument in Atacama or the formations of semi-precious stones from Death Valley (or Mars Valley) and Moon Valley.

Highlights of the Great American Eclipse Tour 2017

Photo Name: 2017 Solar Eclipse

Caption: Solar Eclipse and Regulus low left

Properties: Nikon D5200 f/11 ISO-400 1/25 sec 420mm crop.

Date & Location: 2017 August 21, Beaver Dick, Rexburg, Idaho, US.

Maximul eclipsei solare americane din2017

Twilight in the mountains

Photo Name: Twilight in the mountains

Caption: I took this photo when I camped overnight near First Peak, Seymour Mountain in the Canadian region of British Columbia: twilight, mountains, plants, moonlight and Venus. I don’t really remember why I set the ISO to just 100 but the photo turned up nice after some basic tuning.

Properties: Nikon D5200 f/5.6 ISO-100 20 sec 38mm crop.

Date & Location: 2018 Jun 20, British Columbia, Canada.

Himalaya Night Sky

Photo Name: Himalaya Night Sky

Caption: I took this photo from the last village before Everest Base Camp – Gorak Shep. Since photography was not the focus of the trip, I didn’t have a tripod with me so I placed the camera on the stone wall nearby. I also entered the long exposure shot later, thus creating a ghostly figure effect. Left to right: Khumbutse, Changtse, Everest Westshoulder, Everest (the top in the background), Nuptse.

Properties: Nikon D5200 f/3.5 ISO-6400 30sec 18mm crop.

Date & Location: 2016 Nov 07,Nepal, Gorak Shep.

Alterations: Contrast, noise, sharpness, watermark.

Photo tag: Everest, Himalayas, Nepal, Khumbu Valley, Gorak Shep, Himalaya night sky.

Also on: www.astroclubul.ro.

Photo Name: Pumori Night Sky

Caption: I took this photo from the last village before Everest Base Camp. Pumori (7.161m) mountain photographed with long exposure from near Gorak Shep.

Properties: Nikon D5200 f/3.5 ISO-3200 20 sec 18mm crop.

Date & Location: 2016 Nov 07,Nepal, Gorak Shep.