I was asked if I could take a photographer out on a night shoot as a present.
I had suggested that we attempt a Milky Way Arc shot from the West Coast. Given the weather and the need to do this on a weekend, the choice of dates were limited.
In April we had a decent forecast of clear skies in Mayo, so we headed to Achill island. We had clear skies all night which was excellent. After a 45min hike up from Keem beach we settled in for a 4 hour shoot of the Milky Way. We had to wait 3 hours for the Milky Way to rise so this gave us a chance to shoot Star Trails and prepare for the direction of the Milky Way and to get a feel for the location. We were very close to the edge of the cliff, and the Atlantic Ocean.
Our location was 54 degrees North, so the Core of the Milky Way was still very low on the Horizon. There was a small bit of light pollution from the village of Dooagh.
While processing the image, I was thinking about making a mask. As I do this in black and white, I found that I liked the look of the B/W image and so I continued processing it that way. It helps with the Light Pollution, and also for dragging out some contrast in the image.
I’ll be starting a whole new DSLR Gallery page shortly. I also hope to go on more and more Ireland night shoots this Summer to capture the Wild Atlantic Way at night.
