I've been exploring the coastal areas around Wellington, New Zealand to find interesting compositions to photograph under the night sky. Earlier this month I came across this rock pool which aligned perfectly with the rising Milky Way. Access to the pool over the rocks was difficult, but it was worth the effort to set this shot up.

Tags:   Astrophotography Milky Way seascape long exposure landscape New Zealand Wellington

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When it comes to photography and my creative work in general, I’m always trying to think outside the box of how I can do things in new and creative ways, especially things that haven’t been done before.

A few years back, I successfully shot a short film of underwater motion control time-lapse, and since then I’ve thought of taking it a few steps further and try to capture an under/over water astro timelapse. My first attempt about a year ago was a huge fail, and since then I’ve been getting out when I can, scouting for suitable locations around my home in Wellington, New Zealand, and trying different gear and techniques to capture what I had in mind.

Earlier this month, I finally nailed it - still not technically perfect and I have a few more things to work out, but it was the best result to date. It was meant to also be a day to night under/over water astro time-lapse, but I had technical issues with the set-up, and missed my day time start by 40 minutes. Still I’m absolutely wrapped in the way it turned out, so I thought I’d put a clip together to show the actual time-lapse I shot, along with some behind the scenes footage.

The time-lapse was shot using a Syrp Genie One motion control unit for the camera motion, a Nikon D850 and Sigma Art 14mm lens housed in an AquaTech underwater housing. The planning of the position and timing of the Milky Way rising was planned with PhotoPills

Tags:   timelapse underwater astrophotography nightscape

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Ever since I filmed the underwater time-lapse DownUnder back in 2017, I’ve been toying with the idea of bringing this into the astro world and photographing and time-lapsing both the underwater environment and night sky in one shot. Fortunately where I live in Wellington, New Zealand, is the perfect location for this with lots of tidal rock pools full of life under a dark night sky.

But it hasn’t been an easy shot to pull off - in fact this would have to be my most challenging astro photos to date. I’ve been attempting underwater asto shots since early 2020, but it’s taken me over a year to perfect a technique for shooting them. Each shot takes around 40 minutes to shoot, and you not only need a perfect night sky, but also have favorable locations, and timing with the tides can also be tricky. The other challenge is lighting your underwater scene, as any natural light diminishes considerably once it passes through water, and then there’s also the technique of focus stacking to get a sharp image from your foreground elements right through to the night sky, and I’m also shooting multiple shots each focus step for stacking to help with image quality and noise reduction.

So after many failed attempts, I’m happy to have finally pulled an under/over water astro shot that I’m finally happy with. The next challenge (which I’ve already attempted and failed many times) is an under/over water astro time-lapse.

In case you’re interested in the original DownUnder time-lapse I shot, you can find that here: youtu.be/lmYkjTXXwdE

Tags:   Milky Way New Zealand Wellington. WellingtonNZ astrophotography nightscape theartofnight underwater photography Wellington

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There’s a good reason the Wairarapa in New Zealand is in the process of becoming the world largest Dark Sky Reserve. Pristine night skies and amazing varied landscape with very little light pollution. I shot this image at Cape Palliser in the early hours as the Milky Way set to the west.

This is a 24 image tracked pano, shot with the SYRP
Pan-Tilt in pano mode mounted on a Sky-Watcher
Star Adventurer Pro.

Tags:   Cape Palliser Astrophotography Wairarapa New Zealand syrp stars starscape nightscape long exposure

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I shot this image at Pukerua Bay in Wellington, New Zealand. It's a location I've been wanting to get a shot of the Milky Way sitting horizontally in the sky and nicely composed with the coastal surroundings. Finally late July 2020 around 3am, I managed to get a shot that I was happy with!

Tags:   Milky Way nightscape night photography long exposure Astrophotography New Zealand Pukerua Bay Wellington

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