I’ve mentioned that last weekend Brad and I headed out to Lake Ozette to attempt to capture the Milky Way. Just check out the previous two articles if you want a little more detail about the trip. Overall, as a first attempt, I’d say I’m fairly happy with the results although I can certainly see there’s room for improvement. Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Behind the Photo
For the shot, I took two cameras, the Sony A99 and a new system that I recently added to my kit. Brad does a great job on staying up to date on the spec’s of camera gear and I trust his judgment. I was looking for a small system ‘run-and-gun’ system that would shoot in raw but be completely self-contained. He recommended the Panasonic DMC – LX100. Although I’m still getting used to this system I can see why it’s so popular. Look for a full review on the camera in the near future.
Although it’s basically a high end point-and-shoot it does have an incredibly fast lens; f/1.7. For a night shot of the Milky Way, this made it an attractive system. Using a compass and application for locating celestial bodies we had scouted out our shooting locations. Checking sensors for dust and cleaning lens was only part of our preparations. Knowing that the night would cool off considerably and that there would be a lot of humidity around the lake we left our body and lens out of the bags in order to adjust to the falling temperatures. This prevented foggy of the lens when it came time to start the shoot.
Location
I’ll mention again about checking my previous post (Capturing the Milky Way Over Lake Ozette and Return from Milky Way Shoot at Lake Ozette) for more detail about the area, but I will mention that for these photographs we were staying in the Olympic National Park Ozette Campground. It’s opened year round, has 15 sites and is first come, first served. Sites run $20 per night and it does have water and toilets available; no showers.
