First Published June 26th 2018
Last Friday, i decided to take a wander up to Magpie Mine in Derbyshire.
It was forecast a clear night for the most part with a Waxing Gibbous moon at 71% so quite bright. Bright enough, torches were an afterthought, and just used for a small amount of light painting.
The trip there started the night off with bad omens. M1 shut between some junctions which absolutely hammered the A50 turnoff. Either way, after that we got to the location just before midnight.
Not that you would notice, as you could still see the suns glow and a little bit of blue sky on the horizon.
It was quite a warm night, not quite shorts and tshirt weather, but fairly close.
A lovely night had begun.
Started with the usual star trail taking in the whole scene i sat down with a hobnob and a coffee to have a think about the rest of the location.
A little lightpainting, but mainly moonlight
Only 40 Shots for this one. 30 Seconds, ISO800, f2.8. The moonlight doing a great job of lighting up the awesome brickwork.
There were a few more outbuildings to check out, a couple of large chimneys and some pretty heavyweight hardware all around the place. This shouldn’t be difficult to get some cracking shots.
Moonlight from behind, as you can see from the cast on the chimney
Hints of the milkyway, even at fairly low ISO.
I had been having problems with the Samyang 14mm lens. The barrel was moving back and forward very easily, and knocking the focus out quite a lot when not in the right position.
Before going out today, i checked it over, and the barrel was back to normal. However the hyperfocal sharpness for the whole scene used to be millimetres from the infinity mark. Now it was further round. Either way, it’s still working, just and for some reason, feels sharper than it has done before.
Looking at upgrading this lens in the very near future. Any ideas? Looking at the Irix selection of lens, or maybe going the other way, and getting a Nikon lens despite the price.
Changing up the fstop to give the moon more burst.
Outstandingly happy with the clarity in this image.
At f8, iso1000, 30 seconds for this shot. Used a torch on 2 aspects of the old mechanism. Really happy with the way this turned out.
2am and the Horizon still emblazoned with light.
At the end of the night. i knew the milkyway was out there, but the light from the moon and early dawn were scuppering it a bit.
ISO5000, f2.8, 30 Seconds. Getting the milky way in these conditions is a little difficult.
Take a look at my blog about Shooting the Milky Way in Light Polluted Conditions
to get some more ideas about getting this sort of shot.
As the nights draw in a bit, i will be looking at running some courses. If you are interested, drop me a message or email and i will be happy to keep you up to date. They will be reasonably priced and local to anyone in Leicestershire for a start.
If you want to take a look at the gear i used to do this shoot
I now have a store for Prints and anything else. Look at the top of the page and click on Shop. If you want to email me for a custom order, or something not in the shop drop me an email.
Finally, have fun and stay safe, and enjoy shooting.
Any suggestions for future blog posts, drop me an email. I will at some point be going into more detail on future posts.
you can see more of my work at
#highiso #starscapes #landscapes #garethnormanphotography #leicesterphotographer #hardworkpaysoff #countryside #longexposure #pushyourlimits #followyourpassions #nikon #sigma #samyang #starchasers #stars #ruins #oldbuildings #milkyway #constellations #bestphotography #derbyshire
About Me
I’m Gareth, a 38 year old IT contractor, Photographer, Eternal Optimist and Blogger. I have been behind a camera for about 4 years now and love shooting the stars, and anything else for that matter. Learning is the main aim for me.
I am a family man, and strive to be the best i can be in all fields that i put my mind and heart to.
