"Carina over Lake Ballard"

Taken on Lake Ballard, Western Australia on 25/12/2017 - this image shows the signature hill that thrusts out from the dry salt lake, watched under the glow of the mighty Carina Nebula and the Southern Cross constellation. Lake Ballard is around 2 hours drive north of Kalgoorlie, with about 50km on a average dirt road (accessible by two wheel drive, which I did last year - but would recommend a 4x4).

On this night, the moon was at 40%, 20 deg elevation and descending therefore lighting up the foreground nicely - although at this brightness I had to back off alot on the exposure time to avoid whiting out the sky. Clouds were an issue as well, floating by occasionally. Fortunately, you can view this hill / lake from any angle so it was a matter of walking around such that the composition targeted a clear patch of sky.

This was a 22 panel mosaic but cropped to reveal closely the fantastic beauty of the Carina and Crux region of the sky. A tracking mount was used for the sky and turned off for the foreground. All camera and lens settings were kept the same for all panels. Stitching in PTGui, colour calibration, levels, saturation and contrast in Photoshop.

Enjoy, Will Vrbasso.
http://www.stellaraustralis.com

| 2017-12-25 | Lake Ballard, Western Australia | EOS6D modified | 85mm | f/4.0 | UV/IR cut-filter | iOptron mount | ISO3200 | 30sec | 22 x panels, but cropped |

#nightscape #astrophotography #australia #Menzies #lake #night #canon #stellaraustralis #vrbasso #milkyway #carina #nebula #southern #cross