The Fall Colors are Coming!

Autumn Milky Way Over Nichols Pond Vermont I recently spent a few days in Vermont with Michael Blanchette and Benjamin Williamson, chasing the amazing fall colors all over the place. The foliage was at peak color in many places and looked amazing! Nikon D810A and Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens, at f/2.8 and 14mm. This is a blend of 10 images for the sky and 2 images for the foreground. The 10 images were shot at ISO 10,000 for 10 seconds each and stacked with Starry Landscape Stacker to produce a result with pinpoint stars and low noise. A single foreground shot at ISO 1600 for 15 minutes was used to capture detail in the foliage and mountains, and another shot at ISO 12,800 for 25 seconds (a "backup" shot for my sky in case the star stacking doesn't work out) was used for the reflection in the lake. The 25 second shot had a good reflection in the lake (as good as you could get with the wind) so I used just the lake from that shot.

Fall is officially here and the trees are already starting to turn in northern New England! It won't be long now before the forests and mountains will be ablaze with color. Here's one of my favorites from last year, the Milky Way over a pond in Vermont. The yellow glow is light pollution from Burlington. I was literally standing at the edge of a tall and very steep cliff with an immediate drop off. It's one thing to stand here in the day, you can see the edge of the cliff and the woods below and you have that eerie feeling that keeps you from getting too close to the edge. But at night you can't see how steep the drop off is, so no eerie feeling kicks in...be careful where you step!

Technical Details

Nikon D810A and Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens, at f/2.8 and 14mm. This is a blend of 10 images for the sky and 2 images for the foreground. The 10 images were shot at ISO 10,000 for 10 seconds each and stacked with Starry Landscape Stacker to produce a result with pinpoint stars and low noise. A single foreground shot at ISO 1600 for 15 minutes was used to capture detail in the foliage and mountains, and another shot at ISO 12,800 for 25 seconds (a "backup" shot for my sky in case the star stacking didn't work out) was used for the reflection in the lake. The 25 second shot had a good reflection in the lake when it wasn't windy, so I used just the lake from that shot.

To learn more about my Milky Way photography editing techniques check out my written tutorials and videos on my website: www.adamwoodworth.com

Adam Woodworth

Adam Woodworth is a landscape photographer, award-winning filmmaker and software engineer. He has had a love of photography for most of his life and one of his main focuses is landscape astrophotography. His earliest memory of gazing up in awe at the night sky was as a child in a canoe on a lake in Maine, fishing at night. The intensity of the star-filled sky in such a peaceful spot was a powerful experience, and now he enjoys sharing that experience through his photography.