Interesting Photo of the Day: Star Scape at Porters Pass, New Zealand

Interesting Photos

It seems we never tire of ethereal starry night photographs. What is it about that infinite charcoal sea above and the twinkling lights within it? The beauty of the night appealed to the photographer who snapped this image in Porters Pass on New Zealand’s South Island:

Starry skies in Porters Pass, NZ (Via Imgur. Click to see full size.)

Porters Pass is a mountain pass in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. It’s close to the central and Mackenzie District of South Island, which makes up one of the world’s largest dark sky reserves on Earth.

The photographer explains that the wonderfully dark sky of the region and a fast lens are key in capturing stunning starscapes. The photograph was shot on a Canon 70D with Sigma 18-35 f/1.8 lens. Each shot was 15 seconds long at f/1.8, 18mm, ISO640.

The full image was actually created by stitching twelve photographs together in Hugin, with post processing in Photoshop CS6.