Behind the Image - "Starburst"

This is an image taken on a beautiful night during a 3 day backcountry camping trip in Assiniboine Provincial Park.

The goal was to feature the Milky Way above one of the prominent peaks in the area and capture some reflection in the lake below.

A little background information about the area: Mt Assiniboine is a towering pyramid-shaped peak often referred to as “the Matterhorn of the Rockies”. It’s one of those views that stops you in your tracks and after living in the Rockies for 10 years, I was well overdue a visit to the area! There is an option to take a helicopter to/from or hike in/out roughly 30km one way. I chose to heli in and hike out. When you arrive, there is a lodge, huts and campsites scattered around the area at the base of the mountain. One of the most amazing views to wake up to! A highlight for me was listening to Marmots whistling in the distance from my tent. ☺️

As I hadn’t visited the area before, the first step was to do some location scouting and figure out the position of the Milky Way in the sky.

I hiked the area through the day to get a lay of the land. The original plan was to shoot the night sky above Mt Assiniboine from the shoreline of Lake Magog however once I got there, I was worried I wouldn’t get as good of a reflection in the water below as the lake was quite wind affected. I used Photopills to figure out the timing and alignment of the Milky Way and saved some screenshots on my phone for reference later.

I decided to check out the two other nearby lakes to see how Mt. Assiniboine looked from there as well.

The next lake was much smaller and a different aspect so the wind came in at a different angle, though still too windy for what I wanted. I consulted Photopills again which told me that while the Milky Way would somewhat line up with Mt Assiniboine, it would be a little too early in the evening so not dark enough to see it. It did, however, line up perfectly over Sunburst Peak (the main peak featured in my images) at around 10 pm.

There is no cell service where I was so I was relying on the weather forecast information I had checked the morning I went into the area. The forecast called for 10cm of snow the first night (not ideal when you’re in a tent) so I decided I would get a good night sleep, then shoot the following evening which the forecast said should be more clear.

I stayed at Sunburst Lake for sunset and made my way back to camp for dinner. After dinner, as I finished my hot choc and baileys (a must for backcountry camping), I noticed the cloud cover had actually improved and there was around 50% coverage. The snow was already well overdue with no sign of it coming in, so feeling optimistic, and not tired enough to sleep, I decided to head back out to the lakes to check conditions. Once I arrived at my preferred location, Magog Lake, the sky had significantly cleared but the wind had not. I took a few test shots but wasn’t entirely happy with the results. I made the decision to go back to Sunburst Lake and while disappointed to not shoot the iconic view of Mt. Assiniboine, I really wanted some sort of reflection.

So I headed back to Sunburst Lake and by the time I got there, conditions were perfect! The wind had completely died off and I could see star reflections dancing on the water. It was chilly by now and there was soft steam rising from the lake, creating an eery effect when my headlamp hit it at the right angle. The Milky Way was sitting just right in the sky above Sunburst Peak. From checking Photopills earlier, I knew that the moon would be rising around 10:15 and it was now 9:45 so I had just enough time to get my shot before the moon washed out the stars.

I set my ISO to it’s maximum, my widest aperture and a one-second shutter speed. This is a trick I use to help me compose my images quickly when it’s dark without having to wait 30 seconds or so to see the shot. It allows me to move around and even handhold the camera to get an idea of what I like and saves a bunch of time!

Once I found a composition I liked, I set my camera on my tripod and worked on focusing.

*** Pro night focusing tip: Use your LCD screen and zoom in on a star, then use your autofocus on the star (or manual if it won’t lock on) to get tack sharp focus***

FIRST SHOT

Once I found focus, I changed my settings to my default night setup - F2.8, 30 seconds ISO 1600 and fired off a shot. The results were a little darker than I wanted so I made the decision to bump my ISO up to 2500 and it looked a little better.

SECOND SHOT

The rocky lake bottom caught my eye so I used my headlamp to light up the water for 5 seconds throughout the 30-second exposure. While I liked the effect, I found it took away from the beautiful reflection a bit too much so went back to no headlamp for my last shot.

THIRD & FINAL SHOT

By my third shot, it was time for moonrise and I knew I already had a few shots to work with. However, I felt like Sunburst Peak was a bit dark and dull in my previous shots so decided to stick around a bit longer in hope that the rising moon might add some light to the peak without washing out the sky too much.

The moon popped over the horizon directly behind me and illuminated the peak just enough while also changing the hue of the sky slightly which I liked.

Right after I took my last shot, some clouds began to creep in from behind me and completely swallowed up the stars! I decided to call it a night and packed up and headed back to camp.

The forecast had done the exact opposite to what it was supposed to and the following night ended up being 100% cloud when originally it was supposed to be the better night for astro so I was glad I had decided to stay up the first night.

So the moral of the story? Stay up and drink hot choc baileys and you’ll get the shots you want 😉

And if you know you’re close to moonrise or moonset, it’s worth hanging around a little longer to see how the change in light affects the landscape.

Ps, though not the main peak, Mt. Assiniboine can be seen poking through in the background.

Kahli