Not a ripple, a breaking bubble nor the flick of any fish’s tale was unkind enough to shatter the perfect mirror offered to me by the surface of Coila Lake when I visited there one morning in July of this year. The Sun was two hours from breaking the eastern horizon, but there was ample light from other astronomical objects to brighten the sky for my photograph. The planet Venus had ventured into the sky before I arrived at the lake, outshining everything else in this scene, but soon after I took this shot the Moon cleared the clouds below Venus and became the centre of attention.

Above and to the left of Venus, you can see an area of sky that is brighter and whiter than anywhere else, caused by what astronomers have named the “Zodiacal Light.” Know commonly as the “false dawn”, this immense cloud of interplanetary dust is most prominent in this part of the sky in the late-winter and spring months here in the Southern Hemisphere. The star cluster the Pleiades, or “Seven Sisters”, is further to the left of Venus, and the famous constellation Orion is at the same altitude as the Pleiades, but to the right of Venus. You can see Orion’s belt and sword reflected by the lake, in the bottom half of the photo.

This image is a single-frame capture that I shot with my Canon EOS 6D Mk II camera, a Samyang 14mm f/2.4 lens @ f/2.8, using an exposure time of 25 seconds @ ISO 3200.

Until my short session last Thursday morning at Coila Lake, on the southeast coast of New South Wales, Australia, I hadn’t done much twilight nightscape photography. A friend and former workmate had direct-messaged me the day before, asking about the orange star that she’d seen near the planet Venus in the eastern pre-dawn skies. That message came to mind as I had my camera pointed in the opposite direction, photographing the Milky Way’s core region setting over Tuross Lake, so I repacked my gear in the car and moved to this spot right on Coila’s edge.

As you can see, the twilight tones were sublime, and the almost imperceptible breeze kissing the lake’s surface diffused the photons streaming out from Venus and that orange star, Aldebaran, captured here in what is becoming one of my favourite photos from recent months. Aldebaran’s colour and glow are lost in the glare of Venus, but I can see the orange streak of the star’s reflection at the bottom of the frame, to the right of the bright, comet-like beam coming from the second planet out from the Sun.

In the top left-hand corner of my photo is the open star cluster known as The Pleiades, or “The Seven Sisters”. Although there are plenty more than seven members of this sparkling cynosure, that’s the number of stars most people can make out in relatively dark skies.

As with most of my photos, this image is a single-frame image. I captured the scene with my Canon EOS 6D Mk II camera, fitted with a Yongnuo 50mm f/1.4 lens @ f/2.0, using an exposure time of 6.0 seconds @ ISO 1600.

The surface of Coila Lake was almost totally still when I composed this shot in the cold air of last Thursday morning (3rd July). A peach-coloured smudge on the horizon signalled that astronomical twilight had begun, meaning I had little time remaining to photograph the radiant glow of the planet Venus and its starry companions.

Along with Venus, I captured the sparkling star cluster known as the Pleiades (to the left of Venus); the red giant star Aldebaran; the famous constellation of Orion, and the brightest star in the sky, Sirius. Aldebaran is a little lost in the glare of Venus, but if you look at the planet’s reflection on the top of the water, you can see Aldebaran’s mirrored image nearby. A little to the right of the centreline of my photo, only a tad above the horizon, the red supergiant star Betelgeuse is spawning a lovely streak of reflected light stretching out from the lake’s eastern edge.

The final feature of note in my photo is the presence of some Zodiacal Light, an indistinct glowing band that’s passing down through Venus and towards the rising Sun.

This photo is a single-frame image that I shot with my Canon EOS 6D Mk II camera, a Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 lens @ f/2.8, using an exposure time of 10 seconds @ ISO 6400.

In late April of this year, I posted a photo entitled “Colours from Sky and Sea”, which showed the planets Jupiter and Saturn rising above the Tasman Sea at Seven Mile Beach, Australia. Jupiter’s light was so bright that you could see its reflection shining from the water’s surface in my photo, and the background sky was tinged green by atmospheric airglow. Today’s photo is a similar composition, but this time with a different colour palette.

When I took this photo on Sunday night (21st June), the airglow was purple rather than green. This change in colour is due to the photochemical reactions that cause the phenomenon occurring at different levels in the atmosphere to where the green hues happen. Jupiter’s reflection stretches from the horizon and in towards the camera, which I set at an angle that would let the photo capture the mirrored image of the Milky Way as well. The squiggles of blue and white on the water in the lower third of the shot are distorted reflections of individual stars.

My tripod’s legs did get a little wet when I captured this photo, although I was standing back on some dry sand, shooting via remote control. I used the following equipment and settings to create this single-frame image: Canon EOS 6D Mk II camera, a Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 lens @ f/2.8, using an exposure time of 15 seconds @ ISO 6400.

I set a new personal record this morning (Sat 20th June) when capturing this shot of the Moon in the eastern twilight sky. The Moon's illumination was only 1.7%–almost nothing–which is the thinnest sliver of Moon that I have ever photographed. Having such a small amount of crescent to feature in a photo makes it hard to see, I know, but I hope that the overall colour and look of the shot makes up for that.

The Moon isn't the only object of note in my photo, with the planet Venus also showing itself against the twilight-blue background. Look up towards the top of the frame, and you can see the bright white dot of light that Venus appears to be in the morning sky at present. If you have access to a telescope, high-magnification binoculars or a super-telephoto camera lens, you will see that Venus is also a white crescent of light at present.

I shot this single-frame photo with my Canon EOS 6D Mk II camera, a Sigma 50-500mm f/5.6 lens zoomed to 98mm at an aperture of f/8.0, using a shutter speed of 1/6 second @ ISO 200.

Our solar system’s most massive planet, Jupiter, was about 739 million kilometres (460 million miles) from the Earth when I captured this photo at Seven Mile Beach, Australia. Saturn, the planet known for its beautiful system of encircling rings, was orbiting further out in space at a distance of 1.48 billion kilometres (920 million miles) at that time. These two “gas giant” planets are the two bright spots visible in my image, appearing to hover over the Tasman Sea. The light coming from Jupiter was intense enough for it to be reflected off the water’s surface, visible to human eyes and the camera, as you can see here. Saturn is the less-bright spot below and to the right of Jupiter, and its usually yellow-white light reddened by atmospheric refraction.

The background sky colour has a green hue, created by the atmospheric phenomenon known as “airglow”, and this is also reflected in the shallow foreground wash along with some of the stars. Giving the blue colour to the more distant waves is the glow of bioluminescent marine organisms. The agitation from each breaking wave stirred up the little critters, causing them to glow in the dark. The whole scene was beautiful beyond belief, once more leaving me open-mouthed, humbled and in awe of the Creator.

The photo is a single-frame image that I shot using my Canon EOS 6D Mk II camera, a Yongnuo 50mm f/1.4 lens @ f/1.8, with an exposure time of 10 seconds @ ISO 6400.

The purple background colour in my photo is from what scientists call “atmospheric airglow”. Astronomers & photographers refer to it simply as “airglow”, and it’s a common feature in my night sky photos. Despite what our eyes tell us, the background sky isn’t black at night but has a tint from airglow. This atmospheric feature can show as green, orange or purple hue (like here), and even sometimes a combination that looks like the sky is rusty.

I captured the scene back in June at Seven Mile Beach, Australia. The photo shows the Milky Way’s galactic core region rising over the Tasman Sea, having cleared the coastal clouds that were moving further out to sea. As well as the airglow and the details of the Milky Way’s central band, you can see the light from our solar system’s most massive planet, Jupiter. The reflection of Jupiter was riding the waves, stretching from the horizon to the sand, and you can see the bright glow of the planet backlighting the clouds just below its position in the sky.

To shoot this photo, I used my Canon EOS 6D Mk II camera, a Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 lens @ f/2.4, with an exposure time of 15 seconds @ ISO 6400.

We’re not yet under official COVID-19 lockdown here in the state of New South Wales, Australia, but lots of folks are staying home as much as they can. Add to that the fact that, at present, I still have work coming in so couldn’t skip the sleep I’d miss if I went out for a midweek photo session, and you’ll understand the title of today’s photo.

The amount of light pollution in my city makes it just about impossible to photograph the Milky Way as I can in dark skies, so I’ve been concentrating on shooting the changing formation between the planets Jupiter, Mars and Saturn in the predawn eastern sky. Mercury has made its way into some recent photos, too, but today’s shot features those first three planets that I mentioned. If we go into lockdown, you can expect to start seeing pictures of my ceiling.

Shot from my balcony in Miranda, Australia, this photo was captured using a Canon EOS 6D Mk II camera, a Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art lens @ f/1.6, using an exposure time of 1.6 seconds @ ISO 800.

Gum trees in Australia don’t usually have yellow-coloured trunks like the one in my photo is sporting. The mustardy hue here is due to the nearby road intersection that is illuminated by two sulphur-vapour safety lamps. The arc of white light coming over the hill marks the headlights of a car that is driving towards that same intersection. I captured Jupiter and Saturn making their way up the eastern sky, seen here to the upper-left of the towering tree, standing out prominently against the otherwise unremarkable night sky.

There’s plenty of breathing space in the photo, and that’s what drew me to this particular shot as I scrolled through my Lightroom library tonight, looking for an image to brighten your day. I hope you have a great day, whatever part my photo plays in that experience.

The shot is a single-frame image, captured with my Canon EOS 6D Mk II camera, a Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art lens @ f/1.4, using an exposure time of 13 seconds @ ISO 6400.

Due to the way human eyes are structured, we typically don’t see colour in low-light conditions. Our eyes have two types of light-sensitive organs, the “rods” and “cones” that you might remember from science at school. The rods are sensitive to dim light but don’t detect colours. Conversely, the cones are good at seeing colour but don’t function well in dim light. To our eyes, then the overall tone of the night the sky looks black, or a deep shade of grey.

Unlike eyes, film and digital camera are excellent at detecting both the light and colour of the sky after the sun has set. My photo for today shows this well, with the sky’s deep green colour and the just-risen Moon’s yellow hues being unmissable. The phenomenon known as “atmospheric airglow” is responsible for giving the green tint to the heavens, but I’ve shot many photos where the sky is more of a rusty-orange colour. Less than an hour after I captured this scene, the Moon was higher up, and there was no hint at all of the yellowed light you see here.

The planets Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, were leading the Moon up through the night, (hopefully) adding more points of interest to my shot. I took the photo at Seven Mile Beach near Gerroa, NSW, Australia, with a Canon EOS 6D Mk II camera, a Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art lens @ f/2.2 using an exposure time of 8.0 seconds @ ISO 3200.