As I continue to learn by practicing, I also am going on adventures. Recently, I went to Illinois to visit my bestie Neff Neff.
While I was there, I had a couple opportunities to take night photos.
None of them from the Dark Sky Park had the Milky Way core, but it was fun all the same.
There were a lot of clouds but I also had the opportunity to do some Light Painting. Neff Neff has this really cool location that has old buildings and I was able to stand right int he middle and light them both with long exposure.
Then, as I learn more about stacking, I discovered that the opposite direction, with the lightning, actually had some Milky Way core hidden behind the clouds. With a little work I was able to pull out some of the core but it didn’t look quite right, so I decided to do a composite.
This image is taken in the same location but facing two different directions.
Isn’t it cool?
In 2025, I went back to Illinois, a full week of clouds so I extended the vacay by one day and finally had a single night of clear skies.