Astrofotografen - Professional photographer Göran Strand

Crescent Moons

2018-12-06T13:48:00.000+01:00

Here's a couple of photos showing a crescent Moon during two consecutive mornings. In the first photo the Moon is 4% lit and since the sky is quite dark it's possible to see the unlit part of the Moon due to so called Earthshine. Earthshine occurs when sunlight reflects off the Earth's surface and illuminates the unlit portion of the Moon’s surface.

Nikon D850 and Nikon AF-S 300mm f/4E PF ED VR

This morning, the moon was 28.6 days old of its 29.5-day lunar phase and only 1% illuminated. Such thin crescent moon is hard to see with the naked eye, but with a pair of binoculars or a camera with a little higher magnification, it's much easier to see.

Nikon D850 and Nikon AF-S 300mm f/2.8 D IF-ED
with a TC-20E III teleconverter.

Follow my work in social media
https://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
https://www.facebook.com/FotografGoranStrand
https://twitter.com/Astrofotografen

The Full Moon and Frösö Church Photo

2018-11-27T15:21:00.000+01:00

Last week during the full Moon of November I had planned to take a photo of the full Moon rising behind the 800 year old Frösö church. I got this idea in May this year when I was wandering about on Andersön, a nature reserve located on an island 5 km Southwest of Frösön. Back in May I did notice that Frösö church was clearly visible and that it would make a nice foreground against a full Moon.

Frösö Church as seen from Andersön in May 2018.

When I returned home I started planning my shot and look through different software to see when the Moon should rise behind the church. The first date that popped up was November 22nd 2018.

So after waiting for 6 months, the time had finally come, now it was all down to the weather, and this time I was lucky to see clear skies with pretty good atmospheric conditions. This is the final photo.

Final photo of the full Moon behind Frösö church.

The still photo was taken using my Nikon D850 on my Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 D IF-ED II lens. The real time footage of the Moon rising was shot using my Nikon D500 and Nikon AF-S 300mm f/2.8 D IF-ED with a Nikon AF-S TC-20E III teleconverter.

Here's a film from the 22nd of November showing how I took the photo.

Follow my work in social media
https://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
https://www.facebook.com/FotografGoranStrand
https://twitter.com/Astrofotografen

Astronomy Picture Of the Day at NASA

2018-11-19T12:12:00.000+01:00

Today I'm featured as Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) at NASA with my photo of a lunar flyby.

The photo of a Gibbous Moon flyby was taken on the 29th of October in 2018 and was taken in the mountain area of Jämtland, Sweden

Just as I had set the camera for the correct exposure of the Moon and the mountain, this plane passed by. I quickly snapped a couple of shots and this is one of them. The photo was taken using my Nikon D850 with the Nikon AF-S 300mm f/4E PF ED VR lens.

This is APOD number 17 for me and it's always such an honor to be featured by NASA.

You can buy this photo as a print here - https://shop.astrofotografen.se/p661802438/ebc175045

Lunar flyby over the mountains in Jämtland, Sweden

Follow my work in social media
http://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
http://www.facebook.com/FotografGoranStrand
http://twitter.com/Astrofotografen

Solar activity

2018-05-28T16:24:00.000+02:00

Here's a couple of photos of today's beautiful Sun. Lots of nice activities going on despite the fact that the Sun is heading for a activity minimum in the solar cycle. Including a closeup shot of today's big beautiful prominence. Taken using a Lunt LS80THa telescope with a PointGrey Grasshopper 3 camera.

Iridescent Clouds

2018-05-01T15:26:00.002+02:00

Yesterday I saw some really colorful Iridescent clouds, one of my favorite cloud phenomena. These clouds are visible when parts of clouds are thin and have similar size droplets, diffraction can make them shine with colours like a corona. I like how the Sun was covered enough to be visible through and not totally overexposed.

Nikon D850 with Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8E
Exposure: 1/8000 sec. ISO 64 @ 112mm f/8

The Milky Way and the Northern Lights

2018-04-19T14:06:00.002+02:00

During this time of the year, the Milky Way stretches from North East to North West in the sky, perfect position to combine our galaxy with a faint Aurora. If the Aurora is to bright and active, it will block the light from the Milky Way. This panoramic photo I took last week is a perfect example of what a faint Aurora and the Milky Way looks like together.

Nikon D850 with Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8
Exposure: 20 sec. ISO 1600 @ f/2.8

Heart and Soul nebulae

2018-04-10T12:57:00.001+02:00

The astronomical nights is soon coming to an end. Last night we only had 2 hours of astronomical darkness so despite the Northern Lights (Photo of that is coming later) my main focus was to do some deep sky photography. My plan was to take photos of the Heart and Soul nebula since I haven't done them for quite some time and not with the Nikon D810A. All in all I'm quite happy with the result.

Photo was taken with a Nikon D810A, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8E @ 135mm f/4. Exposure 45 x 60 seconds for a total exposure of 45 minutes at ISO 1600. Stacking and calibration (Darks, flats and bias frames) was done in PixInsight, final processing in Photoshop.

Colors of the Moon

2018-03-26T13:36:00.003+02:00

In this photo taken on the 24th of March 2018, I've exaggerated the colors on the lunar surface. The different colors correspond to real differences in the chemical makeup of the lunar surface - blue hues reveal titanium rich areas while orange and purple colors show regions relatively poor in titanium and iron.

This is a single exposure and no tracking was used. This night we had exceptional good air conditions with very good seeing.

Nikon D850, Nikkor AF-S 600mm f/4 + TC-17E II
1/80 sec. ISO 64 @ 1000mm f/8

Rare colorful clouds

2017-12-30T16:28:00.001+01:00

Yesterday, one hour before sunset, I did see some colorful clouds in the opposite direction of the Sun (At the Anti solar point). I never seen colored clouds there before so I had a hard time figuring out if they were polar stratospheric clouds or iridescent clouds. The colored clouds slowly faded away as the sun set so I thought it might be iridescent clouds, but I never seen them opposite of the Sun before.

When I returned home I contacted Les Cowley at OPOD (http://www.atoptics.co.uk) to get his opinion of these clouds and he guessed that it's tropospheric iridescent clouds. He's never seen them opposite the sun before so this is probably very rare.

Always exciting to see a new phenomena, perfect ending for 2017.

Happy new year everyone!

Standing on the edge to the universe

2017-10-11T13:24:00.000+02:00

Here's a mosaic image I've made from six shots taken on the 26th of September this year. With this projection of the sky I like the depth in the image and how the Milky Way with its reflections forms a complete circle in the image. The autumn is high season for shooting the Milky Way here in the northern hemisphere, so hopefully we'll get som more clear dark night ahead for more shots of the Milky Way.

Nikon D850 with Nikon AF-S 14-24mm
NiSi Natural Night Filter

Follow my work in social media
http://www.facebook.com/FotografGoranStrand
http://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
http://twitter.com/Astrofotografen

The emotions and drama of a total solar eclipse

2017-08-31T00:01:00.000+02:00

This video shows the minutes around the total solar eclipse on the 21th of August 2017. It was shot in Brasstown Valley Resort in Georgia, USA.

It was quite a drama with the clouds moving in but we got to see most of the totality and just a few minutes after the totality ended, the clouds moved in and covered the Sun.

Big thanks to Bonnier Expeditions for a superb expedition and it was great working with you guys!

Follow my work in social media
http://www.facebook.com/FotografGoranStrand
http://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
http://twitter.com/Astrofotografen

Getting ready for the total solar eclipse

2017-08-15T14:45:00.002+02:00

Tomorrow I'm leaving for USA and the total solar eclipse on Monday. This will be my second total solar eclipse and the last few days I've been planing my trip and what gear to bring with me. The plan now is to have four cameras running throughout the eclipse, most of them will do the work by themselves. This is what my plan looks like at the moment:

Camera 1: Nikon D800E taking a wide field time lapse of the entire eclipse including both partial phases.

Camera 2: Nikon D500 filming in 4K with a fisheye lens from minutes before the eclipse to minutes after.

Camera 3: Nikon D810A, this camera is the one I will control manually taking closeups of the totality.

Camera 4: GoPro camera used as a behind the scenes camera filming the opposite direction of the eclipse showing us watching the eclipse.

With this plan I should be able to take a moment to just watch the totality. This is by far the most beautiful sky phenomena there is so you should not forget to just enjoy the view, it truly is a memory for life.

Total solar eclipse from Faroe Islands in 2015

Follow my trip in social media

http://www.facebook.com/FotografGoranStrand
http://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
http://twitter.com/Astrofotografen

Autumn dreams

2017-07-07T15:58:00.000+02:00

My favorite season of the year is autumn with all the beautiful colors. We're just a couple a month's away here in the northern hemisphere but for those of you who can't wait, here's a photo I took a couple of days ago where I transformed summer into autumn.

Nikon D800E with a Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
NiSi polarizer + NiSi ND64 (6 Stop)

Follow my work in social media
http://www.facebook.com/FotografGoranStrand
http://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
http://twitter.com/Astrofotografen

Happy Asteroid Day

2017-06-30T12:06:00.000+02:00

Today is the international asteroid day. To celebrate that I'm posting a photo I took on the 15th of February 2013. It shows asteroid 2012DA14 as it passed just 27.700 km from Earth's surface. 2012DA14 is a small near-Earth object – approximately 45 meters in diameter and has an estimated mass of about 130,000 metric tons. This distance is well outside Earth's atmosphere, but it is inside the belt of satellites in geostationary orbit. The flyby of asteroid 2012DA14 is the closest ever predicted Earth approach for an object this large.

In this 5 minute exposure you can see the asteroid as the bright streak going diagonal to all the star trails.

Nikon D3S with a Nikon 300m f/2.8 lens
5 minute exposure @ f/4 and ISO 1600

Path of 2012DA14. Time in UTC.

Follow my work in social media
http://www.facebook.com/FotografGoranStrand
http://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
http://twitter.com/Astrofotografen

Reflected rainbow at sunset

2017-06-26T16:50:00.000+02:00

Rainbows are always opposite the Sun and their centres are below the horizon at the the so called antisolar point. Early morning and late afternoon it the best time to see a rainbow because the sun must not be too high. The lower the sun the higher is the rainbow.

In this photo I took in Vansbro, Sweden, taken just before sunset, the rainbow is as high as it gets and with the reflection in the water, acting as the lower half of a circle, it's easy to see that the rainbow was at its highest position. Had the Sun been any higher in the sky, this circle had been more ellipse shaped.

Rainbows are rarer than might be thought, halos are much more common.

Panorama made with a Nikon D800E with a Nikon AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8 lens

Follow my work in social media
http://www.facebook.com/FotografGoranStrand
http://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
http://twitter.com/Astrofotografen

Summer solstice

2017-06-21T13:00:00.000+02:00

Today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year here in the northern hemisphere. Also today marks the beginning of the astronomical summer and the Sun is at its highest position in the sky throughout the year.

In this photo I show the difference between the solar height at noon during winter and summer solstice. In winter it barley gets over the treetops at 3.5° above the horizon and 6 months later, the Sun reaches an height of 50° above the horizon.

Solar height difference between winter and summer solstice

Follow my work in social media
http://www.facebook.com/FotografGoranStrand
http://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
http://twitter.com/Astrofotografen

Nikon Fisheye 8-15mm F3.5-4.5E ED Review

2017-06-15T14:47:00.000+02:00

A couple of weeks ago I received my review sample of the new Nikon Fisheye 8-15mm F3.5-4.5E ED. Since I'm a huge fan and user of fisheye lenses, this type lens has been high on my wish list ever since Canon released their Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L lens back in 2010. A friend of mine has been using the Canon lens for years and he is very happy with it.

When taking pictures of the night sky, my two most used lenses is the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 and the Sigma 8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens. Since the sky is so big you need a wide lens to cover as much as possible.

In this review, I will compare my Nikon review sample with my Sigma 8mm F3.5 EX DG Circular Fisheye lens and my Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8. I will also test the Nikon 8-15mm on both FX and DX cameras.

Here are the primary features of the new Nikon lens listed by Nikon:

Enables shooting at an angle of view of 180° vertical and horizontal (circular fisheye) when zoomed all the way out, and 180° diagonal (full-frame fisheye) when zoomed close to all the way in with shooting in FX format
A full-frame fisheye effect with a diagonal angle of view of up to 180° can be achieved in the range that begins at the DX mark* on the lens and ends at the maximum telephoto position with shooting in DX format
Realizes very sharp and clear rendering from maximum aperture throughout the zoom range
A minimum focus distance of 0.16 m (0.5 ft.) and a maximum reproduction ratio of 0.34x enable sharp and clear rendering, even with shooting at close distances
Adoption of three ED glass elements provides effective compensation for lateral chromatic aberration, minimizing color bleed at the edges of the frame
Nano Crystal Coat adopted to effectively reduce ghost and flare for sharp, clear images
Adopted a dust- and drip-resistant structure with all moving parts of the lens barrel
Highly durable fluorine coat that effectively repels dust, water, grease, and dirt applied to the outer surfaces of the two lens elements at either end (front and rear) of the lens

*The mark on the focal length scale that enables diagonal fisheye shooting in DX format is approximate.

Before I begin my review it’s important to note that the lens I’m reviewing is a sample and not a final product, so things can change.

Build quality and handling

Overall the build quality is really good. It feels like a solid piece of gear and what to expect from a pro lens when holding it in your hand. The lens cover and the lens hood feels a bit flimsy with its plastic feeling, I hope it won't crack in really cold weather. The lens cover attaches to the lens hood and the construction is really smart in that you can remove the lens hood by pressing a button and turning the cover. This is really good since using the lens at 8-14mm on a FX body, you can't have the lens hood on or else it will be visible in the image. When shooting at 15mm, you can use the lens hood on a FX body. As for DX body, you can use the lens hood from the DX mark (11mm) and upwards.

I will most likely be using this lens primary at 8mm, but it will be very interesting to see how it compares to my trusty old Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens.

Here are a couple of comparison shots of the Nikon and Sigma lens.

Nikon and Sigma lens with hood and cover on.

Lens cover removed.

Both lens cover and lens hood removed.

Button for removing lens hood.

Optical performance

Since I only had the chance to test the lens during summer and our bright summer nights, I haven't tested it under the stars. These circular fisheye lenses are perfect for shooting the night sky since they cover the entire sky in one single frame and you don't get any distortion since the sky is also curved, just like the lens.

Here's a photo I've taken with my Sigma lens illustrating this. It was taken using my Nikon D800E camera and with an exposure time of 30 seconds at ISO 1600 with the lens wide open at 8mm f/3.5.

Nikon D800E with Sigma 8mm f/3.5

30 sec. ISO 1600 @ f/3.5

Sigma 100 % crop of top left corner.

As you can see on the full image, the entire sky is present with the Milky Way stretching in the sky and the horizon is visible all around the image. What's important for these lenses (or any lens) is the edge performance. As you can see by the 100% crop image, the Sigma lens suffers quite a lot from both CA (Chromatic aberration) and coma. On test photos I've seen of the night sky from the new Nikon lens, it looks a lot better regarding both CA and coma.

So, here are some daytime tests I've done with the lens. First let’s compare it with the Sigma 8mm F3.5 EX lens at different apertures. No sharpening has been done to the photos. The same scene was taken with both the Nikon and the Sigma lens using my Nikon D800E camera.

Full frame taken with Nikon 8-15mm @ 8mm f/3.5

Nikon 8-15mm @ 8mm f/3.5

Nikon 8-15mm @ 8mm f/5.6

Nikon 8-15mm @ 8mm f/8.0

Here is the same scene with the Sigma lens.

Sigma 8mm @ 8mm f/3.5

Sigma 8mm @ 8mm f/5.6

Sigma 8mm @ 8mm f/8

In these photos it’s easy to see that the Nikon lens outperforms the Sigma lens both in terms of sharpness and Chromatic aberration. Already at full aperture the Nikon lens looks really good, even close to the edges. I can’t see much difference stopping it down so I'm hopeful that this lens will perform quite well at night when using f/3.5. I was really surprised how good the images looked straight out of the camera from this new Nikon lens and when sharpening the images they look really crisp.

As for flares. I expected the Nikon lens to do really well here with its Nano Crystal Coat and so it did. The Sigma did also really well regarding flares as you can see from these two photos. Noticeable is that the photo from the Nikon lens as again much sharper and also, I like the aperture Sun rays much better on the Nikon lens. When I enlarge the area around the Sun I also noticed that the Nikon lens did show a much more round and pleasant Sun whereas on the Sigma photo the Sun is more distorted and ellipse shaped.

Here is a couple of shots with noticeable flares marked with a red circle.

Nikon 8-15mm @ 8mm f/11

Sigma 8mm @ 8mm f/11

DX Performance

I also wanted to test the performance on a DX body. For that I used my Nikon D500. Here are a few photos to show what it looks like when using the Nikon 8-15mm lens on a DX body compared to a FX body.

Nikon D800E with Nikon 8-15mm @ 8mm f/8

Nikon D500 with Nikon 8-15mm @ 8mm f/8

Nikon D800E with Nikon 8-15mm @ 15mm f/8

Nikon D500 with Nikon 8-15mm @ 15mm f/8

On the lens at the focal length scale, there is a white dot, the so-called DX mark. There you get a diagonal angle of view of up to 180° on a DX body. The same scene as above looks like this when shot at 11mm (DX mark).

Nikon D500 with Nikon 8-15mm @ 11mm f/8

Notice how well these fisheye lenses renders the landscape and sky, you don’t get any distortions at the edges as with a rectilinear lens. This works really well when you have the horizon in the middle of image, otherwise the horizon will be curved (Se close-up shots below for example of curved horizon). I really like using this lens on my Nikon D500 and I would say that the Nikon 8-15mm lens will be my “14-24mm” on the D500 DX body.

Closeup photography

To end this optical test, I took a couple of closeup shots with the D800E camera at both 8mm and 15mm. No sharpness has been added to the photos.

Nikon D800E with Nikon 8-15mm @ 8mm f/3.5

100% crop.

Nikon D800E with Nikon 8-15mm @ 15mm f/4.5

100% crop

When looking at the 100% crop images I must say I’m really impressed with the sharpness straight out of the camera compared to my Sigma. Also, I think the lens has a nice colors and contrast rendition with a natural feel to the photos. You can get extremely close to your subject with this lens so be careful that you don’t scratch the front lens. When looking in the viewfinder, objects seems to be much further away.

Compared to Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8

Here are two examples showing the difference between the Nikon 8-15mm fisheye lens and the Nikon 14-24mm rectilinear lens. In the first comparison I'm holding the camera parallell to the ground with the horizon centered. In the second comparison I'm tilting the camera upwards but with the same focal length.

Nikon D800E with Nikon 8-15mm @ 14mm f/8

Nikon D800E with Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm f/8

Nikon D800E with Nikon 8-15mm @ 14mm f/8

Nikon D800E with Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm f/8

As you can see the Nikon 8-15 has a lot more coverage but it bends the scene due to its fisheye effect. This fisheye effect has two sides to it. It bends the trees in an unnatural way but at the same time, the horizon and surrounding scene looks realistic. If you look at the Nikon 14-24mm photos, the trees looks straight but then objects near the corners looks stretched and unnatural. The fisheye effect gets even more dramatic when tilting the camera upwards or downwards.

Video

I haven’t had much time testing the lens for video, but I found that using the lens on 8mm with my Nikon D500 gives me the option to shoot 4K video with almost 180° diagonal coverage. When filming in 4K on the D500 with 8mm you don't get the black corners due to the increased 2.25x crop factor in 4K mode. Just remember that you still have that fisheye effect in your footage.

The creator of planets

Perhaps you’ve seen photos of small planets on the Internet, so called "Little planets". These 360° panoramas is really fun to make and for me as an astrophotographer it’s very illustrative to be able to show that we’re actually living on a planet traveling through space. With a circular fisheye lens like this covering 180° it’s quite easy to create these small planets. To do so I take four shots, I always try to be consistent and take them facing North, East, South and West. With night shots it very useful to know in what direction the photos are taken to easier orient the sky when identifying constellations and other sky objects.

Here’s an example I’ve done with the Nikon 8-15mm using my Nikon D800E camera. First you see my four individual exposures. These are then imported into a stitching software called PTGui, one of many that can stitch panoramas like this.

Nikon D800E, Nikon 8-15mm @ 8mm f/8

Facing North

Nikon D800E, Nikon 8-15mm @ 8mm f/8

Facing East

Nikon D800E, Nikon 8-15mm @ 8mm f/8

Facing South

Nikon D800E, Nikon 8-15mm @ 8mm f/8

Facing West

Complete panorama stitched together using PTGui.
Final retouching done in Photoshop.

Conclusion

Ok, so what does all this boil down to? As I said in the beginning, this type of lens has been high on my wish list for many years. I’ve been thinking of buying the old Nikon 8mm f/2.8 AI fisheye lens as a replacement for my Sigma for better performance, but now it looks like I got my wish come true.

I really like this new lens and it will definitively be in my bag. It will replace my old Sigma lens and in some cases, it will also replace my trusty old Nikon 14-24mm. If you are into shooting the sky with big phenomena like rainbows, halos or Aurora, this lens will help you a lot. First the coverage, this lens can capture the entire sky in a single shot (FX body) so you won’t miss a thing. Also, it will not distort your rainbows and halos like a rectilinear lens, they will look as they did in the sky. And the 180° coverage will make it a lot easier to produce 360° panoramas like little planets etc.

With a lens like this you can do some exciting compositions and funky close-up shots. When lecturing I often talk about the possibilities to create some interesting photos when working with an extreme focal length, both short and long. The new Nikon 8-15mm lens is that possibility maker in the short end of the focal length scale.

I can’t wait to use this lens under the stars later this year. It will most likely replace my Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 as my #1 lens for the Northern Lights. Also, I think it will be a very useful lens come winter with all the winter sports I’m covering this season. When looking at the world through the viewfinder with this lens, I get a very playful, almost childish feeling, and I just want to create exciting and fun pictures.

I would have preferred a fixed aperture throughout the zoom range. For me mostly working in manual exposure mode it’s a bit annoying to keep track of the exposure while zooming. Also the lens cover feels a bit on the cheap side, but remember, this is a review sample and not a final product, so this could change.

Here in Sweden the price for the new Nikon 8-15mm lens is about twice the price of the Sigma 8mm f/3.5 lens. Is it worth it? If you can afford it I would say yes, without a doubt. You get a much better performer and on top of that, you get the additional 9-15mm in focal length that the Sigma lacks completely. For me and my type of photography this lens is a no-brainer.

Solar halo panorama made from two photos taken
using my Nikon D800E and Nikon 8-15mm f/3.5 lens.

Pros

Sharp already at f/3.5
Very good edge performance
Handles CA and coma really well
Perfect for creating exciting panoramas
Wide-angle lens for my D500 (DX body)
It’s a zoom
Begs for creativity

Cons

Lens cover and hood feels a bit plastic
Variable aperture
Price, for some

If you’re living in Sweden and want to buy this lens, you can get a 10% discount using the voucher code “STRANDNIKON” over at CyberPhoto. You just enter that code in the shopping cart. The voucher is valid until 2017-07-31.

Follow this link to go to CyberPhoto and check out the Nikon Fisheye 8-15mm F3.5-4.5E ED lens - https://www.cyberphoto.se/info.php?article=afs815&utm_source=astrofotografen&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=afs815

Once again, I would like to mention that the lens I’m reviewing is a sample and not a final product, so things can change. Thanks to Nikon Sweden for supplying me with a review copy of this lens.

Also I would like to note that this is not a paid review, opinions are mine from my experience using this lens. Nikon asked me if I would like to test this new lens to give them my feedback on it and I said yes. The 10% discount from CyberPhoto is pure goodwill from their side. I don't get any kickback from lenses they are selling through this link.

Follow my work in social media
http://www.facebook.com/FotografGoranStrand
http://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
http://twitter.com/Astrofotografen

Astronomy Picture Of the Day at NASA

2017-06-01T10:52:00.000+02:00

Today I'm featured as Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) at NASA with my 360° panorama showing both sunset and Earth shadow in a remote mountain area of Jämtland, Sweden.

This panorama is made from 120 still photos taken at a height of 200 meters above the ground. The panorama is a 3 x 8 mosaic where each photo consists of 5 exposure bracketed shots to cover the big dynamic range of both the sunset and Earth shadow.

To the right you can see that the Sun has just set and a small sun pillar is visible just above the horizon giving away the Sun's position. To the left above the horizon is the dark blue Earth shadow with its belt of Venus above. In the middle of the sky the the First Quarter Moon is visible above the mountains, separating these two beautiful sky phenomenon.

The big peak to the right is Storsnasen, some 1400 meters above sea level.

Earth shadow and sunset panorama.

Follow my work in social media
http://www.facebook.com/FotografGoranStrand
http://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
http://twitter.com/Astrofotografen

The force of nature

2017-05-26T15:20:00.000+02:00

Spring is here and in the lower mountain area that means lots of water due to melting snow. This is Handölsforsen in Jämtlad, Sweden, and right now it so awesome to see and hear the force of all this water rushing down.

Panorama taken with Nikon D800E and Nikon AF-S 14-24 mm

Follow my work in social media
http://www.facebook.com/FotografGoranStrand
http://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
http://twitter.com/Astrofotografen

Full moon photography workshop

2017-05-11T12:03:00.000+02:00

Part of my work is lecturing and holding workshops for different groups of people. One such reoccurring workshop is for high schools media students. Usually I do one inspiring lecture telling them about different phenomena and how to take photos of them. The next part is being out in the field with the students so they can ask me questions and practice taking photos of the sky and objects in the sky. Then as a follow up, I meet the students once more where they can show me their photos so I can give feedback on their work.

Last night it was time for some field work for a group of high schools students. My plan was to teach them how to take photos of the full moon and how to use the moon for composing interesting photos. As always, it's a blast hanging around with these young students since they are so full of inspiration and creativity and last night was no exception.

Here are a couple of photos I took during our night out.

Follow my work in social media

http://www.facebook.com/FotografGoranStrand
http://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
http://twitter.com/Astrofotografen

Mountain solar halo

2017-04-20T15:14:00.000+02:00

Yesterday when I woke up I saw that there were good conditions for a solar halo here in the mountain area in the western part of Jämtland. I kept an eye on the sky and around 13:00 local time this halo was clearly visible for about 30 minutes. As you can see there were lots of clouds moving in and a few hour later it was cloudy.

I really like the different type of clouds surrounding the Sun, it gives more drama to the photo compared to a clear blue sky.

Click here to buy this photo as a print.

Nikon D5 with Nikon AF-S 14-24 mm f/2.8
6 shot panorama 1/8000 sec. ISO 100 at f/8.0

Follow my work in social media
http://www.facebook.com/FotografGoranStrand
http://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
http://twitter.com/Astrofotografen

Season finale

2017-04-18T20:29:00.002+02:00

The dark season is ending and we're running out of darkness here in the northern hemisphere. This panoramic shot from last night shows a beautiful colored night sky filled with the Milky Way and the Northern Lights. As always I feel a bit sad that the stars is fading away for and I will miss nights like this during the summer. On the other hand, the bright summer nights is truly magic with their colors, they sure make a great substitute for the loss of the starry nights.

So this will most likely be my last Milky Way with Aurora shot for this season, but what a great finale it was! Se you on the other side Milky Way!

Click here to buy this photo as a print.

Nikon D800E with Nikon AF-S 14-24 mm f/2.8
12 shot panorama with 20 sec. ISO 3200 at f/2.8

Follow my work in social media
http://www.facebook.com/FotografGoranStrand
http://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
http://twitter.com/Astrofotografen

Astronomy Picture Of the Day at NASA

2017-04-13T09:32:00.000+02:00

Today I'm featured as Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) at NASA with my photo of the Moon and planet Jupiter with its four Galilean moons.

This night the Moon and Jupiter were only 1°45' apart in the sky, to visualize that distance, that's about the width of your thumb on a arm’s length.

At the time of the photo (19:33 UTC on 10th of April 2017) the Moon was 99,8% lit, so very close to full. This is a single exposure and to get a good exposure for the Galilean moons to be visible, I waited for some clouds to darken the bright moon while Jupiter and its moons was unobstructed. I used a focal length of 600 mm on a Nikon full frame DSLR.

This is the 15th time I'm featured as APOD at NASA.

The Moon and Jupiter with its four Galelian moons

Follow my work in social media
http://www.facebook.com/FotografGoranStrand
http://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
http://twitter.com/Astrofotografen

Moon, Jupiter and the Galilean moons

2017-04-10T22:28:00.000+02:00

It's a very beautiful sight in the sky tonight with the Moon and Jupiter so close together. They will get even closer throughout the night. At the time for this photo (19:33 UTC) they were 1°45' apart and they will be even closer in a couple of hours. In the photo you can see the Galilean moons listed in order of appearance.

We did have som clouds tonight so I waited for some clouds to cover the Moon while planet Jupiter was unobstructed to get a more even exposure.

Nikon D800E with a Nikon 600 mm f/4.0 lens.
Exposure 1/13 sec at ISO 100 f/5.6.

Follow my work in social media
http://www.facebook.com/FotografGoranStrand
http://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
http://twitter.com/Astrofotografen

Lunar X

2017-04-04T18:49:00.000+02:00

Last night I finally got to see my first Lunar X. I've heard about it several years ago but never got around to try to see it or take photos of it. The weather was very frustrating with clouds constantly passing in front of the Moon, but I managed to get some shots of the X after it appeared. The X was such a beautiful sight through my viewfinder, it was more prominent than I ever would have thought.

This feature is actually the overlapping convergence of the rims of Blanchinus, La Caille and Purbach craters and there's only a small window in time where in Lunar X is visible. It's visible about six hours before 1st Quarter phase (Depending on the lunar libration), and for about an hour, the silver-white X will appear to float just beyond the lunar terminator as in this photo. So I'm really glad I got the chance to get this X on photo and to see it.

Nikon D500, Nikon AF-S 600 mm f/4 with 1.7X converter
Exposure: 0.4 sec. ISO 100 at f/8.0

Follow my work in social media
http://www.facebook.com/FotografGoranStrand
http://www.instagram.com/Astrofotografen
http://twitter.com/Astrofotografen