Cottonwood Pass, Colorado Milky Way
Written and Photographed by Nathan Welch
Artist
A couple of years ago I wanted to take better pictures of keyboards I build and stumbled across a photographer’s work taking amazing pictures of the Milky Way and was instantly hooked. My name is Nathan Welch, and I’m a hobbyist photographer primarily shooting astrophotography, landscapes, and food. You can find more of my work on my Instagram.
About the Image
Cottonwood Pass, Colorado Milky Way:
The objective for this image was to capture the curved leading lines of the road through Cottonwood Pass, bringing the viewer's eye up towards the mountains and the Milky Way overhead. The smoke from nearby forest fires covered the sky in a thick haze during the day, making it seem like the shot wouldn’t be possible. Luckily, the smoke settled into the valleys below the mountains as night fell, revealing a cloudless, starry sky. With the weather conditions looking perfect, we parked alongside the road and set up the tripod and star tracker. Every few minutes a car or two would come by and glide down into the growing darkness on the mountain pass.
The original plan for the shot was to get the whole foreground in total darkness, trying to capture the dark, mysterious feeling of the winding mountain road. The goal was to keep the ISO as low as possible to reduce noise, which meant the exposure needed to be around 4 minutes. Despite it being late at night, the road was very busy and cars kept going through the shot. It seemed like every time the exposure got to about 3 minutes a car would come through and ruin the exposure. After trying unsuccessfully for about 30 minutes to get the foreground shot, I decided to pivot. Use the cars to not only light the foreground but also add light trails along the road.
Starting the exposure just before a car turned the bend and entered the scene, and leaving the shutter open for 1 minute gave perfect results. The car lights cut through the hazy mist below, sweeping across the landscape, around the road, exposing the foreground details as it went. The headlights and taillights left beautiful, vivid neon streaks of red and white lights along the road while illuminating the scene. The final settings for the foreground were 1-minute shutter, ISO 1600, at f2.8.
With the foreground captured, all that was left was the Milky Way. Using a star tracking mount, the sky was taken as a 5-minute exposure at ISO 400. The star tracker allows for a much lower ISO, rotating to keep the stars in place and eliminating star trails, a common problem with longer exposures. This also reduces noise in the shots since the ISO can be kept much lower than untracked shots. Most of the core was visible over the mountain range, and the smoke lingering just above the peak didn’t affect much of the sky at all. The weather conditions, the timing of the exposures, and the overall composition of the picture created a captivating image.
Equipment Used
Nikon Z7
Nikon 20mm F.18
Nikon FTZ Adapter
Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Tracker
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