Chasing the Cosmic Arch: My Milky Way Attempt at Bixby Bridge
As a lover of the night sky and iconic landscapes, I recently set out to capture the Milky Way arching over the famous Bixby Bridge. The idea was to find a slightly different composition than what's commonly seen, but let me tell you, the reality of pitching blackness on-site can be quite the challenge! Falling off a cliff is definitely not on the agenda.
The Setup and the Struggle
My gear for this mission included a trusty Canon R5 paired with an EF 16-35mm f4 L lens, set to 16mm. To gather as much light as possible, I pushed the ISO to 6400 and used 15-second exposures for the sky. I ended up with about 85 sky shots, which I then stacked using Starry Landscape Stacker. The post-processing journey continued with Siril, where I processed the stacked TIFF file. For final touches, I exported a starless sky to Lightroom to fine-tune curves and then re-imported the stars back into Siril at around 60% opacity. For the land, I managed to capture four 200-second exposures.
(Image placeholder - replace with actual image URL if available)
The Perfect Window
This particular attempt took place on Sunday, April 6th, roughly between 3:55 AM and 4:45 AM. The timing was crucial; the moon had set around 3:47 AM, just as the Milky Way began to crest over the bridge. This provided ideal lighting conditions for capturing both the celestial and terrestrial elements. I have to admit, I'm still learning the ropes, but this alignment felt pretty spectacular.
Future Endeavors
The next opportunities for this specific composition, with the Milky Way in a similar position relative to the bridge, are on April 27th and May 26th. After that, the celestial window for this shot closes for a while. I'm already considering another trip out there to try and refine the framing and perhaps even experiment with a slightly illuminated bridge to add another layer to the image. The comments from fellow photographers have been inspiring, with suggestions for partial moon illumination for the bridge, which is definitely something to consider for future shoots!
How to Find the Milky Way
A common question I get is how I locate the Milky Way in the dark. For digital scouting, the PhotoPills app has been incredibly useful. While it is a paid app, the insights it provides into celestial movements are invaluable for planning night sky photography sessions.
Despite my initial doubts about the composition, the final result was more rewarding than I anticipated. The blend of the vastness of space with the human-made wonder of Bixby Bridge creates a truly captivating scene.
