Lake St Clair is a stunning part of Tasmania – some truly magnificent walks start from here such as Mt Rufus and the Labyrinth; and its remoteness also makes it a fantastic place to shoot at night, with no light pollution at all. On a recent trip I sat at the waters edge, enjoying a star filled night, and a stunning wind free night leaving reflections in the water and silhouettes on the horizon.

The night sky at Lake St Clair

The shots above and below were taken in the exact same spot – the shot above was a bit of a tester for composition purposes as the aim of the game was a star trail, which is below. The star trail was achieved with 3 x 30 minute exposures, taken at ISO 100.

Night Sky Photos – Star trails at Lake St Clair

As well as the lake, I framed the Milky Way to the south against some trees beside the lake – after all I had 90 minutes to wait 🙂

Night sky photos: Milky Way at Lake St Clair

Milky Way and the Large Magellanic Cloud

I also shot the elusive Andromeda Galaxy from Lake St Clair a couple of years ago, and will be on the look out for it again in the months ahead. It is only visible this far south for a short period of spring. There is also a comet doing the rounds of the southern hemisphere sky which should be at its brightest in the next month or two – more info on that in coming posts 🙂