Great astrophotography doesn't always need a telescope…

"Looking south west over the frog filled dam"

Peter Treyde lives not far east of Queanbeyan and has a pretty good sized dam on his property. On a still night, it makes for beautiful pictures with just a camera and a tripod.

We have been doing a frog census on one of “our” dams. Sitting under the stars recording frog calls, measuring air and water temps is one thing, so I thought I might take a few pictures while we were out.I still have much to learn about this night sky photography caper. But I hope you enjoy them. I would really like to get the milky way reflected in the dam, probably a project for a night in June.You can see the light pollution of Canberra in the western sky.Details Canon 5DMk2, 16mm @f4, ISO 3200, 30 sec exposure.

Moon at Wee Jasper, by Martin Ollman

Canberra photographer Martin Ollman travelled out to Wee Jasper to capture this gorgeous photo looking over the Goodradigbee River, where it becomes one of the upper reaches of the Burrinjuck Dam.

Positioning the Moon behind the stump allowed him to capture all the beauty of a real dark sky site.