Two Worlds in One Night Photo - The Close Encounters of Masahiro Miyasaka

"Frosted Leaf Galaxy" by Masahiro Miyasaka

Masahiro Miyasaka, of Suwa-city Nagano, Japan, has shown us how to take close-ups of our natural world and focus on the night sky, all in one unique photo! This amazing photograph was featured in NASA's "Astronomy Picture of the Day" (APOD) for November 17, 2010.

The incredible depth-of-focus in this photo was accomplished by focusing on the stars (at infinity) with an exposure of f/2.8 for 48 seconds (ISO 4000), THEN stopping down the aperture to f/22 and shifting the focus to the leaf--with the shutter is still open! While in this macro focus position, he lighted the leaf with an LED for a predetermined amount of time, and then closed the shutter. Masahiro used a Sigma 15mm F2.8 EX DG Fisheye lens (Nikon mount, with a conversion to Canon) on his Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera body. A more complete description is found on this Flickr page. A similar technique was used in this photo:

"Galactic lily" by Masahiro Miyasaka

A more complete description is found on this Flickr page. For more of Masahiro's nightscape photos, visit his Flickr photostream.

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