I walked in the dark at 2300m in La Palma to capture this Milky Way selfie

I shot this picture in the Canary Islands during an astrophotography trip, on the island of La Palma, which truly deserves its reputation as one of the best night skies in the world!

If you’re interested, you can find more of my work on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/tinmar_g/)

The spot is located not far from Mirador de Los Andenes, along the trail that winds along the top of the island. I had scouted this place earlier on the internet and it was the one I absolutely didn’t want to miss! On my first attempt, I used a 50mm lens on the first night and was a little bit afraid that the pic was not perfect so I decided to try it another time with a 35mm lens the second to last night before the end of my trip, fortunately, I was right: the shots came out much better.

Walking alone at night along the top of La Palma’s caldera is such an experience! You have such a beautiful show for just you, and the beauty of the night view takes away any fear you might feel.

The final image is a panorama made up of 12 pictures for the sky and 18 for the foreground. I also captured another 12 pictures with a star glow filter to get the glowing stars and others pictures whit a Ha filter to reveal the red nebulas. I restarted several edits from scratch until having the perfect one for me, and I finally quite happy with this one.

In this picture, you can see the Milky Way core with the multicolored Rho Ophiuchi nebula, Zeta Ophiuchi with its large red cloud, and Lagoon, Cat’s Paw, Eagle, and more red nebulae in the center of the Milky Way. You can also notice a sea of clouds down below, rolling over the mountains.

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Note: This image is the result of long exposures and specific techniques. While the Milky Way is indeed visible to the naked eye from La Palma, it appears with fewer details and without the colors captured in this photo. I used an H-alpha filter to reveal the red nebulae in our galaxy.

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📷 Canon 6D (astro-modded) – Skywatcher Star Adventurer – Sigma ART 35mm

Sky : 12 pictures at ISO-3200 – F/1.8 – 45sec
Foreground : 15 pictures at ISO-5000 – F/2.2 – 30sec