The Swiss Emblem - Matterhorn by night

2020

Jul 23

Date image was taken: 7/20/2020

Image Title: The Swiss Emblem - Matterhorn by night

My name is Vincent, I’m 20 and I come from Switzerland. The region where I live, named Valais (or Wallis in German), has many of the most beautiful landscape in Switzerland. Lost in the heart of the Alps, this region is filled with high mountains, glaciers, lakes and obviously nice people. For these reasons, I decided to go capture the most emblematic natural monument of this region: the Matterhorn mountain… by night!

My girlfriend and I planned this trip a long time ago… On Saturday, we gathered a lot of camping as well as astrophotography equipment. On Sunday, at around 4AM, everything was packed up in two backpacks, weighting respectively 18kg and 20kg (approx. 40 and 44lbs)… Then, after just a few hours of sleep, we left for Täsch and took the train to Zermatt. We arrived at the Stellisee at 5PM and needed to wait for the sunset! At midnight, when we installed the camp, there were around 10 other astrophotographers with us!

The Stellisee is a famous spot for day and nighttime photography. Its unique view of the Matterhorn is very impressive, with a nice water reflection. Lying at 2,550 meters (7,381ft) above sea level, the temperature was freezing cold, even in July.

The mountain at the center is the Matterhorn, one of the most emblematic mountains of the Alps. The summit is 4,478 meters (14,691ft) high, making it the sixth highest peak in the Alps. In this picture, the Matterhorn is showing its east and north faces. From 4AM till the sunrise, we saw a dozen of people climbing the north-east ridge.

This picture was taken at 2.30AM and totalize 30 minutes of exposure. The bright light on the left is not a star, but it’s in fact the arrival of the Klein Matterhorn lift.
It took time and effort to complete, from the planning to the post-processing. Having the Milky Way reflected in the lake was quite challenging, but I think it turned out great! I hope you’ll like it!

Date and location:
This image was taken at the Stellisee, the 07/20/2020, from 2.30AM till 3AM.
Equipment used:
Imaging lens: Canon 24-70mm f/4L
Imaging camera: Canon 6D – Astrodon Inside
Mount: SkyWatcher Star Adventurer
Software: Adobe Photoshop, Sequator

Exposure times:
10x120s for the sky (tracked), 5x120s for the foreground @ 24mm f/4

Post-processing:
This image is a composite of two.
The sky is the result of 20 minutes (10x2min) of exposure, using the small mount. It was stacked using Sequator.
The foreground is the result of 10 minutes (5x2min) of exposure. It was stacked using Photoshop. Then, the first light frame of the fives was stacked above the rest, with a mask applied, affecting only the lake (and its reflection).
Then, the final image was assembled in Photoshop. The two images were aligned base on the last frame of the sky and the first of the foreground, leaving only a 2-minutes space between them. Finally, I did some curves adjustments in Lightroom.