NATURESCAPES.NET 2006 LANDSCAPES GALLERY
IMAGE OF THE YEAR

The Spring Milky Way
Image copyright Jeff Hapeman

This image is a single 10-minute exposure at ISO 800, taken with the Canon 20Da and 14mm f/2.8L lens at f/3.5 to control CA and corner distortion. Post-processing in Photoshop balanced curves and enhanced contrast and saturation, which tend to come out really low in long-exposure shots such as this. Jeff used a Kenko SkyMemo mini-equatorial mount to track the sky during the exposure to prevent the stars from trailing.

Jeff Hapeman has his formal education in Botany and Evolutionary Biology, but left the study of the sciences to found an IT consulting firm in the late 1990’s. After selling his company in 2003, he returned to a love he had first discovered as a young boy about 25 years ago: nature photography. With the new digital age, Jeff found a way to combine his love of technology with his love of nature and photography, and has gradually moved into photography as a serious hobby. While his interests are broad, he has a special fondness for shooting images at night, including the stars and aurora. He lives near Madison, Wisconsin with his wife and young daughter and currently is the CIO of a large national accounting firm.