The Skeleton coast of Namibia is not named in jest, for strewn around its length are numerous skeletons of shipwrecks and beached whales. The cold Benguela current of the South Atlantic meets the warm air of the Namib desert resulting in dense fogs along the coast. Ships of yore would lose their way and run aground in the fog and on other occasions, the strong currents would result in ships getting beached. One of the wrecks dotting the Skeleton coast is that of the FrotAmerica. She was under tow to the scrappers, when her chain broke loose and she ran aground on a beach just north of Luderitz. Currently being scrapped for metal, I was lucky to visit the wreck before she was all gone. The scrappers had a zip line running from the shore to the ship and I used that to get on board the wreck. Easily one of the most scary and dangerous experiences of my life! …… the things photographers do to get the shot!!
A long exposure along with some shorter light painted exposures were taken from the deck of the wreck. As I could not carry too much equipment on the zip line, I shot the sky later from the shore. A tracker was used, and twelve images were stacked along with multiple exposures using a H-alpha filter to bring out the hydrogen nebulosity. A fog filter was used to add glow to the stars. I deliberated and ensured the fov and azimuth of the sky matched that on the wreck.
Camera = Nikon D850 H-alpha modded
Lens = Nikon 14-24 F2.8 at 16mm
Tracker = Benro Polaris
Sky Exposure = 120secs for RGB, 300 secs for H-alpha, F2.8, iso800, stack of 12 each
Ground Exposure = 480secs, F2.8, iso 800, LLL, LENR
Software = PixInsight, Photoshop
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