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Reposted by Lewis Bray

Cat9 @cat9.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

1) #Cat9Mixes #EDM #MusicBlueSky My latest, Cat9 EDM Mix #60, just posted with cover photo from bluesky astrophotographer and nightscaper, Lewis Bray. Thanks, Lewis! Music from HotLap, Matt Fax, PARAFRAME, Marcel Vautier, Nora en Pure & more. Tracklist below: www.mixcloud.com/Cat9OuterSpa...

mixcloud.com

Cat9 EDM Mix #60

Photo by Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social Lewis's bio reads: "Astrophotographer & Nightscaper based in South Wales. Usually found cursing at the moon and clouds." He describes this photo ...

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Reposted by Lewis Bray

Cat9 @cat9.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Here you go, Lewis! I dedicated the first song to you in my notes, "Waitin" by HotLap. A mix for you and the Milky Way, my man! bsky.app/profile/cat9...

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

I took this opportunistic #sunrise photo on the way home from a milky way shoot. 2 mins before taking this I slipped and fell off those rocks, choosing to save my camera instead of breaking my fall. Like, full on, arse over tit, legs in the air fell. A month on and my knee still remembers. Worth it

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Another image from my shoot at #glanusk last weekend. A little noisier than I would like but the foreground was extremely dark before editing. 2 hours of #startrails doubled by setting my #msm to track in reverse, giving me the effect of a 4 hour exposure! #astrophotography #nightscape

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

No website etc but very kind of you to say! The bluesky link is fine by me. Thank you for asking, too. Lots of people tend to just take without crediting or notifying. Looking forward to the mix!

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Hi - yes I did. Please do feel free to use it. I only post for the love of it so always happy to have images shared

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

A very early morning spent at the beautiful #glanusk estate, watching the milkyway rising over their iconic bridge tower #milkyway #astrophotography #nightscape

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Thank you! Now we are into those big numbers! 😂

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Thank you! The sky was taken from a spot nearby where the mountain wasn't in frame for easier editing. It was made up of 47x 90-second tracked shots. Stacked and processed in Siril and lightroom. The foreground is a single, light painted long exposure! Blended back together in PS and edited in LR

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

Enjoying the dark skies and ruins of Llanthony Priory in South Wales. There's a real sense of amazement wonder in a place like this - perfect for #astrophotography

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

I've neglected my blue sky account again! Making up for it with a #milkyway shot from my hotel balcony last month in #madeira This took some processing work to cut through the Funchal light pollution!

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Some more from last night's vivid #noctilucentcloud display. This is a 12-panel pano, so be sure to open the image up for the whole thing. Also featuring #mars and the #moon

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

According to my bio I'm usually found cursing at the clouds. Last night was a bit different though... #noctilucentclouds #wales #nightscape

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

Interested to see from other #astrophotography peeps what the best dark sky you've ever been to looks like in an unprocessed, straight out of the camera image? I took a photo from the south coast of Madeira last year and the #milkyway was so bright that I thought it was cloud at first!

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

70 minutes well spent on a crystal clear night this week. Whipped out the 85mm f/1.8 lens and got tracking a widefield of Pleiades. Shocked at how much dust showed up in the final image! 🤩 #astrophotography #pleiades #m45

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

That's an ideal lens! If you stop the lens down to F/2.8 and focus in on the constellation of Orion (the whole thing will fit easily in frame at 35mm) then you can comfortably take 6-8 second exposures without a tracker. Use your ISO to control the brightness and you have a working astro rig!

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

I forgot the tracker! That's an extra expense but mine was around £250

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Not at all! It can get expensive, but this image was taken on a budget, 9 year old camera (around £400), a tripod (mine was around £120) a wide angle lens (bought used for (£75) and a remote shutter trigger (about £10). If you already have a DSLR then you are halfway there!

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

10-panel panorama of the milkyway arching over the #bannaubrycheiniog All 30-second untracked single shots, stitched and processed in lightroom only. That airglow was wild! Such a dark sky lets the camera pick up some much faint colour #nightscape #astrophotography #milkyway

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

When you have clear skies but forgot to charge your star tracker - STAR TRAILS TIME! #startrails #nightphotography #nightscape

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

Once you get on to using a tracking mount you can do longer exposures with bigger lenses and your aperture doesn't matter quite as critically. For a resource, I can't recommend highly enough the book "Photographing the night sky" by the late, great Alyn Wallace.

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

Thanks Andrew! For this image I was using a 24mm f/2.8 lens. For this kind of image you want something wide (14-50mm) and fast f/2.8 or lower. That will allow you to take in a large part of the sky and capture light quickly without star trails showing up.

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

Those dark skies make so much difference!

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

Certainly - it's a canon EOS1300D unmodified and about as budget as you can get! That little camera is really doing some heavy lifting now!

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

Yes that really surprised me too!

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

Thank you! It was an unusually clear night so it had to be done!

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

It's a separate exposure for the house and sky from the same location and date (lights were off when I started tracking the sky) The sky is a stack of 47 60-second exposures and the foreground a single 2 minute exposure

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

"you can't get Barnard's loop with a stock camera" It's not easy - but you absolutely can pick up hydrogen alpha with an unmodified DSLR! This image damn near gave me a breakdown in the processing but I'm SO happy with the result after 2 years of trying! #astrophotography #orion #nightscape

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

A huge #cloudinversion over the #SouthWales valleys created an ethereal scene with light pollution blocked out allowing #cygnus and the #northamericanebula to be visible much closer to the horizon than usual. And check out that green #airglow ! #astrophotography #nightscape

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 23/12/2024

SO nice to have some time under clear skies! It was very windy last night so I kept my exposures short (just 15 seconds) but spent 45 mins tracking Orion's sword and belt for a colourful little stack this morning. #astrophotography #orion

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

It's too windy tonight for any serious #astrophotography but after the endless gloom I'm not passing up a night under a clear sky

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

Hey Bluesky - I've been AWOL for a few days so have a nice, simple bit of smartphone #astrophotography to ease me back into the groove. It's amazing how far smartphone cameras have come in the last few years, but I always end up taking some while my DSLR is doing some heavy lifting #nightscape

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Lewis Bray @adastranightscapes.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

I've never been quite satisfied with this photo. The glow from the town behind me cast a harsh orange over everything and made getting a decent wb a nightmare. But this is the brightest I ever saw the #milkyway and will never forget it. #astrophotography #madeira #nightscape #seascape

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