Combining landscape and astrophotography - Traveling in the American Southwest

As the sun sets over the swirling sandstone formations of White Pocket, Arizona, photographer Stefan Liebermann waits for the Milky Way to emerge above him.

With the Sony FE 28-70mm f/2 GM lens on his Sony α 7R V, Stefan no longer has to reach into his bag to change lenses. He can simply shoot from the golden hour well into the night. "Changing lenses at night is always a problem," the German photographer explains.

He took his trip to the United States during monsoon season, when the weather can change rapidly, but also creates some of the most spectacular images. "There's a lot of rain, but also perfectly still puddles and spectacular clouds, as you can see in the pictures I took in Utah," he explains.

"When crazy conditions like these arise on my travels, I forget everything around me. That's exactly what I love – letting myself drift, working with the weather and having fun." Stefan knows the area well, having already been to Utah and Arizona twice. "I've spent a total of about four months there, but I always find something new to photograph."

For this adventure, White Pocket was at the top of his list of places to visit as he had never been there before. "It's like a playground," he says. "You could easily spend seven or ten days there photographing the sunset, the sunrise, and the night." Stefan's time, however, was much more limited: "I only had one single day! Thunderstorms were moving in and a flash flood warning was issued. When such floods start, you have to leave immediately, because it is those very flash floods that created the spectacular canyons and rock formations in the first place."

The next stop was the famous Mesa Arch in Arches National Park, Utah. "Usually you might encounter a hundred other photographers there at sunrise, but on that morning, there was only one other photographer on site."

It is impossible to talk about Stefan's landscape images without mentioning the spectacular astrophotography shots he is known for. For this series, he used the 28-70mm F2 lens as usual, including an incredible image he managed to capture in Zion National Park. "For the sky, I used a star tracker with f/2.0, 120 seconds at ISO 1000. I shot with the Sony α 7 IV. The foreground was captured with an f/2.0 aperture and a 30-second exposure at ISO 5000. All the light on the rocks and the tree tops is therefore ambient light. The light on the mountain, which looks like a sunset, is actually light pollution from a town, but for me, it's proof that the image was taken in the evening."

Despite the meticulous creation of his astrophotography shots, Stefan loves the spontaneity of the light changing around him. "In Joshua Tree National Park, I was running late. The sky was already glowing. I walked around and then I had the idea for a shot: the light reflected by the plants – bright and luminous. And I just experimented and tried to get interesting shots. I love that moment and the feeling of letting my creativity run free. In White Pocket, I barely slept for two nights because I was wandering around and looking for subjects."

The 28-70mm has opened up brand new possibilities for Stefan and his work, allowing him to combine his love for landscape and astrophotography, which would not have been possible before. "I used to always avoid zoom lenses because they all have an aperture of f/2.8. The difference compared to shots with an aperture of f/1.8 is enormous, especially in night shots. But the 28-70mm opens up amazing possibilities. It's like a best friend you can take everywhere. You can photograph everything with this lens, and that's exactly what I love about it."

The original article can be found at: https://www.sony.de/alphauniverse/stories/liebermann-lens-profile-fe-28-70mm-f-2-gm