I've had this shot in the back of my mind for ages. Fortunately the stars aligned (quite literally) in the early hours of Sunday morning. Mars and Saturn can be seen just right of the milky way, low in the sky. A technically difficult shot with the light from Rifugio Locatelli playing havoc with the highlights. A higher resolution version can be seen at: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10101638128844073&set=a.10100482383841323.1073741827.61207635&type=3&theater&notif_t=like&notif_id=1472464560235828

Who was coming or going along the footpath?

Hi Jon. Quite a few walkers arriving late on the Alta Via 4 and some climbers returning from Torre Toblino.

OK, I thought maybe you'd set that up too, somehow. That's really late to be arriving in August!

Wow, magnificent!

If this isn't photo of the week I'll eat my memory card.

Brilliant James. Better than your average selfie.

Belter

Absolutely brilliant James. A magnificent effort and a truly great result

A truly sumptuous photo - brilliant !

This is really so cool !

The light from the hut almost seems an intrusion into this magical skyscape. Some viewpoint.

Incredible, one of the best shots on UKC (and the internet)! Are you willing to share any more details about the shot, lens and Exposure settings etc? is it a composite?

Thanks very much for all the kind comments everyone :) . Dave it was taken with the Nikon 14-24mm 2.8 (at 14mm in this case). You're a good photographer yourself with some nice milky way shots. Talk me through the settings you would have used... (interactive learning for everyone).

Not sure I have totally mastered the milky way shot yet but here's my method. The widest lens I have is the Tokina 11-16 f2.8 so my options are limited. My full frame body essentially reduces this to a 16mm prime. I set the camera to f2.8 and 30 seconds (the maximum exposure time before the star "drift" becomes noticeable at this focal length) and work out the required ISO with a bit of doubling jiggery pokery. Over-exposing a fair bit seems to get the best results for me.

Exactly, spot on :) . At 14mm I get 30 seconds before the stars start to trail. Aperture at 2.8 and then exposure as required using the ISO. In this case I used 3200 for the milky way and 400 for the hut (the light from the hut would blow all the highlights at ISO3200).

So it is two photos superimposed then? Are the mountains in the hut or the sky photo? I find with single night sky photos that the foreground/mountains tend to come out unrealistically overexposed if I do my best to get the stars right.

It's actually a cropped 3 photo panorama (each shot taken in portrait) taken at ISO3200 as even at 14mm it wasn't quite wide enough for what i wanted. Then then hut at ISO400 layer masked over the top to bring back the highlights. The mountains here are shot at ISO3200 Robert - but it was very dark. If you're finding they're ever exposed you can just bring down the highlights and drag the shadows up to try and re-create a more accurate night scene.

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brilliant! I prefer a white balance that brings more blue to the sky and there's a lot of wasted space in the bottom right, but its still a 5+. what exposure time did you need for the hills@iso400? did you expose the hills sky and hut separately?
a light leading to the figure across the foreground would help direct the eye?

Cracking picture. Evokes a feeling of wonderment and makes me want to go back. PS I always leave my camera in auto mode :P

Holy star smoke, wonderment indeed. Personally I like the inclusion of the Refugio, the sense of a sanctuary beckoning within the wilds.