I went to the Butternut Valley SNA a few nights ago to photograph the Milky Way in the western sky but clouds moved in and reflected all the ground lights. To get an idea where the darkest skies are check this website: Dark Site Finder
Technical: WB 2800, shadows opened in Lightroom, light on prairie from farm lights. 2 minute exposure
It has been awhile since my last post. A combination of circumstances have prevented me from getting out much. I am also concentrating on video in 2015 making the stories harder to come by and produce. Anyhow, enough excuses, this was shot last week when preparing for a night photography class. This is a composition test shot for star trails using a Canon 30D at ISO 3200. Unfortunately I did not get a chance to do star trails that night, the joy of carrying a cell phone.
Technical: Marginally acceptable noise levels that shows how far sensors have come since the 30D was introduced. I'm still working on the best color for the night sky. This is at about 2800k with blue saturation at near 100.
With 3 million visitors to the Yellowstone National Park each year, most taking pictures, a photographer has a challenge producing something no one else has recorded. A quote by Arthur Schopnhauer in this month's Outdoor Photographer magazine sums up the challenge.
“Thus, the task is not so much to see what no one yet has
seen, but to think what nobody yet has thought about that
which everybody sees.”
It was the end of a long day but the sky was clear. Instead of heading in for supper we had to take advantage of the clear sky!
I did some night photography to celebrate July 4th. I am an early bird but 2 AM is a little too early so this photography might not happen very often. The conditions need to be right with a moonless, clear night to get the stars to "pop". Technical: ISO 4000, 30 second exposure. For a detailed but understandable tutorial see Beginner's Guide to Astrophotography by Ben Canales. Ben is a young photographer with an unbelievable future ahead of him. The next post will tell you how to find the Milk Way.
