Night Photography

Last night, I made my first attempt at astrophotography.

SmugMug Gallery

(It might be best to view it as a journal.)

It was a beautiful night; brisk cool air and only a few clouds on the horizon.

Being my first shoot, last night was a bit of a challenge.

The first difficulty I encountered was the issue of focusing. The autofocus was essentially useless, so I had to lay down on my back and try to manually focus. However, with my poor eyesight, it was essentially a guessing game. Contacts will be remembered next time.

Then, there was the issue of light pollution. Although I live relatively in the country-side, it isn't anywhere close to pitch dark. Occassional cars would also beam their headlights from the distance.

Lastly, and something I really didn't anticipate, was that even when I thought I had everything in focus, the length of the shutter time (30 seconds, full aperture, ISO 800) showed that, well, the stars were moving. . . and quite quickly at that!




Who would have thought that within a mere 30 seconds, that the stars would move that far?

If anything though, last night was quite fun, if not a bit chilly. I really enjoyed the quiet and solitude that the night offered. I saw many many beautiful stars that I didn't notice before. And, I got to play with my new camera.

I noticed how quickly I tired of star photography and instead was more fascinated with scenic night shots, and also how my town looks during the night.

One thing I really appreciate about photography is how it lets you visualize reality differently. By shooting with extended shutter speeds, details and effects are subtly drawn out.




This picture was a shot of the rising moon. It surprised me how closely it resembled the early dawn. (The moon itself was extremely difficult to shoot because it is so small and too bright for it's surroundings.)

Last night was fun and interesting.

Next week, I'm going to try again from the beautiful seclusion of Shikoku.