Night Sky Photography Class--Night 2 at Fayette State Park

 Last night the night photography class went to Fayette State Park.  Again, we had permission to be in the park after closing.  Here are a few of the untouched images just as they came out of the borrowed camera.  Now that I know what is required out of the camera to take night images, I will certainly be acquiring one.

This first photo shows the planets Saturn and Jupiter between two of the Fayette preserved buildings.

The rest of the images below use a technique called light painting.  With the lens of the camera fully open and a long exposure, you use a headlamp or other light to illuminate the subject matter.  Just as I took the following image, someone behind me turned on their headlamp casting my shadow along with that of my tripod.

I next tried the red light option on my headlamp.  In person you could hardly see the red at all, but the camera did.

Click on the image below to enlarge it.  The Milky Way does show through the top of the old general store that now has no ceiling/roof.

Click on the image below to see the light painting with a red light.

Light painting with a white light.

The clouds dissipated and I was able to get a better photo of the Milky Way.

Night Sky Photography Class

 Last night was the first of a three-night class held at the Seney National Wildlife Refuge.  Shawn Malone received permission to teach the class in the refuge.  She is one of the top experts in the world on taking photos of northern lights and other night sky images.  I still have to learn the post-production image processing methods, but it was great to learn how to take these images.  None of my cameras have enough range for night sky photography, so Shawn loaned me one of her cameras.  The northern lights did not come out and it was cold with temperatures in the low 30s, but it was fantastic!  Click on the images below to see the detail.